MALVERN Town travelled the long distance to Elles-mere and returned pointless after conceding two goals in the first 30 minutes of this Midland Alliance defeat.

Malvern gave a league debut to Dale Watkins but it did not start off well and he was soon in the referee’s book.

In the 15th minute the referee then showed him a red card but, after consulting his assistant, withdrew his decision and booked Leigh Downing instead. After 20 minutes the same assistant flagged for a penalty for shirt-pulling following a corner, much to everyone’s surprise, and Edward Hope stepped up and slotted the ball past Craig Humphries to give Ellesmere the lead.

Malvern were not playing well and in the 31st minute a mistake in defence saw the ball played across their penalty area and Christopher Cathral made it 2-0.

Ellesmere were really firing and in the 35th minute Humphries pulled off a fine double-save to keep Malvern in the game.

In the 42nd minute Jamie Insall was obstructed in Ellesmere’s box and the referee awarded a penalty which Downing fired home.

A minute later, Insall fed the ball through to Craig Selby but his shot was saved by keeper Andrew Mulliner.

At the start of the second- half, Robert Hendry replaced the injured Selby and Mal-vern dominated play and looked a different team from before the break.

Ellesmere did not have an on-target shot in the second- half as they hung onto their lead but Malvern’s ability to create chances was still lacking.

While they worked the ball to the penalty area, the only chances they did create were wasted.

The best shot of the half came when Downing’s 87th minute shot was turned round the post for a corner by Mulliner, which denied Malvern the equaliser their performance merited.