A quickfire second half salvo saw Exmouth Town beaten 4-2 by promotion chasing Malvern Town at the Complete Infrastructure Stadium, in the Southern League Division One South.

Despite the scoreline, Exmouth shot-stopper Aaron Dearing had an excellent game, keeping Town in it for the first half and majority of the second. Another stand out performer was Sam Morcom, whose stunning volley from outside the box gave Town the lead, but a Ryan Brunt strike saw the game level at the break. Goals from Harry Clark, Levi Francis and Joseph Tumelty saw the visitors pull ahead, as a late Ben Griffith penalty cut the deficit for Town.

Malvern Town, started fast, forcing a number of saves out of goalkeeper Aaron Dearing.

In particular, it was long balls from deep to wide men Harry Clark and Levi Francis that was bearing the most fruit for the visitors.

They dominated proceedings early on; goalkeeper Joshua Bishop had little to do throughout the first part of the second half.

The best chance of the game in those early stages came when a Malvern corner was cleared only as far as the Malvern skipper, Tumelty, who sent a curling effort goalward from the edge of the box, which was cleared off the line.

Town was having a lot of joy down the left-hand side, combining well with Ethan Slater and Aarron Denny to force some good saves out of Bishop.

Exmouth thought they had an opener as Jacob Shore put a good ball over the top of the Malvern defence into the path of Steer. However, a foul from Steer had the goal ruled out.

The deadlock was actually broken by Sam Morcom, as an Ollie Knowles freekick was cleared by a Malvern defender, only as far as Morcom, whose volley from the edge of the area found the bottom corner.

Sam Clark almost immediately equalised with a bicycle kick from the centre of the box going wide.

Despite their early dominance, Malvern were unable to equalise until the stroke of half time. 

It was Brunt who got the goal, a cross from Levi Francis on the left wing came off the crossbar, and a after a goal line scramble Brunt bundled the ball into the back of the net.

It was a game of corners, Matthew Wright winning one early on in the second period. Exmouth had started the second half fast, dominating through their attacking play.

However, despite their early dominance Harry Clark was able to pull Malvern ahead, as he capitalised on some poor passing out from Exmouth.

Following the goal, Town struggled going forward. Francis added a third on the hour mark, 5 minutes after Clark had given them the lead, after some silky footwork from Francis proceeded a powerful shot into the top corner.

Following the third, Malvern were in complete control of the game. The result was as good as secured just four minutes after Francis’s goal, with skipper Tumelty firing a strong freekick from the edge of the area, leaving Dearing with no chance of saving it.

Ace High was working hard throughout the second half, some good work down the right flank ultimately didn’t lead to a goal from open play, and the team as a whole lacked some conviction in the final third.

A spilled cross from Bishop almost gave Town a second, but no one was there to fire home.

With six minutes left to the referee awarded a penalty to Town following a handball, which Ben Griffith confidently slotted home for his eighth of the campaign.

A lengthy spell of injury time concluded a difficult game for Town, who are back in league action next week at Bishops Cleeve at Kayte Lane.

Line-up: Dearing, Morcom (Josh Cann, 81’), Knowles, Shore, Landricombe (Ace High, 50’), Shipton, Griffith, Slater (Luke Steer, 64’), Denny, B Steer (Ed Butcher, 75’), Wright

Subs not used: Hawkins.

Report written by Benjy Sainsbury.