MALVERN started this Midlands Two West encounter on the attack, John Martin breaking through to set up the second phase and Malvern winning a third-minute penalty to take the lead through Richard Fleming.

MALVERN 19PTS, NEWBOLD 26PTS

Newbold had strengthened considerably since the first fixture in the autumn, fielding a huge pack that proceeded to put Malvern under pressure, especially when employing the driving maul.

After Anderson had twice carried the ball to the heart of the Newbold defence, Malvern conceded the advantage by giving away a penalty and the Warwickshire side drove the maul to the Malvern line, the referee awarding the visitors a penalty try for dropping the maul.

Newbold continued to pressurise in the tight, giving Malvern little room to manoeuvre. Adrian MacBurney was brought on to add some extra weight up front but Newbold's big pack continued with their only, but effective, tactic. Two more tries came from the catch, drive and maul to put Malvern 19-3 down at the break and staring defeat in the face.

The sizeable crowd, which included Malvern patron the Lord Gretton, plus sponsors Prime (UK), got behind the side as they realised the only way to get back into the game was to move the ball around and stop Newbold mauling.

Matt Richardson came on at prop to add some stability to the scrum and Malvern pressed into the Newbold 22 metre area, winning a penalty for Fleming to claw back three points.

As Newbold countered, for once moving the ball wide, John Martin made a superb saving tackle on the full back.

Malvern headed back with debutant Dan Kay racing up the wing to get to within five metres of the line. From a scrum, returning Aussie stand off Dave King burst through the Newbold defence to score a fine try, Fleming's conversion taking Malvern to within a score of Newbold's total.

Tight head Steve Cooper went on a 40-metre charge, unlucky not to find the speeding Chris Williams with the final pass, but Malvern had their tails up.

Another Fleming penalty saw the gap narrow to three points, and then Kay and Williams both had good runs to keep Malvern deep in the visitors' half.

Newbold obstructed, Fleming earned his man of the match tag with another penalty and the scores were level.

Malvern's supporters, having urged their team back from the dead, were now cheering every move. However, the crowd were silenced as the team, perhaps becoming over-confident with victory coming in sight, started to play in cavalier fashion. Instead of securing the ball and working slowly up field with time running out, Malvern tried to run the ball from deep in defence.

One stray pass gave Newbold the turnover and they capitalised, moving the ball wide and scoring a converted try to edge ahead again. They couldn't believe their luck after being put under pressure and played sensible possession rugby until the clock ran down.