MALVERN Town manager Lee Hooper expressed his relief after the club achieved a historic promotion to Step Three of non-league.
The Hillsiders claimed a dramatic 3-2 win against Shaftesbury as Harry Clark, Sam Clark and Joe Bullock all found the net for Malvern at a packed HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
Victory in the Southern League Division One South play-off final means Malvern will play at Step Three for the first time in the club’s history next season.
And Hooper admits the victory feels special after the club suffered play-off final heartbreak at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
Hooper said: “It’s relief. It’s hard to say, it hasn’t really sunk in of what we’ve actually achieved.
“It’s a big relief because I felt we needed to do it after missing out last year. It means a lot.
“Losing the final two years in a row, I don’t know if I would have had the energy to go again, it would have been a lot of picking up of heads and bodies.
“I feel like over a season we’ve earned that and deserved it. It’s a lot of relief but we’re also ecstatic.
“The target this season was to try and lift everybody and go again. We kept the core of the squad and the bunch we’ve got now are an absolutely phenomenal bunch, I’m so proud of them.
“I’m so pleased for everyone throughout the club. I’m the manager but this is for everybody, it’s a special place.
“There’s a big challenge ahead. At what stage did we ever think Malvern would be at Step Three with the teams at that level?
“We used to feed off their squad players but we’ve built a culture where we’re not a revolving door and everybody at the club has played a part in that.”
