SATURDAY'S West Midlands League Premier Division game at the Langland Stadium left Malvern still searching for their first win as they recorded their third draw in five outings, despite generally holding the upper hand against a physical Tipton side.

MALVERN TOWN 0, TIPTON TOWN 0

From early on Malvern's Black Country visitors attempted to intimidate both the home side and match officials and despite some lenient refereeing, Town refused to be cajoled into retaliating as they went about the task of trying to kick start their season into life.

Dean Roberts, Lee Hooper and Darren Wade all came closest to giving Malvern the lead, but it was the visitors who looked to have gained the advantage after 20 minutes, only for Dave Cannon to brilliantly clear a goal bound shot off the line.

Town had good appeals for a penalty turned down in the 35th minute, when Hooper was upended in the box, and moments later, following a foul on Ricky Halion, Steve Walker fired the resultant free kick over the bar.

The game erupted two minutes later, when Malvern's Adam Ward tackled Tipton's Gary Rhodes and despite the referee allowing play to continue, Rhodes raised both hands towards Ward's face, giving the referee no choice but to show him the red card.

Rhodes even found this hard to accept as, rather than leave the field, he had to be restrained from remonstrating with Malvern's Dean Roberts.

Fortunately, the half ended without further dispute and during the second half Town, despite controlling things territorially, failed to break down the visitor's defence.

Dave Alden in the Town goal was rarely threatened though, as Tipton's main threats tended to come from set pieces.

The best chance of the game fell to Malvern's Hooper in the 70th minute, but despite finding himself in the clear, was denied by the legs of Gary Price in the Tipton goal.

Steve Walker then saw a fierce drive fly by Price's post and, Halion fired wide when well placed, also a number of frantic scrambles in and around the visito'rs six yard box still saw Malvern frustratingly unable to find the finishing touch.

In the 80th minute Malvern again had another credible appeal for a penalty turned down when Dean Roberts turned his marker in the box, only to be upended as he set himself for a strike on goal.

However, Malvern failed to secure the goal that would inevitably have won the game and are still searching for that elusive win.

Town general manager Richard Anson said: "We were disappointed not have won the game, and might have asserted ourselves more in the second half against their ten men, but we should have had at least one penalty and Lee missed the best chance of the game.

"But the plus points were that we held our discipline well, and the back three with Craig Williams sweeping looked far more comfortable than we did last week.

"Darren Wade, also made his first start following injury, and although not yet match fit, Darren will solve a problem we have had on the right hand side

"Overall, the spirit is good and we will get our act together and we are still confident that we will have a good season."