MALVERN Town were made to pay for a lacklustre first half display at School Grove as Wellington Amateurs held on to clinch a 2-1 win.
Goals from Ryan Gurlin and Jamie King put the Shropshire side in control at half time before Dave Reynolds struck in the second period for Malvern.
Les Jones’ men would have hoping to bounce back from their mid-week 4-0 thrashing to Bromsgrove Sporting at the Langland Stadium to dump them out of the WFA Senior Urn.
But Town, who made the one and a half hour journey to Telford, struggled to hit the ground running while Ian Hill was soon forced into action when he did well to save to King’s strike.
But the Malvern keeper could do nothing to stop the hosts taking the lead on the 31st minute. King ran to the byline before crossing the ball in for Gurlin to the finish.
The visitors managed to put together a good spell of pressure, with Reynolds and Reece King both going close to levelling the encounter.
But with just a minute remaining of the first half, Town fell further behind when King fired past Hill.
The goal appeared to rattle Malvern who had the linesman to thank for denying Wellington a third mid-way through the second period. Gurlin thought he had grabbed his second of the afternoon when he lobbed Hill from 40 yards out, but it was ruled out following a head injury to Joe Endacott in the build up.
It proved to be a wake up call for Malvern who went on to dominate the final 25 minutes. They also cut back the deficit when Reynolds headed home after following up his initial shot which hit the bar.
But Town could not find the equaliser as Wellington held firm to see out time.
Malvern will have the chance to return to winning ways tonight (Wednesday, 7.45pm) when they host West Midlands Police in the Smedley Crooke Cup.
