MALVERN Town produced another high-scoring thriller at the HDanywhere Community Stadium, but this time ended up on the losing side.

After beating Cradley Town 4-3 in the West Midlands League Premier Division last weekend, they fell 5-4 to Shawbury United in the League Cup in midweek.

But sixth-placed Malvern will bid to return to winning ways in the league on Saturday at home to third-from-bottom Willenhall Town (3pm).

Kick-off against Shawbury was moved to 8pm to give the visitors time to travel from Shropshire for the second-round tie.

On a slippery pitch, Malvern started strongly and Ben Hayes swapped passes with Matt Turner during a fine run before firing straight at keeper Graeme Hampton on 13 minutes.

Town went ahead after 23 minutes as Hayes again combined with Turner, but Hampton tried to kick the shot away and missed as it rolled into the net.

Shawbury equalised 10 minutes later when a corner was cleared, but Steve Hole fired home a 35-yard strike.

However, Malvern regained the lead on 38 minutes as Sam Rathbone found Hayes with a cross-field pass and Lee Hooper drove in the resulting lay-off from 20 yards.

The lead only lasted two minutes as a diagonal ball evaded the defence with Dale Williams beating advancing keeper Niall Hacking.

In the 42nd minute, Shawbury took the lead when Hacking could only clear an Aaron Richards back-pass to Tom Rogers, who drilled the ball back into the net.

Malvern tried to level by half-time, but Hampton denied Reece King and Hooper.

Town picked up from where they left off in the second period with Rathbone chipping just over from Chris Allen’s pass on 49 minutes.

However, they equalised in the 61st minute through King’s chip following a Rathbone assist.

But Shawbury made it 4-3 on 67 minutes through Grant Butler’s glancing header from a left-wing free-kick.

A minute later, Rathbone’s effort was pushed over the bar and he then fired another opportunity over.

Hayes struck the post on 76 minutes, but another equaliser arrived four minutes later as Kirk Layton fired in a tremendous shot to level.

Hooper shot over and Hampton dropped a free-kick from the same player, but Malvern could not capitalise.

The winner arrived six minutes from time when the unmarked Hole tapped home, before Layton’s shot was parried by Hampton as Shawbury held on.