DAVE Reynolds scored on his final Malvern Town home appearance as The Hillsiders put five past Brimscombe & Thrupp to move a step closer to the Hellenic Premier play-off spot.

Reynolds played his final home game for the club ahead of his retirement at the end of the season and scored the third goal of the afternoon after just 21 minutes of play.

Harry Clark's brilliant chip over the keeper made it 1-0 inside six minutes before Ben Hayes scored his 18th goal of the 2022/23 season to double the lead ten minutes later. 

Reynolds then reacted quickest to prod home after Joe Bullock's initial shot was saved as the goals continued to come. 

Brimmy had a chance to reduce the deficit mid-way through the first-half via a penalty but Keiron Blackburn made a good save to preserve the clean-sheet.

The home side put the result to bed nine minutes before the break when Lewis Spurrier made it 4-0 after good work from the in-form Hayes.

In a slightly more low-key second half, new signing Mark Magee came off the bench to score the fifth and final goal of the afternoon. The striker, signed from Pershore in the week, controlled the ball with his back to goal before spinning his man in the box and firing into the net.

It was a case of job done for Malvern in the end and co-manager Stephen Cleal could not have been happier: "A pleasing result, a pleasing performance. Coming in at 4-0 at half-time the second-half was always going to be a bit of an anti-climax but the boys did a really professional job in the end. 

"Happy for Mark (Magee) to get off the mark scoring his first goal for the football club so it was just a very pleasing afternoon all-round. 

"Some of the goals we scored were superb, some really good passages of play, it was really good to watch."

The result, along with Corsham Town's 3-2 win at Worcester Raiders, meant Malvern maintained their 14-point lead over Corsham in third, but the team from the South-West do have three games in hand. 

But their slip-up at Hereford Pegasus on Monday means Malvern can now secure the play-off spot at Mangotsfield United with a win on Saturday.

Malvern then go to Corsham on the final day of the season but they will be hoping to already have the job done before they make the trip south.