MALVERN Town achieved their best-ever points total at Step Four following an impressive 2-1 home victory against Exmouth Town.
Goals from Harry Clark and Jack Watts put the Hillsiders in command before Ben Steer replied late on for the visitors at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
The result means Malvern sit seventh in the Southern League Division One South table, two points outside of the play-off places.
The Hillsiders have now reached the 48-point mark, surpassing the total they achieved last season.
Malvern almost broke the deadlock early on as Exmouth goalkeeper Frankie Phillips tipped Luke Payne’s effort from outside of the penalty area behind for a corner.
And Cameron Walters then headed wide at a corner after he rose highest at the back post.
Later in the first half, a low cross created panic in the Exmouth goalmouth as Phillips eventually grabbed hold of the loose ball following a scramble in the box.
Exmouth’s best chance of the half saw Tom Bath volley Steer’s cross over the bar when well-placed in the penalty area.
Malvern spurned a glorious chance to take the lead soon after as Phillips denied Clark when one-on-one.
And Alex Bell then dragged a shot wide of goal after turning past two Exmouth players in the box.
The home side hit the crossbar with a shot from distance on the stroke of half time as the first period somehow ended goalless.
However, the Hillsiders broke the deadlock two minutes after the interval as Clark lashed a shot into the net at the back post after Exmouth failed to deal with Charlie Johnson’s long throw from the right.
Phillips kept the visitors in the contest soon after as he denied Watts from close range.
However, Malvern doubled their lead on 65 minutes when Watts beat the offside trap and coolly picked out the bottom left corner when one-on-one with Phillips.
Watts had a couple of chances to seal the points for the home side but was unable to find the net.
Exmouth halved the deficit three minutes from time when Steer nipped in ahead of Malvern goalkeeper Josh Bishop in the race for a loose ball before finishing into an empty net.
And the visitors almost snatched a point at the death only for Mike Landricombe’s close-range header to bounce over the crossbar.
Malvern are next in action against Tavistock AFC on Saturday, March 1 with kick-off at 3pm at Langsford Park.
