Reserves seal the points (From Malvern Gazette)

Reserves seal the points

9:55am Wednesday 12th March 2008 in Sport

CRESSWELL WDRS 0, MALVERN TOWN RESERVES 2 TOWN Reserves travelled to north Birmingham on Saturday and came away with a creditable 0-2 win.

This was by far the best performance by the reserves side this season and the success came from a solid defensive display.

Cresswell, by contrast, were a poor shadow of the side that visited Malvern earlier in the season.

With Malvern dominating the opening 10 minutes, chances fell for Rob Cullen, Ollie Reid and James Argent.

The opening goal came when Andy Fletcher delivered a free-kick which was cleared to Joe Leighton just outside the box and Leighton hit the ball so hard that home keeper Adam Watson could not prevent the goal despite getting his finger-tips to the ball. Cresswell were stung into action by this goal and Pio Neering put Matt Brotherton through on goal but Mark Wright rushed off his line, blocking the shot.

With 56 minutes played, Cullen's shot-cum-cross could easily have been dealt with by two defenders but they decided to allow the ball to run through to Watson, allowing Dale Humphries to steal in, round the keeper and side-foot home for a superb poacher's goal.

The game also saw the return of Anthony Burton to midfield where his heading, tackling and passing were a feature of the game.