MALVERN Vale Academy returned to league action off the back of two comprehensive defeats in Charity Cup matches to Cheltenham Civil Service Firsts and Reserves although prior to that they had won the last five league games and were looking to return to that form and make that six, writes Dev Ward.

Due to recent weather conditions and the state of the Malvern Vale Community Centre pitch, the match was moved to Dysons AWP and was the first time this season that Vale had played on an artificial surface.

With a new look back four of Samson Arishe, Craig Morris, Aaron Waldron and Gavin Hodgkins, Vale were also looking to try and tighten up at the back, having recently conceded 18 in two games.

And it didn't start well for the Vale when on Smiths' first attack after four minutes, the defence didn't clear their lines and after Luke Sharples' shot was saved by George Weaver at close range, Owen Groves was left to fire home the rebound.

This was to be a wake-up call for the Vale and from then on for the remainder of the half it was pretty much one-way traffic.

Ten minutes later on 14 minutes, Ashley Griffiths was played through and emphatically fired home giving the visiting keeper no chance.

Vale pushed to put themselves ahead but poor finishing in-front of goal proved costly.

Anthony Cakebread hit the post and then fired wide before Griffiths missed several chances to put Vale in the driving seat.

Mario Vieira, returning from injury, curled an effort just over from the edge of the box and Andre Rodrigues fired straight at the keeper from a similar distance.

Ted Fredericks looked set to open his account for the season after Griffiths squared following good work down the right hand side but the Vale winger didn't time his effort and the shot was blocked.

The Vale pressure did eventually tell on the stroke of half time when Fredericks picked up the ball in the middle of the park and played a neat one-two with Vieira before chipping the ball passed the advancing keeper.

Having looked solid at the back after the initial hiccup, Morris and Waldron continued to sniff out any threat during the second half.

As the second half progressed, Vale did get further chances to extend their lead and put the game to bed, however, Griffiths delayed when inside the six-yard box and his finish was cleared off the line, he then hit a one-on-one straight at the keeper before Les Brown also headed straight at the keeper.

As the half began to draw to a close, a sense of nervousness begun to descend over the Vale side, with such a slender lead one mistake could have cost Vale the maximum points and potentially prove costly in their pursuit of a playoff place.

Vale also lost three players through injury during the second half with first Fredericks (rib), Arishe (hamstring) and then Waldron (ankle), after a late challenge from Jack Tootell, which also saw Tootell and then Fredericks, from the sidelines, receive yellow cards as a result.

Vale however were able to run down the clock without Weaver having to make any further saves and record a welcome victory ahead of two tricky fixtures, starting with Woodmancote at home next week and followed by fellow playoff hopefuls Welland Reserves the week after.