LEE Hooper hopes Malvern Town can build some ‘momentum’ following an emphatic 5-1 victory against Cribbs.
An early goal from Miles Ferguson put the Hillsiders ahead before Jack Watts and Harry Clark both netted braces at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
The result leaves Malvern 11th in the Southern League Division One South table and joint-manager Hooper hopes his side can carry their momentum into this weekend’s clash against Bashley.
Hooper said: “[It feels] really good, we turned the last few draws we had into three points at home against a bit of an old rival.
“It was good to get those three points and hopefully it’s going to help us jump a few places in the league, the lads put a great shift in.
“We scored some really good goals and everybody put a shift in. We can take a lot of positives and momentum and hopefully we can carry that on.
“Momentum is a big thing, whether you’re winning or losing, I remember when we were on a losing run and we just couldn’t get out of that.
“Now we’re just picking up points and if you don’t win, make sure you don’t lose, and that’s what we’ve done with a few draws recently.”
Malvern broke the deadlock after just three minutes when Ferguson’s deflected effort from just outside the penalty area proved too powerful for Cribbs goalkeeper Kyreese Johnson after the visitors failed to deal with the scorer’s initial long throw.
However, Cribbs equalised two minutes later as David Duru volleyed the ball into the bottom corner after latching onto a pass in-behind the Malvern defence.
The Hillsiders reclaimed the lead on 12 minutes when Watts finished through the legs of Johnson from Alex Bell’s sensational ball through to the striker.
And Watts extended the home side’s advantage six minutes later as he controlled a cross-field pass before cutting inside of a defender and curling a shot into the bottom right corner.
Malvern went close again soon after as Lewis Spurrier saw his cross-shot deflect towards goal as Johnson palmed the ball to safety.
However, the home side capped a scintillating first-half display on 34 minutes when Clark sent a 30-yard lob on the half-volley over the head of Johnson and into the net following a defensive mix-up.
The Hillsiders almost made it five before the break only for Dion Molyneux to head over the crossbar from close range following some head tennis in the box.
And Malvern eventually scored their fifth goal on 68 minutes as Clark held off his marker before powering a shot into the roof of the net.
Clark had a chance to complete his hat-trick later in the half only for Johnson to save his effort from the edge of the penalty area.
