MALVERN Town returned to winning ways after a difficult week that saw them lose ground in their bid to win the league title. 

The Hillsiders were looking for an immediate response following their shock 3-0 defeat at Thornbury Town last weekend and they did just that with a comfortable win over mid-table Shrivenham. 

Matt Turner put the hosts 1-0 up at half-time before second-half goals from Ben Hayes, Dave Reynolds and Joe Bates completed the scoring. 

With seven games left to play for Malvern, they remain a point behind Hellenic Premier leaders Cribbs, having played two games in hand. 

Malvern came into the contest knowing that last Saturday's result at Thornbury had seriously dented their chances of winning the league and that any more slip-ups would end all hope of that.

It was a cagey opening to the contest and the visitors could and should have piled on the misery when Fabian Stanislas went through on goal, but he could only fire wide to let Malvern off the hook. 

That seemed to give the hosts the wake-up call they needed and Harlie Price rattled a shot against the cross-bar shortly before they did take the lead in the 23rd minute. 

A delightful cross from Ben Hayes found striker Turner in the middle and he doesn’t miss those, lapping it up to give Malvern a boost. 

Turner had his close-range effort deflected over as Town looked to extend their lead and the crossbar again prevented that as Hayes' effort crashed back off the woodwork.

It was a positive start to the second-half from Malvern and it took just four minutes for Hayes to fire home for 2-0 after a sweeping move. 

Confidence was now flowing and Reynolds made it 3-0 just after the hour mark following Turner's low ball into the box. 

Substitute Bates then added a fourth on the 71st minute with a looping header that wrapped up the scoring and a much-needed win for Malvern.