Cleeve suffer derby day defeat against marvellous Malvern
Despite Bishops Cleeve’s best efforts to mount a comeback, Malvern Town ran out victors in a strong performance at Kayte Lane on Saturday afternoon, writes Alfie Richmond.
A repeat of last season’s semi-final play-off promised to be a cracker as The Mitres took on The Hillsiders in what was a pivotal fixture at the top-end of the league table. Cleeve sat just two points outside of a play-off place prior to kick-off, with a win potentially seeing them enter the picture. But the visitors, Malvern, had lost just two in their last ten games, sitting fourth in the league with only four points separating the two sides.
After a cagey opening first 15 from the hosts, the first chance of the game fell to Malvern — who had started the game the better side. Levi Francis
saw his volley fire into the side-netting after an initially well defended corner by Jake Lee.
Moments later, Luke Payne flashed an effort wide of Lewis Clayton’s post after a sweeping Malvern move.
The visitors were beginning to turn up the heat, and on 20 minutes, Harry Clark was denied by a good stop from Clayton following a flurry of blocked shots outside the Cleeve box.
Just a few minutes later, though, Malvern were caught on the break when Toby Holland slid in Jay Malshanskyj — who used his body well to get his shot away, which was well saved by Josh Bishop.
Bishop was called into action again on 28 minutes when Cleeve created their best chance of the half after a Holland free-kick found Lee, whose sliding effort was spectacularly kept out by the keeper to keep it at 0-0.
But Malvern fired back, and opened the scoring on 33 minutes. A textbook goal involving Ben Baxter and Joe Tumelty was finished off by Piers Walton to give the away side the lead.
Though Lee couldn’t open the scoring for Cleeve, he sure made amends to deny a second Malvern goal at the other end of the pitch. Another quick move from the visitors saw Tumelty tap into what looked like an open goal, but Lee crashed in late to block the skipper’s shot off the line and keep the deficit to one on 36 minutes.
The Hillsiders’ opener took the wind out of Cleeve’s sails — who, before the goal, looked to have grown into the game. The away side had done well to keep the Mitres penned into their half and see out the half-time score of 0-1.
The second half began with a similar pattern, and Malvern Town were dominating proceedings. Eight minutes in, they doubled their lead. A good cross from Tumelty was met with a bullet header from Sam Clark, leaving Clayton with no chance.
The visitors showed no intention of slowing down after their second, and struck the post through Harry Clark just two minutes later after he’d wrong-footed Lee.
61 minutes in, Cleeve conceded a third. Matt MacDonald fired a pass into Tumelty whose strike was too powerful for Clayton to keep out — giving the hosts a tough mountain to climb with 30 minutes left.
But a good reaction was shown. Four minutes later, Malshanskyj slid one through to Harry Williams who was caught by Bishop — leaving the referee no choice but to award Cleeve a penalty.
The newly-introduced Ross Langworthy stepped up — and clawed one back for the home side with 65 minutes on the clock.
Reece King almost gifted Cleeve a second on 77 minutes after his headed back-pass was short — giving Langworthy an opportunity to sneak around the back line, but he couldn’t get enough contact on the ball.
The home side improved after their goal, but failed to create any clear-cut chances as a result of Malvern’s disciplined shape.
Williams did have the ball in the net with three minutes remaining, but the linesman’s flag was up — summing up a frustrating afternoon for Cleeve as Malvern saw out the 3-1 victory.
The Mitres host a struggling Bashley side in two week’s time, but not before they make the trip to Melksham Town next Saturday. Malvern face a home tie against Brixham at the same time, before next Wednesday’s mid-week clash at Willand Rovers.
Bishops Cleeve: Clayton; Lee, Nelmes, Liddiard, Holland, McLean, Williams, Malshanskyj, Messenger, Davies, Kotwica.
Subs: Turner (46’) Langworthy (57’), Keeping (82’), Jeremiah (46’) McInerney (57’).
Malvern Town: Bishop; Payne, Baxter, King, Johnson, MacDonald, S.Clark, Walton, Tumelty ©, H.Clark, Francis.
Subs: Lewis, Bullock (86’), Salter (78’), Quintas (78’), Brunt (71’).
C Martin Roofing Man of the Match – Jake Lee (Bishops Cleeve)
READ MORE: Check out the list of Saturday’s results in and around Gloucestershire right here
