MALVERN Town were unlucky to fall to an opening day of the season defeat as they went down 2-1 to AFC Sudbury at the Langland Stad-ium in British Gas Business Division One Midlands.

The three-time FA Vase finalists started brightly and were 2-0 up inside of nine minutes. James Rowe fired Sudb-ury ahead when he burst into the Malvern area and slotted the ball home.

Five minutes later visiting skipper Gareth Heath ran the Town defence ragged before finding the net.

Rowe should have added his second and Sudbury’s third in the 11th minute but his shot sailed over.

Malvern pulled a goal back in the 15th minute when Chris Allen broke down the left and crossed for Darren Andrews to head home.

The second half saw Malvern dominate the game but they were unable to get a deserved equaliser. Danny James, Wes Joyce, and Mark Goodman all went close but they could not find the net.

Stourport Swifts, meanwhile, got off to a winning start at Woodford United despite being a goal down at half-time. Strikes fr-om Scott Morris and then Ric-hard Burgess five minutes from time sealed the points.

Bromsgrove crashed to a 1-0 home defeat to Bury Town as they begin life back in Divis-ion One after their relegation.