MALVERN Town retained the Worcester Infirmary Senior Cup for a further season as they triumphed 3-1 against Pershore Town at Delehay Meadow on Tuesday.

MALVERN TOWN 3, PERSHORE TOWN 1

Both teams took a little while to get into their stride but it was Pershore Town who looked more likely to take the lead, with Craig Humphries in the Malvern Town goal the busier of the goalkeepers.

However, Malvern's Duncan Preedy was soon testing the Pershore defence and his strike on 17 minutes was deflected for a corner.

It was after 30 minutes that Malvern Town struck first, with Duncan Preedy slotting the ball past Jamie Lambert in the Pershore Town goal.

Following a free-kick to Pershore, the Midland Combination premier division team equalised five minutes before the interval with a Mark Bellamy strike.

In the second-half, Midland Alliance side Malvern Town regained the lead with Mark Goodman's powerful header from eight yards out.

Malvern looked to consolidate their lead with some further opportunities before a free-kick in the 74th minute, struck sweetly from 25 yards by captain Nathan Jukes, beat Lambert in the Pershore goal and rebounded off the cross-bar. The ball fell to Luke Whittington, who struck a neat volley which bounced once into the top left hand corner of the net for a 3-1 lead.

Pershore Town created a few opportunities and a goal-bound shot was headed over the bar by a defender to keep the final score at 3-1.

At the presentation ceremony, overseen by competition secretary Marvyn Amphlett, Malvern Town captain Nathan Jukes was handed the Senior Cup by the Worcester Infirmary Cup president Jon Appleton for this season's 84th year of the competition.