Match Preview

Malvern Town vs Bideford
Southern League Division One South
Saturday 12th August 2023
3:00pm kick off
Langland Stadium, Malvern

The Southern League campaign gets underway on Saturday as Bideford make the long trip up to Worcestershire to take on newly promoted Malvern Town.

Malvern finished the 2022/23 season as runners-up behind Cribbs in the Hellenic League and were promoted to the Southern League after a 4-1 play-off victory over Highworth Town. They began the 2023/24 campaign with a thrilling 5-5 draw at Rugby Town in the FA Cup, a side who also gained promotion last season into the Northern League. It was Rugby who went through to the next round though with a 2-1 win at the Langland Stadium on Tuesday night.

Bideford began the season with a reasonably comfortable 2-0 FA Cup win over Wellington of the Western League thanks to goals from Ryan Turner and Finn Roberts. The Robins will be without goalkeeper Adam Seedhouse Evans for the trip to Worcestershire after he picked up an injury this week. Archie Reay also remains on the sidelines alongside Matt Bye. James Mayne is available for selection again after serving a suspension.

Bideford’s last six (LLDWWW)
05/08/23 Wellington 0 Bideford 2 (FA Cup EP)
28/07/23 Newton Abbot Spurs 0 Bideford 1 (Friendly)
25/07/23 Bideford 2 Barnstaple Town 1 (Friendly)
21/07/23 Bideford 1 Truro City 1 (Friendly)
18/07/23 Bridgwater United 2 Bideford 0 (Friendly)
15/07/23 Bideford 1 Pontypridd United 3 (Friendly)

Malvern Town’s last six (LDWWDL)
08/08/23 Malvern Town 1 Rugby Town 2 (FA Cup EPr)
05/08/23 Rugby Town 5 Malvern Town 5 (FA Cup EP)
01/08/23 Malvern Town 3 Cheltenham Town XI 1 (Friendly)
29/07/23 Brimscombe & Thrupp 0 Malvern Town 6 (Friendly)
22/07/23 Malvern Town 1 Stourbridge 1 (Friendly)
15/07/23 Stourport Swifts 4 Malvern Town 3 (Friendly)

A Brief History of Malvern Town FC
Originally founded in 1946 as Barnards Green, the club first played in the Worcester League before progressing to the Worcestershire Combination League in 1955. As Malvern Town, the club won the league title at the first attempt and went on to win the Worcestershire Junior Cup three years in a row. A fourth Junior Cup would follow in 1961/62. The Worcestershire Combination League would be renamed the Midlands Combination League in 1968. Malvern won the Worcestershire Senior Urn three years in a row in the 1970’s, going on to win it eight times in total as of 2015. In 1979 the Hillsiders transferred to the West Midlands Regional League where they remained until being relegated to Division One in 1992. Despite finishing in 9th place in 1993/94, the club were promoted back to the Premier Division for the 1994/95 season. Malvern were Premier Division champions in 2003/04 which earned them promotion to the Midlands Alliance League and a 3rd place finish in 2005/06 saw them promoted again to the Southern League in Division One Midlands. Malvern were relegated back to the Midlands Alliance League in 2009 and relegated again in 2011 back to the West Midlands Regional League. In 2019 the club transferred to Division One West of the Hellenic League and based on their results during the two abandoned seasons in 2019/20 and 2020/21 (due to the coronavirus pandemic), they were promoted to the Premier Division. Malvern finished 3rd in 2021/22 and after finishing runners-up in 2022/23 were promoted to Southern League Division One South via the play-offs.

Malvern Town FC
Langland Stadium
Langland Avenue
Malvern
West Midlands
WR14 2EQ
Tel:
Website: https://www.malverntown.co.uk
Twitter: @MalvernTown1946

Previous meetings:
No previous meetings