RANGERS travelled to the impressive Coor's Stadium on Saturday to play fourth placed Ludlow Town Reserves and gave a far better account of themselves than of late.

LUDLOW TOWN RESERVES 1, MALVERN RANGERS 0

The first half was evenly contested with Rangers taking long range shots rather than taking the ball on and as a result, shots from Chris Davis, Richard Bird and Mark Taylor failed to seriously test keeper Ryan Griffiths.

At the other end Ross Sanders was rarely threatened but when he was beaten Martin Philpotts raced back to clear off the line. Before the interval a Mark Taylor free kick went marginally over the crossbar.

Rangers started the second half slowly and it was during this period that the home side scored what proved to be the decisive goal. In the 53rd minute, play continued with Rangers appealing for offside and Russell Davies went down the right before crossing for the unmarked Andrew Mowen to head in.

For the next five minutes or so Rangers struggled to contain the home side and then to their credit fought their way back into the game, so much so that it was they who were beginning to dominate. After 19 minutes, a good through ball saw Chris Davis in on goal but he was thwarted by keeper Ryan Griffiths. In the final quarter of an hour a rasping shot by Owain Rowat flashed across the goal whilst at the other end, the home side had a couple of point blank opportunities to have increased their advantage.

Man of the match was Richard Bird.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Rangers, sponsored by Strikes, are again away when they visit Cradley Town Reserves for a West Midlands Division One (South) fixture, kick off 2.45pm, players meet Brooklyn Motors prompt 12.45pm, the Oak Apple 1pm.