MALVERN Town beat Wellington Amateurs 3-2 in their first competitive home match of the 2014-15 season.

Despite missing Kirk Layton, Dave Reynolds, Joe Leighton, Harry Wickett (holidays), Jake Hollylee (ankle) and Jamie Thomas (ribs), Town again showed their strength in depth.

Les Jones' on-song side made it three West Midlands League Premier Division wins in a row to put them second in the table on goal difference.

Reece King returned after a ban, while Sam Daffin, Ben Stanway and Toby Wilcox were promoted from the under 21s.

Malvern started brightly and James Lush beat his marker but keeper Vitor Pinheiro smothered his effort.

Bryan Craven nodded wide before Town went ahead on six minutes at the HDanywhere Community Stadium.

Lush passed to Craven and he fired home from an acute angle.

Malvern kept their foot on the pedal and Sam Rathbone shot wide from 25 yards.

They produced some fine one-touch football and Rathbone had another effort diverted away.

But Town made it 2-0 on 29 minutes when Craven powered through the middle and fired past Pinheiro.

However, Wellington hit back on 37 minutes when Elliot Terraud's cross-shot slipped past keeper Niall Hacking.

Craven hit the post before the interval and then had a shot blocked shortly after half-time.

After losing defender Joe Endacott to injury, Malvern shipped a leveller on 53 minutes through Duane Upton's header.

Hacking saved from Anthony Bufton and Upton but Malvern missed a great chance at the other end when Craven fired a penalty over the bar following a handball.

Town applied plenty of pressure and got their reward with the winner four minutes from time as Matthew Turner tapped in after linking up with Craven.

For pictures, see this week's Malvern Gazette.