MALVERN Town secured an emphatic 6-1 victory over fellow high-fliers Thornbury Town in front of a crowd of 217 at the HDanywhere Community Stadium.

A purposeful start was rewarded in the sixth minute when the in-form George Hayes found the net with a sweet strike from distance.

Buoyed by the goal, Malvern doubled their advantage just past the half-hour mark when Kyonn Evans turned the ball home.

A commanding first-half display ended with Matt Turner increasing the lead on the stroke of the interval.

Within 10 minutes of the restart Dave Reynolds added his name to the scoresheet in the Hellenic League Division One West encounter.

Evans notched his second before Thornbury's Bennett was dismissed for a second yellow card.

Matt Fusco added a sixth goal with 10 minutes to go before the scoring was completed late on with a consolation goal from a free-kick.

Malvern co-manager Lee Hooper, whose side leapfrogged Thornbury into third spot, said: “It was a good all-round display.

“We never let our opponents get into the game and ran out worthy winners.

“We pressed high and starved them of the ball.

"Thornbury can be a good team but we scored goals at important times and made it hard for them to get any momentum.

“George hit a wonder-goal to set us on our way. He is playing with a lot of confidence at the moment and fired home from over 25 yards.

“We were able to push on after the opening goal and got ourselves into a three-goal lead going into the second half.

“Going into the second half we knew there was still room for improvement.

"It was key that we kept up the work-rate and desire against a strong wind and that is exactly what we did.

“We looked solid at the back and were disappointed to concede right at the death from a long-range free-kick.

“We are on a good run at the moment and the lads are giving us absolutely everything.

"They are playing some really neat football and the effort off-the-ball is superb.

“We’re not letting our opponents get a foothold in games and whilst we know there are things for us to work on it gives us a platform on which to build.

"We’re setting ourselves high expectations as a club so that we keep improving.

“To have over 200 people through the gate was brilliant and it helped to up our game.

"We’re regularly in the top-five attendances for this level of football in the whole country and it is a great effort from the local community.

“Hopefully more and more people will come along to see what is happening here and this level of support will really help in our quest to take the league title.”

Malvern: Dibble, Smith, Hunt, Harris, J Febery (Skidmore 71), Turner, Hayes, Loader (Fusco 76), Evans, Reynolds (Wickett 82), Clark. Subs not used: J Sauntson, Hooper.