LUCTONIANS 21pts, MALVERN 18pts

Holders Malvern were knocked out of the North Midlands Cup at Kingsland by a fortunate Luctonians side.

The visitors opened the scoring through a third minute Richard Fleming penalty as they took the game to their hosts.

The first half was often marred by niggle between the two packs, old scores to the fore, but when the sides concentrated on playing rugby it was a fast and furious cup tie.

Wheadon's penalty saw the sides draw level, then Lucs made a sustained attack on the Malvern line, sucking in the defence to create the extra man, Owen going over for the try.

Malvern replied with spirit, Nick Smith seemingly everywhere as they put Lucs on the back foot for long periods. Hardcastle, Richards and Fleming linked before putting Eastwood on the charge, shrugging off challenges with ease to run almost half the pitch to even the scores in the 27th minute.

The referee issued a general warning to both skippers as tempers flared.

In the 34th minute the Malvern pack drove Lucs back on their own line and hooker Chris Pemble touched down.

Before Hardcastle converted, Malvern skipper Vince Hill tripped over a Luctonians player and was sent off for stamping. Luctonians made the most of the extra man advantage to take play up field and score through Owen just before half time.

Malvern coach Andy Cushing gave some inspirational words at the interval and his side came out to play like demons and control the play for long periods of the second half.

Marc Gaubert made his presence felt almost immediately with a crunching tackle but Luctonians took the lead through a Wheadon penalty, much against the run of play.

Malvern again pinned the North Herefordshire side back in their own 22-metre area.

However, the hosts struck a killer blow with 10 minutes left when scrum half Saint broke on the blind side and sent flying winger Garrod on a 75 metre scoring run.

Hardcastle pulled back a penalty in the 73rd minute, but despite Malvern's sustained assault on the Lucs line, they were unable to get that all important score.

Malvern now go into their crucial final game with Bromsgrove on Saturday determined to maintain their league status.