MALVERN Town face a fight for survival in the Aspire Midland Alliance, according to manager Chris Palmer, after his depleted side crashed to a 7-1 defeat to Coleshill Town.

The Langland Stadium side now host Friar Lane and Epworth tomorrow (ko 3pm) in a bid to get their season on track.

Malvern crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season last Saturday with seven first teamers missing due to injury, illness and unavailability.

Now, some of Palmer’s young guns will be missing from tomorrow's clash as striker Mason Mansfield and defenders Ashley Pardoe and Ryan Clarke will be playing for the Worcestershire side who travel to face Sheffield and Hallamshire in the FA County Youth Challenge Cup.

But realistic Palmer knows his side face a tough second half of the season after slipping into the bottom three tomorrow.

He said: “To get three points out of tomorrow’s game would give us some breathing space in keeping up with the pace of the teams around us.

“We’re in a mini-league of six teams now.

“We’re fighting to survive. I was hugely embarrassed by the 7-1 defeat.

“We should not lose any game by that scoreline. “It was one of those days when it was a bridge too far for the youngsters.

“We had seven players out and we were playing a lot of youngsters and a few of them were out of position.”

Malvern then travel to Westfields in the league in a Boxing Day derby (ko 3pm).