MANAGER Les Jones believes Malvern Town have gained a “psychological lift” after climbing to the top of the West Midlands League Premier Division.

Town replaced Black Country Rangers at the summit following a 3-1 victory over bottom club Wellington Amateurs on Wednesday.

Tividale and Wolverhampton Sporting Community have several games in hand on Malvern who hold a slender one-point advantage over Rangers.

But Jones was delighted to see his team take pole position ahead of their clash with sixth-placed Cradley Town at the HDanywhere Community Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

“It was a nice psychological lift for us to go top of the league,” Jones said.

“I don’t know when we were last in this position at this stage in the season but it has given us a tremendous boost.

“Other teams have got games in hand on us, but the main thing was we got three points under our belt and that sets us up nicely for the match against Cradley.”

Malvern got off to a flying start against Amateurs as Kyonn Evans netted on eight minutes after Shaun Smith’s shot was parried by the keeper.

Matt Turner calmly slotted home a second on 13 minutes before the visitors cut the deficit with a penalty.

But Town settled the contest on 65 minutes when Evans turned and found Lewis Platt who tucked the ball away.

“It was a fantastic result against a very strong Wellington Amateurs team who have improved under their new manager,” Jones said.

“It was a dubious penalty decision which gave them hope and as the pitch got worse it became more of a level playing field.

“But I thought we ran out comfortable winners in the end.”

Malvern will be without defender Dene Whittal-Williams against Cradley as he is away.

But Jones has backed his team to extend their six-match unbeaten run.

“Cradley are a big, strong West Midlands outfit and are only a few points behind us so they’ll be confident,” Jones added.

“We will look to outplay them and maintain our form.”