Tenbury United 3 Malvern Rovers 2

HAVING struggled in the early part of their first season in the West Midlands League Division 1 South, United have found their feet and continued their recent good run with a sixth victory to move up to mid-table.

United attacked from the off and with better finishing, and a little luck, they could have bagged a couple of early goals. John Welsh was particularly unlucky when his goalbound shot rebounded off the inside of an upright into the goalkeeper's hands.

Eventually the pressure paid off and United grabbed two in as many minutes just before the break.

Karl Pearson went round a defender and was brought down in the box, Graham Caldicott converting the resulting spot kick for the opening goal.

Almost immediately they extended the lead with a delightful goal, Ryan Morris setting it up with a fine run down the left before whipping over a low cross. Ashley Botwood dummied and checked the defence, with Brett McIntosh swooping behind to drive the ball home.

Tenbury went three up with a fine piece of individual skill from Pearson, who, spotting the goalkeeper off his line hit the target with a superb chip from the edge of the box.

With the game almost won United relaxed, allowing Malvern to push men up and threaten the home goal.

Eventually this brought a result and when Tenbury failed to clear Malvern forced the ball home from the resulting scramble to pull a goal back. Minutes later further hesitation at the back by Tenbury saw Malvern grab a second goal.

This proved a wake up call for United and they reorganised to make sure of the winning points.