MALVERN Town returned to winning form in the Express and Star West Midlands League Premier Division with this convincing win at Lye on Saturday.

LYE TOWN 0, MALVERN TOWN 4

At the same time, Town extended their lead at the top of the table to two points following Tipton's goalless draw at home to Heath Hayes, Tipton though still have a game in hand.

There was little doubt about the result once Adam Baldwin's excellent 20 yard strike had put Malvern in front in the 21st minute. In fact up until that point Malvern had largely controlled the game with their fluid passing in midfield always giving them an edge over the home side.

Town might have taken the lead earlier had a Duncan Preedy effort not come back off the post in the 15th minute.

After Baldwin's strike, the visitors continued to try and increase their advantage and did so from the penalty spot after 33 minutes.

The penalty was awarded for hand ball following a frantic scramble in the six yard box and Nathan Jukes, who dominated in central mid field, struck home the spot kick with the minimum of fuss.

After the break, Lye upped the tempo and put Town on the back foot for a period of time, but never really threatened to find a way past Adam Moss in the Malvern goal, in fact Town broke twice during this period and Preedy again and Lee Hooper almost extended their lead.

But the crucial third goal did eventually arrive in the 59th minute, although it had a touch of good fortune about it.

Scott Morris crossed from the left and a Lye defender in attempting to clear the ball to safety, only succeeded in heading Morris's cross past his own goalkeeper.

Following this goal, Malvern resumed full control and Hooper sealed a good afternoon's work when he drilled the ball home from close range, to secure Town's fourth goal after 74 minutes.

After the game Town boss Neil Hunt said: "We said before the game that we needed to start the match with the same tempo that finished the previous game against Lye in the Urn semi-final, and we need just that.

"Part of the problem in the previous two league fixtures, was simply that we started too slow and allowed the visitors to get a foothold on the game before we got going.

"But we have to happy with this result, Lye are not a bad side as we saw following their recent win at Kington, so to defeat them twice in the space of five days has to be satisfying."