MALVERN Town's recent slump in form continued on Tuesday night as they were beaten 2-1 at home by another of the sides competing with them at the top of the Hellenic League Premier in Longlevens.

Having slipped behind thanks to a deflected strike from Longlevens' Ethan Dunbar in the 21st minute, Matt Turner equalised to get the hosts back in the game.

But the visitors were back ahead not long afterwards when Shaun O’Connor’s effort found its way into the net.

And that proved to be the winner as The Hillsiders made it two defeats in four days after losing 5-4 to Cribbs in a chaotic clash last weekend.

The result leaves them in seventh place having now won just one of their last six games in the league and manager Lee Hooper admits his side now need to dig deep.

"It’s a tough one to take,” he said.

"We conceded two poor goals and it cost us. We failed to create the opportunities or get into the good areas that we usually do and as a result we didn’t test their goalkeeper enough.

"We had a good chat after the game where we highlighted the areas that we need to improve upon and we’ll take that into what is a big training session on Thursday.

"We are the only ones that can turn this situation around and I have every faith in the quality within the group to be able to do it.

"It’s going to be a case of digging deep and being ready to go again at Royal Wootton Bassett Town on Saturday, which will be another stern test for us.

"You can be sure that we will be doing everything to turn this around."