MALVERN Town Youth met Cheltenham Town Youth Academy in the HFA Giantkillers Cup final and emerged victorious at Ledbury Town FC.

CHELTENHAM TOWN U18s 0, MALVERN TOWN U18s 1

Malvern got off to the best possible start when Ollie Endacott broke free on the left and whipped in a cross-cum-shot, which deceived Craig Humphries to put Malvern in the lead after just two minutes.

The game was played at a cracking pace with both sides putting together great passing moves. Cheltenham sprayed the ball around the edge of the pitch and forced Town to work hard closing them down.

Whilst Town were made to work harder, their work rate paid off as they created more goal scoring chances with both Paul Edwards and Lee Tompkins going close with headers and Endacott with a low driving shot.

Cheltenham had their chances and goalie Paul Maynard pulled off some superb saves, which came mainly as a result of corners and free kicks. The back three of Baker, Shipman and skipper Jamie Thomas were in sparkling form and provided a solid base behind the hardworking midfield.

For Cheltenham, Connolly and Foley performed well and when Danny Bridges was brought on with 20 minutes to go, he proved to be a constant threat with his speed.

To counter this move, Mark Hands came on for James Aston and got stuck in, despite returning to competitive football having just recovered from a broken leg.

As the game drew to a close, Smith put Endacott into space with a well timed pass and as Endacott was forced wide by Humphries, the left back blocked what looked a certain goal.

Town's director of youth football Les Jones said: "This is just rewards for the lads who have brought pride to the club, not only by winning this cup final, but also for knocking out the cup holders Newport County in an earlier round and also for getting to the first round proper of the FA Youth Cup, where they met football league side Notts County."