By a comfortable margin Sporting went through to the semi-final of the County Urn but they did not have an easy ride particularly in the first half. Indeed this was the toughest match played by the Rouslers for several weeks.
Mark Bellingham was held up by heavy traffic so Sam Wilkinson was a given a chance to play striker alongside Billy Russell.
Both sides traded blows for the first few minutes with the best effort coming from Sean Williams on 5 minutes when he attempted to lob Charles Weaver in the Malvern goal from 40 yards but the ball went wide.
The away side relied mainly on fast breaks up field with James Lush and Jamie Smith testing the Sporting defence. But Joe Cole mopped up most attacks in the middle whilst Chris Duggan and Brett Mander closed down the supply lines on the flanks.
However Lewis Loader did manage to get in a fine shot for Malvern that Jake Bedford tipped over the bar.
Sporting attempted to build up moves from midfield and make use of Danny Ludlow and Sean Williams to get behind the defence. This won them a few corners and it was from one of these that they got their noses in front on 24 minutes. Williams floated over a good ball and Sam Wilkinson made good use of his height to rise above the opposition defence to head home.
Malvern pressed forward with a number of incursions into the Sporting half with their best chance of the match coming on 36 minutes when again Jake Bedford had to tip over a thundering shot this time from Lush.
Sporting doubled their lead 5 minutes after the interval when Billy Russell harried the Malvern defence and slipped a pass to Wilkinson who fired home from 10 yards. What happened next was unclear but it looked as if Malvern's centre-back Jamie Thomas said something to referee Mr Walker who issued him with a red card.
Sporting now tried to take advantage of the extra man and the third goal came eight minutes later courtesy of Lewis Clarke who fired home again from a corner.
Sam Wilkinson completed the night's scoring for Sporting and his own hat-trick on 65 minutes with another fine header.
Malvern attempted to even up the score line but with ten men and tired legs it was always going to be a struggle.
Sporting: Jake Bedford, Brett Mander, Chris Duggan, Lewis Clarke, Joe Cole (Capt.), Danny Morris (Craig Jones 46 mins), Sean Williams (James Johnson 66 mins), Darius Darkin, Sam Wilkinson, Billy Russell (Mark Bellingham 67 mins), Danny Ludlow.
Sub not used: Ryan Andrews, Matt Lowe.
Malvern: Charles Weaver, Mark Seysell, Harry Wickett, Jamie Thomas, Aaron Richards (Joshua Fletcher 52 mins), Matt Cole (Jamie Smith 60 mins), Lewis Loader, Reece king, James Lush, Lee Hooper (Matt Turner 71 mins), Lewis Platt. |