Raiders send Malvern crashing out of FA Cup with 4-0 drumming at Sixways

As rugby fans gathered outside the stadium to show their support for the struggling Warriors, a first-half hattrick from Jordan Murphy made sure that at least football enthusiasts could leave with a smile.

The emphatic win sees Raiders sail through to the next round of the historic cup competition, where they will face Worksop Town.

Wednesday night was also the birthday of Raiders boss, Karl Gormley.

"I haven't wanted to celebrate all day with the game coming up so have been at work keeping busy but that was oustanding tonight," he said.

"I thought the support tonight was amazing.

"We have had a tough couple of weeks with things going on and a bit of uncertainty going on so it was nice to go out and just play football.”

READ MORE: 'I love this club, I don't want it to disappear' say fans outside Sixways Stadium

The two sides met at Sixways in an FA Cup replay, after drawing at Malvern on Saturday. Credit: MTFC

Isaac Cooper opened the scoring with 17 minutes played.

A poorly cleared corner found its way to the winger on the edge of area, his shot met by the hand of Malvern keeper Keiron Blackburn who was only able to send it crashing off the post and into the back of the net.

Murphy then opened his tab for the night, doubling the hosts just two minutes later.

Town defender Adam Sauntson slipped on the ball, allowing Murphy through on goal to calmly finish with his left.

The winger notched his second shortly after, Jade Ferron playing the ball into him before turning and slotting it into the bottom corner with 27 minutes gone.

Murphy completed his hattrick before the close of the half, once again capitalising on a Malvern mishap.

Dave Reynolds gave the ball to Cooper who chipped the ball over the defence to the onrushing Murphy.

Blackburn managed to save two efforts from Murphy but couldn’t keep out the third, the Raiders man sending the ball crashing into the roof of the net after 39 minutes.

With the result practically set in stone after the opening 45, the second half became somewhat of a formality, with neither side adding to the scoresheet.

LIVE BLOG: Worcester Raiders vs Malvern Town

After seeing his side’s fans leaving with 15 minutes to go, Malvern co-manager Stephen Cleal was far from happy.

He said: "It hurts. It hurts me, I hope it hurts the players," he said.

"I thought Saturday (3-3 draw with Raiders) was bad enough but today it was even worse.

"No disrespect to Worcester Raiders, they are a very attacking force and they caused us a lot of problems but we caused our own downfall tonight, it's not good enough.”