MALVERN Town Reserves played host to West Midlands division one table-topping Walsall Wood on a wet Saturday afternoon and pulled-off a creditable win.

MALVERN TOWN RES 3, WALSALL WOOD 2

The Reserves were bolstered by six first team players, who were eager for a game when their fixture against Barwell was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

The game's first opportunity fell to Mark Shepherd as he lobbed the visiting keeper Tony Breedon. The ball appeared to cross the line, but a defender lunged-in and won the support of the match officials as he cleared the ball upfield.

Minutes later Ed Lyons took a corner which was cleared to Luke Whittington and the midfielder played the ball back to Lyons. He crossed for a second time, finding Marc Burrow at the near post, who scored with a looping back-header for the game's opening goal.

Early in the second-half Town went 2-0 up when Lyons found Mark Owen with a slide-rule pass. He lost his marker and squared the ball to Shepherd in one move, and from 12 yards out he made no mistake.

Walsall Wood showed why they are the league's top side, pulling one goal back when Ashley Wells worked an opening on 53 minutes and Bruce Lwando raced onto a poor back-pass, which left Craig Humphries stranded, to equalise.

The visitors then seized the initiative and piled on the pressure but good defending by Oakes, Chalmers and Burrow in particular, saw Walsall's chances kept down to a couple of long-range shots.

Malvern finally regained the lead when Shepherd slipped a superb ball through to his strike partner and Owen raced clear of the defence and blasted past Breedon for a beautifully executed goal.

Wallsall dominated the closing minutes but Town held firm and collected three valuable points.

Malvern Town Reserves are sponsored by Laser Civil Engineering.