A NEW year but it was the same old story for Malvern as they suffered further injury woe on their way to a 36-15 defeat to Silhillians on Saturday.
James Doorbar, Adam Dixon and Jonathan Bywater all picked up knocks as Malvern continued their wretched run of injury problems which has blighted them all season.
Nick Tisdale’s men have also made a habit of fading in the latter stages of games and that case again as the hosts pulled away to secure a comfortable victory after the scores were locked at 15-15 thanks to two James Hynes tries.
Having sealed back-to-back wins before the Christmas break, Malvern arrived in good form and they made a fine start to proceedings. Dixon opened the scoring with a fifth minute penalty before the visitors quickly added to their tally when Hynes crossed the whitewash. The back rower turned prop collected Dixon’s long pass to touch down in the corner, which the fly half converted from the sideline.
But a yellow card for Bywater saw Silhillians eventually score a try of their own after a period of sustained pressure in Malvern’s half.
The hosts then suffered a further set back when Doorbar was forced to leave the field with a hamstring injury.
Things did not appear to be going Malvern’s way as they thought they had responded to a second Sils try when Tom Longley dived over.
But the referee chalked it off for a knock on in the build up, which meant the home side held the lead at the break, while Malvern’s misery continued when Dixon sustained a shoulder injury.
A drop goal extended Silhillians’ advantage to 15-10, but the Spring Lane outfit were still in the contest and they soon levelled the scores. Hynes was once again on hand to burrow over after a solid catch and drive laid the platform.
But this failed to dent Sils’ spirit, while poor tackling from Malvern allowed the hosts to add two tries in quick succession to move 29-15 in front.
Bywater then joined the visitors’ growing injury list before Silhillians delighted the home crowd with their final try late on.
Malvern will hope to return to winning ways when they host a Stoke side on Saturday (2.15pm) who caused arguably the biggest upset of the season when they beat runaway leaders Lichfield.