HARRY Clark was the hat-trick hero as Malvern Town hit the Hellenic League Division One West summit for the first time this season by demolishing morning leaders Hereford Pegasus 7-1.

Clark's treble, which was added to by George Hayes, Matt Turner, an own goal and Ben Febery to put the Hillsiders into seventh heaven to reach the 50-point mark after 21 league matches.

“This is how we should play every week,” beamed Clark.

“We responded brilliantly to the defeat in our last game and made a real statement with this result.

“For me personally it has been good to get back into scoring goals in the past couple of weeks and it’s always nice to grab a hat-trick.

“I’ve been through a bit of a dry patch but hopefully that is behind me now as we prepare for the run-in to the end of the season, we have some big games coming up.

“The backing that we get, both home and away, is massive for us and really pushes us on to perform every week. We had another great following at Pegasus and that helped us to get the result to leapfrog them and take top spot.

“It’s a position that we will be doing all we can to hold on to between now and the end of the season.”

HEREFORD FC: Interim manager Josh Gowling felt Hereford given Altrincham “too much respect” during Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat.

The Bulls went behind through a Elliott Durrell volley on the stroke of half-time with Kelsey Mooney missing two second-half chances for Gowling’s side before Simon Richman sealed the points late on.

“I don’t feel we were at it like we have been at home and gave them a little bit too much respect,” said Gowling.

“Not being disrespectful to any other teams here but I don’t want to respect anyone in this league, we’ve got a job to do and we’ve got to get points on the board.

“We made two mistakes and it cost us the game. We did some work on them in the week and knew their movement was difficult to match.

“We were aware that pressing too high and too early we would get picked off, we worked on that but didn’t implement that how we would have liked.

“I thought we were a bit hesitant with our press and could have done better than that.

“We kept the ball well but when we got to the final third it was that last pass or the control that let us down a little bit.

“We worked in the week about our two wide players getting a lot wider, but we didn’t really do that and cut inside too much.

“When you look at the game we had some good chances but just didn’t put them away.

“We probably had the better chances in the game and ended up losing 2-0.

“Although we’ve lost 2-0 it shows how far we’ve come as they are sixth in the table and we’re 17th and the lads are disappointed to lose 2-0.”

After weathering some early pressure the Bulls responded and Kelsey Mooney sent a looping shot just over the bar.

Altrincham were almost handed a 31st minute lead when Martin Riley back-pass was almost latched on by Daniel Mooney.

However, the ball beat both Mooney and Hall before falling wide.
On the stroke of half-time the visitors went ahead with Daniel Mooney’s cross finds Durrell who rifled home a fine volleyed finish.

Hereford: Hall, Hodgkiss, Thomas (Pope 79), Pollock (O’Sullivan 71), Anderson, Riley, Jagger Cane, Owen-Evans, John-Lewis, Liburd (Finn 61), Mooney

Unused subs: Davies, Ash.

Attendance: 1,698 (including 98 away fans).

FOOTBALL RESULTS

SATURDAY

National League North: Hereford FC 0-2 Altrincham, Kidderminster Harriers P-P Guiseley.

Southern League Premier Division Central: Barwell P-P Redditch United, Nuneaton Borough P-P Bromsgrove Sporting, St Ives Town P-P Alvechurch.

Division One South: Highworth Town P-P Evesham United.

Midland Football League Premier Division: Highgate United P-P Stourport Swifts, Worcester City P-P Selston.

Division Two: Fairfield Villa P-P Alcester Town, Hampton P-P Barnt Green Spartak, Redditch Borough P-P Lane Head.

Division Three: Birmingham Tigers P-P Upton Town, Shipston Excelsior P-P Inkberrow.

Reserve Division: Bartley Reds P-P Sporting Club Inkberrow, Redditch United 3-1 Coton Green, Tamworth Academy 5-0 Fairfield Villa.

U21 West Division: Droitwich Spa BG 2-4 Lichfield City, Worcester City 1-4 Halesowen Town.

West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division: Bewdley Town P-P Shawbury United, Bilston Town 1-2 Pershore Town, Black Country Rangers P-P Littleton, Worcester Raiders 2-2 Dudley Sports (played Friday).

Division One: Bromyard Town P-P FC Darlaston, Droitwich Spa 4-2 Sikh Hunters.

Division Two: Worcester Raiders reserves P-P Coven Athletic.

Hellenic League Premier Division: Easington Sports P-P Westfields.

Division One West: Hereford Lads Club 6-0 Moreton Rangers, Hereford Pegasus 1-7 Malvern Town, Wellington P-P Malmesbury Victoria.

Cheltenham League Division One: Malvern Vale 5-4 AFC Renegades.

Division Three: Southside Star reserves P-P Malvern Vale reserves.

Division Four: Tewkesbury Athletic 0-3 Kempsey Corinthians.

Senior Charity Cup third round: Fintan 5-1 Hanley Swan, Leckhampton Rovers 1-2 Worcester City Royals, Welland reserves 1-1 Shurdington Rovers (9-8 on pens).

Worcestershire FA Saturday Junior Cup semi-finals: Welland P-P Kidderminster Harriers U21s, Worcester City reserves 1-4 Feckenham.

SUNDAY

Worcester and District League Sunday Premier Division: Fernhill Heath Athletic P-P Perrywood.

Division One: Droitwich Spa BGFC Rovers P-P Colwall Wanderers, FC United of Worcester Seconds 2-3 PT Eagles, Lower Teme & Martley 2-1 Northside, The Bell 3-1 Malvern Vale.

Division Two: Droitwich Spa Rangers P-P Kempsey United, Hornets P-P Worcester City Wanderers, Lower Teme & Martley Athletic P-P Colwall St James.

Division Three: Eaton Rovers P-P Lower Teme & Martley Rovers, Perrywood reserves P-P Droitwich Spa Eagles reserves, Swan Swifts P-P Lower Teme & Martley reserves, Worcester Saints P-P Malvern Radar.

Phipps Cup first round: Hawthorns Athletic P-P Riflemans.

Worcestershire FA Sunday Premier Cup quarter-finals: Bromsgrove Corinthians 2-4 Redditch Borough, Vue Bar 0-5 Green Man Inn.

Sunday Junior Cup quarter-final: New Dales 4-1 Meadow Park.

Sunday Minor Cup semi-final: Gruppo Select 2-1 Cofton Old Boys.
Worcester Nursing Minor Cup: Powick P-P Droitwich Spa BGFC United.

Worcester News:

BASKETBALL: WORCESTER Wolves threatened to blow a 16-point cushion in a double-overtime victory over Bristol Flyers on Friday. 

Wolves looked to be coasting to a straightforward win with a 53-37 second-half lead before Bristol roared back to force a 70-70 tie.

The resurgence put Flyers 79-75 ahead with just 18 seconds to go until late buckets from Worcester’s American pairing Mark Hughes and Cortez Edwards dragged the match into a second overtime period at 80-80.

The decisive point came in the last couple of minutes when Wolves captain Maarten Bouwknecht was bundled to the ground as he drove to the basket.

The unsportsmanlike foul called against Flyers resulted in two made free-throws to put the hosts 85-82 to the good. 

Next up for Wolves, third in British Basketball League and four points off top spot, is a trip to Newcastle Eagles on Friday (6.30) followed by Glasgow Rocks away on Sunday, March 8 (5pm).

Sheffield Sharks visit Worcester on Friday, March 13.

ACTION SHOT: Julius Van Sauers. Pic: Keith Hunt.