MALVERN Town Women kept their hopes of winning the league title alive on Sunday with a 4-0 win over Meadow Park Women.
With the game switched to Malvern's HDAnywhere Community Stadium due to Meadow Park's pitch being unplayable, it was an emotional afternoon for the visitors, who were playing in their final game together as a team before folding.
As for Malvern, they went into their penultimate game of the Midwest Counties Female Football League season knowing that nothing but a win was required to take the title race to a final-day decider with Bromsgrove Sporting Ladies.
Both teams are locked on 34 points, with Malvern having played a game more, after both Town and Sporting won on Sunday.
The hosts spurned a number of chances to take the lead before Maggie Smith lashed home in the moments before half-time as Malvern finally found the breakthrough.
The second half saw a much better performance from Town, but an equally dogged display from Park.
Within two minutes of the restart, Brooke Taylor tested Park’s keeper from distance before Saff Boswell put Town two up following a tap in from Zoe Bloss' cross.
Town continued to create but Park remained resolute, blocking shots from Becky Evans, Leah Baker and Megan Lindsay. It wasn’t until the sixty-seventh minute that Town found a third.
Leah Baker threaded a pass through to Boswell, who finished with aplomb for her second of the day.
Town made it four 15 minutes from time thanks to a thunderous strike from Leah Baker, set up by Lois Unwin.
It was not Malvern at their very best but it was good enough, and they now have to wait and see how Sporting get on against bottom-of-the-league Wyre Forest Phoenix next weekend. They are only three goals behind Malvern on goal difference, which they will surely improve on drastically next Saturday.
Malvern do not play their final league fixture until the start of April, when they will, most likely, have to beat Bromsgrove well to stand any chance of lifting the trophy.
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