TOWN Reserves travelled to North Birmingham for their latest fixture and after a lively start collapsed badly in the second-half.

BILSTON TOWN 6, MALVERN TOWN RESERVES 2

With five minutes gone, a mix-up in midfield saw Bilston regain possession and quickly transfer the ball up-field to tricky winger Darrell Smith, who rounded his namesake Tom Smith for the game's opening goal.

Malvern then had five good opportunities to equalise but a combination of bad luck and inspired keeping denied them.

Just before half-time Mark Taylor and Ed Lyons combined to set up Danny James and the latter toe-poked home an equaliser.

Early in the second half two poor efforts changed the whole pattern of play and led to Town's downfall. The first incident came as Danny James had a shot half-blocked by the home keeper and as the ball fell to Ed Lyons he side-footed over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

Seconds later Mike Roberts got caught in possession by Luke Finley, and when he beat Jamie Thomas and drove the ball in off the crossbar the writing was on the wall.

Instead of leading at this stage, Town found themselves 2-1 down and with the management duo of Pallett and Jones unable to inspire the team, things went from bad to worse.

Bilston took full advantage of Town's disarray and scored twice through Mike Allen and Noel Smith, giving them a 4-1 cushion.

Danny James went close with a shot which rebounded to him, this time he squared the ball to Dan Finnigan, who pulled a goal back with a low driving shot.

With time running out Bilston added insult to injury by scoring two more goals through Darrell and Noel Smith.

Malvern Town Reserves are sponsored by Laser Civil Engineering.