A YOUTHFUL Malvern Town side gave an excellent account of themselves at high riding Midland Alliance outfit Bromsgrove Rovers in this Second Round Worcester Royal Infirmary Cup tie at the Victoria Ground on Tuesday evening.

BROMSGROVE ROVERS 4, MALVERN TOWN 2

Town were still missing several players through injury, but with 17-year-old defender Adam Simpson making his debut and Mark Taylor starting for only the second time, plus the teenage strike force of Matt Upton and Lee Hooper, Town were not overawed by their experienced opponents and with some slick movement caused the home defence a number of problems.

Indeed it was no real shock when Town took the lead in the 55th minute through Matt Upton, but shortly after Town lost a little shape for the first time and allowed Liam O' Neil to equalise in the 62nd minute.

Five minutes later the same player made it 2-1 to the home side, but in the 70th minute Neil Mogford was brought down in the box and Matt Upton scored from the resultant penalty to level matters.

However O' Neil got his name on the scoresheet again in the 82nd minute to restore his side's lead, but Upton might have equalised for Town with just two minutes to go, but fired over when well placed.

Unfortunately for Town, the last word went to Rover's Joe Licata, who scored his side's decisive goal in the 89th minute.

But Town were not too downhearted as assistant manager Richard Anson said: "We took a lot from this game, Bromsgrove are probably stronger than any side in the Express and Star League and clearly wanted to win, but for us Adam Simpson was excellent on his debut and Mark Taylor looked like he has been at left back for us all season.

"Overall, there was a buzz about the side that has been missing in the last few games and I think we have a youthful framework on which we can now build."

Tomorrow (Saturday) Malvern Town are away to Ettingshall HT (2.45) in an Express & Star Premier Division fixture while the Reserves entertain Brereton Social at Langland Stadium in the first round of the League Cup (2.45).