BELOW-par Malvern edged into the North Midlands Cup semi-finals with a 19-10 win at Bromsgrove.

Malvern made several changes in the pack due to injuries and absences, while Midlands Two West rivals Bromsgrove fielded a weakened side.

But the visitors' forwards struggled to gain supremacy against their relegation-threatened opponents.

A lack of ball carrying allowing the keen Bromsgrove second stringers to stifle much of the ball won by Malvern.

With little platform to work from, Malvern's backs were forced to take hurried possession under pressure.

It was testament to their skills that the league leaders finally ground out a victory.

Winger Ryan Henshaw broke the deadlock in the 10th minute with a typically-powerful run, bursting down the right to collect the try.

It took another 25 minutes for Malvern to add to the score with the strength of Ted Lang giving skipper Ryan Watkins the opening to score and Adam Dixon converted.

Dixon left the field with a thigh injury shortly after to add to Malvern's injury woes.

Jamie Gwynne moved to scrum-half and James Anderson out to stand-off.

Hooker Luke Greenwood was unlucky to visit the sin-bin when trapped at the bottom of a ruck but adjudged not to have rolled away.

In the second-half, a spirited fight-back by Bromsgrove's youngsters with the slope in their favour saw them pull back a score.

However, another moment of individual brilliance from Chris Hooper saw the full-back run right through the heart of the defence to score under the posts and convert his own try.

With a couple of minutes left, the game Bromsgrove side worked their way into the visitors' 22 and came off the back of a ruck to score another try.

"We made life very difficult for ourselves because nobody would take on the responsibility of carrying the ball forward" said Malvern director of rugby David Robins.