MALVERN Town host Dudley Sports tomorrow (3pm) striving to find some consistency in the West Midlands Football League Premier Division.

The Langland Stadium side are 12th in the standings, one place below their next opponents, having won two and lost two of their last four games.

In the quartet of league fixtures prior to that, they drew twice, won once and lost once. The mixed bag of results has perplexed manager Les Jones but he insists his side are not far away from breaking into the upper echelons of the table.

He said: “In the last eight games, we have won three, drawn two and lost three.

“We were by far the better team last Saturday at Willenhall and lost 3-2.

“It was three individual mistakes and we got punished.

We are always there or thereabouts, we just can’t get a consistent run. It’s one step forward and one back at the moment.

“We don’t have the same side every week but, even so, we are nearly there and, with one good step forward, we will go on a run.”

Jones, whose side could move into the top 10 of the table with victory against Dudley Sports, is also unhappy at the scheduling of games.

“We have no consistency from the league,” the Malvern boss added.

“We had two games a week earlier in the season but now we haven’t got any mid-week fixtures so it’s stop-start in that respect.

“There’s no reason why we can’t be playing mid-week matches.”

Malvern have been boosted by the firepower of Ed Lyons following the striker’s return from holiday.

Lyons scored in the weekend defeat at lowly Willenhall with Andrew Fletcher also on target with a late penalty.

Central midfielder Joe Leighton is on the comeback trail after a spell on the sidelines with a dislocated shoulder.

He will step up his bid for full fitness by playing for the reserves against Malvern Rangers at Dyson Perrins Academy tomorrow (2pm).