MALVERN Town missed the chance to climb into the top five of the West Midlands Regional League after being held to a 1-1 draw at Shawbury United.
With just one point separating the two sides, a victory for Malvern on Saturday would have taken them above fifth placed Shawbury.
But they had to settle for a share of the spoils as Lee Hooper’s goal was all they could muster after Steve Faux gave the hosts the lead.
Malvern started brightly and got the first shot away as Kirk Layton’s 12th minute effort was cleared off the line. Town then thought they had broken the deadlock, but Aaron Richards’ shot was flagged offside.
The visitors were moving the ball around well in the early stages and it was good link-up play between Dave Reynolds and Harry Wickett which opened up the chance for Layton to fire just wide of the post.
Keeper Chas Weaver was also performing well at the other end as he produced a fingertip save to deny Shawbury scoring from a free kick in the 32nd minute.
But from the resulting corner the ball eventually found its way into the back of Town’s net. Dan Beddows miscued a shot back to the corner taker who sent in another cross which Faux turned home.
This gave Shawbury the advantage at half time, but Malvern responded superbly after the break as Hooper struck.
This appeared to turn the match around as Town had all the momentum, but they were unable to add a second.
Two minutes after Malvern’s equaliser, a goal kick by Graeme Hampton was intercepted by Reynolds who rounded his defender and ran halfway down the pitch, but his shot went wide.
Despite Hampton’s poor clearance, the Shawbury keeper was also standing in Town’s way as he turned away Reynolds’ lob.
Malvern continued to have the better of the chances, but they could not score the winner as Sam Rathbone wasted another opportunity late on.