MALVERN Town lost a topsy-turvy encounter with Cribbs by five goals to four.
The first chance came in the fourth minute when James Febery’s inviting cross was met with a firm header from Joe Bates than went just wide with the ‘keeper rooted to the spot.
It wasn’t long before Bates was celebrating as he latched on to a loose ball to tuck home and open the scoring with six minutes on the clock.
The visitors were soon back on level terms when Steve Murray slotted home in their first foray forward.
Good play from Phil Harris saw him bring the ball out of defence and travel a long way before almost playing in Harry Clark.
As the visitors threatened, Keiron Blackburn blocked well from Murray before Lewi s Platt cleared from in front of goal as the ball stayed alive inside the area.
We had a let-off when the ball was given away in a dangerous position and Nick Jones saw his strike shave the crossbar.
On the half-hour mark, Harris tried his luck with a low drive from distance that was pushed out by the ‘keeper.
A free-kick to the far post from the visitors picked out Ross McErlain whose effort went into the side-netting for the visitors.
A neat move out of defence ended with Bates seeing a strike deflected over for a corner which ended with Harris dragging wide from the edge of the area.
The visitors took the lead on 39 minutes when Jack Fillingham found the net with the aid of a deflection from a tight angle.
We managed to level the scores on the stroke of half-time when Joe Bullock’s low drive was pushed out by the ‘keeper and Turner was the quickest to react to slot home.
It didn’t take the visitors long after the restart for the second half to regain the lead when we failed to clear our lines and Lewis Hedges poked home.
As we looked to get back into the game, a brave header denied Clark whilst at the other end, Blackburn saved well from Fillingham’s deft touch in front of goal.
We equalised with 20 minutes to go when Kyonn Evans did well out wide before pulling the ball back across the danger zone where Clark was on hand to apply the finish.
With the bit between our teeth, Clark’s probing ball into the area just evaded Turner and then a free-kick on the edge of the area was lashed through the wall and well saved by the ‘keeper, however Clark was on hand to turn home in front of goal to put us in front.
The scores were level again with ten minutes to go as Jones found the net.
As the end-to-end action continued, Bullock failed to get enough power on his effort in front of goal and then Niza Chilufya broke the offside trap only to fire wide for the visitors.
On 88 minutes Ross McErlain curled home from distance to put his side back in front.
Try as we might, with Bullock going close on a couple of occasions, we couldn’t find a way back this time.
Attendance: 294
