MALVERN Town manager Chris Palmer has identified tomorrow’s visit of Studley Town as a must-win game as his side aim to make it two Aspire Midland Alliance victories in a row.

The Langland Stadium outfit gained their first win since the opening day when they toppled in-form Coalville Town in a seven-goal thriller.

But a depleted Town line-up were knocked out of the Polymac Services League Cup in the first round after a 2-1 defeat at Alvechurch on Tuesday night.

Striker Dave Reynolds scored Town’s consolation as they travelled across the county with just 13 players as Palmer was forced to name himself as a substitute and then came on at left-back for the final 40 minutes of the match.

Palmer was making his first appearance in a Town shirt during his spell in charge but admitted he hopes he won’t be called upon again.

Town were missing seven first-team players for Tuesday night’s cup defeat including Bryan Craven, Stuart Gates, Alex Taffe, Kyle Knott, Craig Williams and Mason Mansfield.

But Mansfield (knee) and Gates (hamstring) along with Paul Edwards (shoulder) are doubts.

Palmer said: “It would be great to win two league games in a row.

“If we win we can start to get into the middle of the table.

“Studley is a big game for us, it’s the first one for a while where I think that we will win.

“It was an added bonus to beat Coalville as they were unbeaten until Saturday.

“But we need to tighten up at the back.

“We shouldn’t need to score four or five goals to win a match and need to cut out the mistakes in defence.”