MALVERN Town moved joint second in the table with a 3-1 win against Bideford AFC as the Hillsiders claimed a seventh straight home victory.
Goals from Piers Walton, Harry Clark and Levi Francis earned Malvern the points while Ryan Turner struck for the visitors at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
And the result means Malvern sit third in the Southern League Division One South table, five points behind leaders Frome Town.
Malvern went close early on as Yuri Quintas, making his first start for the club, squared the ball to Clark only for Bideford goalkeeper Leo McCormick to turn the shot behind for a corner.
However, the Hillsiders broke the deadlock on 15 minutes when McCormick could only parry Quintas’s shot straight into the path of Walton who tapped home to open the scoring.
The chances continued to come the way of the home side with Walton unable to hit the target after more good work from Quintas.
A scrappy period ensued while Joe Bullock left the pitch due to an injury which cut his 200th appearance for the Hillsiders short.
And only a last-ditch challenge from a Bideford player prevented Walton from doubling his tally for the game in first-half injury time
Bideford almost drew level early in the second half when Malvern goalkeeper Josh Bishop came charging out of his goal to clear a loose ball.
However, Bishop failed to clear his lines which left the ball at the feet of a Bideford player 35-yards from goal.
Fortunately for Malvern, the Bideford player could only fire a shot straight at a retreating defender as Malvern survived a scare.
And the Hillsiders made the most of that reprieve to strike again on 61 minutes as Clark swept a shot into the corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area after good work from Walton.
However, Bideford halved the deficit two minutes later when Turner finished a cross from the left after the home side switched off at the back.
Lee Hooper’s side eventually made the game safe six minutes from time as substitute Francis received the ball on the edge of the box and reversed a shot into the bottom corner at the goalkeeper’s near post.
The hosts almost added some gloss to the scoreline at the death as Clark hit the side netting while Francis rounded the keeper and saw his shot cleared off the line.
Malvern are next in action against leaders Frome on Saturday, January 17 with kick-off at 3pm at Badgers Hill.
