Exmouth Town were deservedly beaten 2-1 by an in-form Malvern Town side at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.

In a game that was dominated by the hosts, a late surge from Town almost saw them snatch a draw in the dying moments, but Luke Steer’s goal was not enough to cancel out goals from Harry Clark and Jack Watts.

Clearly a team playing with confidence, Malvern’s quick passing play was a problem for Exmouth, who struggled to deal with it.

That was established early on as Luke Payne was giving a lot of space outside the box to take a shot, which was superbly tipped wide by Frankie Phillips.

Cameron Walters would go close from a corner, rising highest at the back post to send a header wide.

A low-cross would almost catch Town off-guard, as it deflected against Phillips and that led to a scramble in the goalmouth, which was eventually grabbed by the goalkeeper.

Exmouth would manage to get up the other end to have their best chance of the half, as a cross from Ben Steer found an unmarked Tom Bath in the box, but his volley was over the bar.

That would be as good as it got for the foreseeable future for Town, who survived a string of great chances to keep it level.

It started with Clark being played through on goal, and it took some great positioning from Phillips to make the save.

Alex Bell would step up next, as it looked like Dave Rowe had dealt with the midfielder until he sprung up and turned two Town players in the box, but with the goal at his mercy, he dragged the effort wide.

The crossbar would save Town’s blushes before the half-time whistle, with the hosts lashing a shot against the woodwork from outside the box.

It did not get any better for the visitors after the break, as a long-throw from Charlie Johnson was not dealt with by the Exmouth defence, and it dropped in the right place for Clark to fire into the back of the net.

Town struggled to do anything in possession, with a string of loose passes allowing the hosts to keep up their pressure on Phillips.

The Exeter City loanee was showing how good he was, once again stepping up to deny Watts from close range.

It was a poor pass from Town that saw the second goal go in, as it gifted Malvern the opportunity to play Watts through on goal, and he made no mistake one-on-one.

Similar to the Mousehole home game, Town were grateful for Phillips, who kept the score down greatly, this time making an excellent stop with his foot, diverting an effort onto the crossbar.

Watts was allowed to go through on goal multiple times, but luckily for the lacklustre visitors, he spurned two chances to increase the gap.

Late in the game, a long-ball was chased down by Steer, and when Joshua Bishop missed the ball, the attacking midfielder kept his cool and slotted the ball into the empty net.

This sparked Town into life, who for the first time in the game were able to keep a hold of the ball and put a period of sustained pressure on the hosts.

Exmouth, who could have been five or six down, almost completed a robbery in the last minute of the game, as a corner reached Mike Landricombe at the back-post, and his header bounced over the crossbar from close range.

It would not have been a deserved point for Town, who were below par throughout the game, and they will need to improve going into their clash against Westbury at the Complete Infrastructure Stadium next Saturday.

LINE-UP: Phillips, High, Cann, Landricombe, Rowe, Shipton, Knowles, Swann (L.Steer, 63), Griffith (McCue, 68), B.Steer (Slater, 68), Bath.

SUBS NOT USED: Thorne, Hill.