MALVERN Town celebrated a historic promotion to Step Three following a dramatic 3-2 play-off final victory against Shaftesbury.
A second-half goal from Sam Clark sealed victory for the Hillsiders after Harry Clark had drawn the home side level earlier in the second period at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
That came after Joe Bullock’s early goal put Malvern ahead only for Shaftesbury to stun the home side with two goals before the break.
A penalty from Alefe Santos drew the visitors level before Tobias Holmes put Shaftesbury ahead only for Lee Hooper’s side to stage a second-half comeback.
Malvern avenged their defeat in the play-off final last season to secure promotion from the Southern League Division One South.
Town finished two places and 16 points ahead of Shaftesbury in the Southern League Division One South table.
And the home side made a lively start as Charlie Johnson fired wide inside the opening couple of minutes.
And H Clark then sent an instinctive header wide before seeing another headed attempt comfortably saved by the Shaftesbury goalkeeper.
Malvern broke the deadlock after just eight minutes when Bullock guided a shot into the net from H Clark’s pass.
However, Shaftesbury equalised three minutes later as Santos fired a penalty into the bottom left corner after the visitors won a spot kick.
And the visitors silenced the home crowd on 26 minutes when Holmes found himself in behind the Malvern defence and the striker slid a shot past Josh Bishop in the home net.
Bishop then managed to gather the ball ahead of Holmes after the latter managed to stay onside as the home side survived a scare.
Shaftesbury then scrambled S Clark’s solo effort to safety before the home side flashed a dangerous ball across the face of goal.
The home side continued to search for an equaliser as Luke Payne saw his effort saved by visiting goalkeeper Ben Taylor.
Taylor then denied S Clark moments before the break as Malvern trailed by a single goal at the interval.
Hooper’s side picked up where they left off after the break as Lewis Platt and Joe Tumelty both tried their luck to no avail.
Taylor then moved across his line to keep out Tumelty’s free-kick to frustrate the Hillsiders once again.
However, Malvern equalised on 66 minutes as H Clark’s deflected strike from 20-yards out wrong-footed Taylor and looped into the net to restore parity.
H Clark almost struck again moments later as Shaftesbury somehow managed to scramble the ball clear.
And the Hillsiders reclaimed the lead on 79 minutes when S Clark played a one-two with Levi Francis and kept his cool to lift a shot past Taylor when one-on-one.
Shaftesbury substitute Harry Morgan saw his low effort travel inches past the post before Bishop kept out a header from point-blank range to keep the home side ahead.
And Malvern survived seven minutes of injury time to clinch a first-ever promotion to Step Three next season.
