MALVERN Town produced a brave performance as they went down 1-0 to high-flying Pegasus Juniors despite playing most of the second half with ten men.
Les Jones’ side were matching their opponents, who had only lost two games all season, in the opening 45 minutes.
But the turning point came two minutes after the break when Aaron Richards was brandished a straight red card.
Pegasus broke the deadlock moments later with a goal from Ben Price, which proved to be enough to see the hosts to victory as keeper Charles Weaver kept Malvern in the contest.
Despite the differences in form in the West Midlands Regional League as Malvern arrived on the back of two straight defeats while Pegasus were challenging for top spot, the visitors held their own in the opening period.
It was the home side, though, who came the closest to scoring as Cory Hyde saw his tenth minute shot cannon off the far post.
Weaver was also proving a tough man to beat as the Malvern keeper reacted well to stop Price’s swirling cross end up in the back of the net.
Town’s best opportunity came just before the interval when Lee Hooper played the ball through to Dave Reynolds, but he could only fire into the side netting as the first half ended goalless.
Malvern were in the match at this point before a reckless tackle from Richards turned the game. His two-footed challenge resulted in the referee having no option but to send Richards off.
And Junior quickly made the numerical advantage count as they edged ahead. Weaver could only parry Anthony Robbins’ powerful free kick which fell kindly for Prince to stab home from close range.
Despite the double blow, Malvern refused to sit back and they almost equalised on the 66th minute. Juniors were forced to clear off the line after keeper Bryn Watkins failed to deal with Hooper’s strike.
The match then ended in frenetic fashion as both sides had opportunities late on. Firstly, Weaver pulled off a wonderful save to deny Cory Hyde before Reynolds missed the chance to level the game in the final five minutes. A Malvern corner went through a number of players and fell to the onrushing Reynolds whose effort went narrowly wide.