STEPHEN Cleal praised match-winner Sam Clark for producing a moment of magic as Malvern Town battled to a 1-0 win against local rivals Evesham United.
Clark scored a stunning winner with a lobbed effort over Evesham goalkeeper Alex Harris from just past the halfway line at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
The result means Malvern sit seventh in the Southern League Division One South table after stretching their unbeaten run to six league matches.
And Cleal wants his side to go on and eclipse the club’s previous best points total in the division with the Hillsiders just three points shy of setting a new club record.
Cleal told BBC Hereford and Worcester: “It was a typical derby game, it was scrappy, lots of tackles going in, no team really settled down in possession, it was quite frantic.
“We didn’t create many chances, they didn’t create many chances. Evesham are a great side, they’re second in the table for a reason.
“Clarky saw the keeper off his line because we know Alex [Harris] plays high and he’s just dinked it in, a little bit of magic sparked it but we were worthy of the three points.
“We’ve scored a lot of goals recently, but we dug in at home which pleased me, we worked hard and to win one-nil is brilliant.
“It showed a different side to us because we didn’t create many chances and for us to do that and win is a good sign.
“It’s not a target for us [the play-offs], the target is the next game, we have to make sure we get as many points as we can between now and the end of the season.
“The first target is to beat the record which is 47 points – the best-ever Malvern Town team which we were last year – we’re looking on course to beat that.
“If we get there we get there and if we don’t then it’s still going to be a good season.
“We’ve got it in us to be able to go on these type of runs, it’s just the belief and confidence. When you win games of football it breeds confidence.”
The game started at a frantic pace as Jack Watts delivered a couple of crosses in from the left which Evesham dealt with comfortably.
At the other end, the visitors broke quickly down the right and forced Josh Bishop into the first meaningful save of the game.
Malvern responded with a chance of their own as Watts released Harry Clark who saw his effort saved by Evesham goalkeeper Harris.
Evesham called Bishop into action again later in the first-half as the goalkeeper held on to a close-range shot after a long throw bounced around inside the penalty area.
The visitors spurned another chance after the break as a visiting player dragged a shot wide of the target from the edge of the penalty area.
Bishop then saw his clearance land at the feet of an Evesham player 40-yards from goal who failed to hit the target with the goal at his mercy.
However, Malvern eventually broke the deadlock in style on 65 minutes as Clark won possession and sent a stunning lob over Harris and into the left corner of the goal from just inside the Evesham half.
And the Hillsiders held on to complete an impressive league double over the Robins.
Malvern are next in action against Exmouth Town on Saturday, February 22 with kick-off at 3pm at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
