MALVERN Town co-manager Stephen Cleal singled out Josh Allen for praise after the midfielder scored in his side’s emphatic 5-1 win against Didcot Town.
The Hillsiders romped to their first league victory of the season as Harry Clark opened the scoring before Jack Watts netted a brace to put Malvern in command at the break.
And second-half goals from Matthew MacDonald and Allen, either side of Luke Preen’s consolation for Didcot, sealed the points for Cleal’s men at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
The result means Malvern sit fifth in the Southern League Division One South table after two matches ahead of an FA Cup showdown with Hinckley AFC this weekend.
Cleal said: “Everything clicked for us, from start to finish we were really good.
“Once we got the first goal and a quick second we were always on the front foot and to go into half time three-nil up was brilliant.
“To a man, everyone played their part, I want to mention Josh Allen, he was really good in everything he did.
“His goal was the icing on the cake, he’s willing to learn and adapt to life at a different level of football.
“Friday night is always a weird one, it changes the preparation, it’ll be a tough game, it’s away from home but we go there fully confident and hopefully we can go there and get a result.”
After an even start, Malvern broke the deadlock on 30 minutes when Clark smashed a superb volley past the Didcot goalkeeper following a stunning touch and cross from Watts.
And Watts quickly doubled Malvern’s lead a couple of minutes later with a fine header from Clark’s pinpoint cross.
Watts grabbed his second of the game two minutes later after he finished well from Luke Payne’s excellent assist to leave Didcot stunned.
The Hillsiders stretched their lead on 57 minutes when MacDonald provided a fine finish from Joe Tumelty’s pass.
Didcot reduced the deficit seven minutes from time before Allen completed the scoring on 88 minutes with a neat finish past the goalkeeper.
Malvern are next in action away at Hinckley AFC on Friday, August 16 in the FA Cup Preliminary Round with kick-off at 7.45pm at Kirkby Road.
