MALVERN Town reached the first round proper of the FA Vase in dramatic fashion last night (Wednesday) after they came back from 2-0 down against Birstall United to win an extra-time thriller.
Two goals from Dave Reynolds and two penalty saves from Charlie Weaver helped The Hillsiders to one of their most memorable cup wins in recent times.
Malvern’s Wembley dreams looked to be all but gone when goals from Lewis Dodd and Sam Moore put Leicestershire-based Birstall firmly in the driving seat with 20 minutes left on the clock.
With no spark and Malvern struggling to find their best form it appeared there would be no way back for Les Jones’ side.
But all that changed in the 75th minute when Malvern won a penalty when Bryan Craven was fouled in the box. Top scorer Reynolds made no mistake to give Malvern hope by making it 2-1.
And Malvern came close to levelling just two minutes later when a sharp free kick went just wide of the target.
But the host’s hopes of pulling off a dramatic comeback were dealt a major blow when Birstall were awarded a penalty for a foul on Dodd.
However to the home fans delight, Weaver saved Moore’s effort to still give Malvern a fighting chance.
Weaver then pulled off another fine stop to deny the lively Dodd when he was put through one-on-one.
And the stadium was rocking when Malvern got their equaliser in injury time.
A long ball was sent into the box where a flick-on looped over the outcoming keeper before Whittal-Williams headed home into the empty net to take the match into extra time – sending the large crowd wild.
But the crowd were then silenced yet again when Birstall won another penalty in the first half of extra time – only for Weaver to pull off another great diving safe to stop Dean Copson’s kick going in.
With the momentum on their side, it looked like the match was going in Malvern’s direction and in the second half a brilliant solo-run from Reynolds was met with a great finish to put the home side into the lead.
Malvern then dug deep for the remaining seven minutes to claim a stunning win.
The Hillsiders face Worksop Town in the next round on Saturday, October 22 at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
MALVERN have announced the signing today (Thursday) of former Hereford FC player Max Kontic-Coveny.
