MALVERN Town bagged their second cup final place of the season when they eased past local rivals Ledbury Town in the semi-final the Worcester Royal Infirmary Cup.

MALVERN TOWN 5, LEDBURY TOWN 0

Although their talismanic striker Dean Roberts marked his first start for a month with a four-goal haul, it was an otherwise superb team performance from Malvern which firmly banished any hang- over from Saturday's disappointing draw at Wellington.

The visitors never really recovered from Roberts' first-minute goal, when he outpaced a flat-footed defence to comfortably beat Adam Penny in the Ledbury goal.

Although Ledbury rallied briefly after this, Adam Moss in the home goal was never seriously tested and, in the 17th minute, Malvern secured a second crucial goal.

Scott Morris, who had an outstanding game on the night, was unlucky to see an effort come back off the post, only to fire the rebound against the upright once again. Roberts, however, was lurking with typical predatory intent and followed up Morris's second effort to firmly plant the ball past Penny.

With Nathan Jukes, Rik Halion and Morris now bossing the midfield, and Gary Smith and Craig Williams making good use of the flanks, Ledbury were struggling to get any sort of foothold on the game. It came as no surprise when Williams popped up in the area to slide home Town's third goal in the 35th minute.

The second period showed no respite for the visitors. Malvern came out all guns blazing as Roberts struck twice in the 49th and 54th minutes to confirm Town's place in the final.

The rest of the half saw Malvern remain in the ascendancy, without creating many chances, although Town boss Neil Hunt did take the precaution of substituting 24-goal striker Roberts, Halion and Nick Clayton in advance of the league trip to Newport.

Despite this, the visitors were rarely seen as an attacking force, although Moss did well to gather a 20-yard drive from Steve Smith.

In the game's closing moments, Jukes fired a free kick narrowly over for Malvern. Substitute Gordy Beauchamp came closest to extending their lead when his powerful drive rattled the crossbar and, although the ball fell to Morris with the goal at his mercy, it got caught under his feet, to deny him the goal he deserved on the night.

After the game, Town boss Neil Hunt said: "The value of these cup competitions this season has been immense, not just in terms of what we have achieved so far, but we always seemed to have had a cup match following a league game where we haven't perhaps performed as well as we would have liked. In every case, they have enabled us to get back on track and also give us something to look forward to at the end of the season."