MALVERN were given a tough test in a 29-13 victory at basement boys Old Coventrians in Midlands Two West (South).

The Spring Lane side travelled to Tile Hill Lane knowing the strugglers were a more dangerous side than their league position indicated and the game proved the point.

A knock-on by Malvern from kick-off gave the hosts a scrum and they put in a big forward drive, winning a penalty in the process to take an early three-point lead.

Malvern shrugged off the early setback and responded with a fine driving maul but failed to make more headway as OCs managed to halt the advance.

The game was a scrappy affair in more than one sense — a fair amount of indiscipline in the home ranks saw an outbreak of handbags.

Talking back to the referee saw OCs lose ground as the penalty count started to mount in Malvern’s favour.

As the visitors began to play something approaching their normal running game, one penalty gave Ben King the chance to equalise.

They then put pressure on the home defence with good movement across the back-line.

But it was one of those days when promising positions broke down at the last pass and enabled OCs to counter with a couple of dangerous moves, which they could not build on.

The hosts' indiscipline carried on with the penalty count incurring the wrath of the crowd.

Fourth-placed Malvern's defence was tested and they prevailed before once more going deep into OCs territory with another penalty.

From the line-out, the ball was quickly moved to King and James Southall, pressed into stand-off duties, put in a long run for the line to score a converted try.

Malvern were now controlling the game and George Withers stripped the ball to put Malvern on the attack again.

It was sped across the line for skipper Luke Milton to join for a score, putting them 15-3 up at the break.

Malvern lost tighthead Craig Freeman just before the break with a rib injury, which gave OCs the advantage at the set-piece.

But the Worcestershire side first put in telling phases in the home 22 for Southall to bag a second try and King to convert for an important 19-point lead.

However, Malvern needed the cushion as OCs' scrummaging put the front eight under the cosh and a penalty gave them hope.

There then began a long period of attrition deep in the away half as Malvern were penalised at the scrum with OCs opting for further set-pieces rather than taking the kicks.

After a period of desperate defending, the inevitable happened and OCs were awarded a penalty try with the conversion bringing the gap back to only nine points.

More good defensive work by Malvern prevented OCs from narrowing the gap further and they cleared the ball into the home half when awarded another penalty.

From the line-out, they pushed towards the home line and Nick Clarke was on hand to take advantage of some OCs confusion to score the fourth try and claim the bonus point.