MALVERN Town’s unbeaten start to 2016 came to an end after they suffered a 1-0 loss to West Midlands (Regional) League leaders Shawbury United.
A solitary goal from Liam Armstrong boosted Shawbury’s hopes of promotion during a tight contest against in-form Malvern.
The defeat for Malvern – their fist since December – sees them drop two places to eighth in the Premier Division table and bring an end to their unbeaten run in 2016.
Following on from Tuesday night’s 6-0 victory over Smethwick Rangers, Malvern knew they would face a sterner test against a Shawbury side vying for the title.
And it was Malvern who started the more brightly as Ben Hayes carved out the game’s first opportunity but his 30-yard strike went wide after three minutes.
Two minutes later Shawbury wasted a good chance to take the lead but Thomas Lappin fired wide after collecting Matthew Elsmore’s knock down.
Hayes again had the chance to put Malvern in front but once again, his finishing was lacking as he fired over the bar.
Another chance went a begging for Malvern five minutes later as from Dave Reynolds’ corner, Reece King blasted an effort over the bar.
Elsmore was proving lively for Shawbury but spurned the chance to put the league leaders ahead midway through the first half after firing wide.
Malvern had shot cleared off the line on the stroke of half-time before Shawbury went up the other end to score in added time.
Elsmore ran down the left wing before crossing the ball to Shawbury’s leading scorer Thomas Ellis who laid the ball off to Armstrong to fire past Malvern keeper Chris Pinder.
After the interval, Pinder pulled off a fine save with his legs to deny Ellis from bagging his 27th goal of the season.
Reynolds and Louis Loader had chances to pull Malvern level on the hour mark but both could not hit the target.
Shawbury were reduced to 10 men with 25 minutes remaining after Bekir Haul was sent off for stamping.
Despite the one man deficit, Shawbury were unlucky not double their advantage as Ellis’ shot was pushed on to the bar by Pinder with 15 minutes to play.
The woodwork came to the rescue of Shawbury three minutes later as Loader’s free kick smashed against the angle.
Ellis once again saw the crossbar defy him from getting on the scoresheet as his effort in the 86th minute crashed against the woodwork.
Malvern’s Bryan Craven had a shot in the dying moments of the game which sailed over the bar, allowing Shawbury to claim a 1-0 win.
Picture by Cliff Williams
