MALVERN Town look to cement their place in the West Midlands League Premier Division top five with a win over Smethwick Rangers tomorrow (3pm).

Town have bagged four goals three times in the last five games and hope to continue their rich vein of scoring at the HDanywhere Community Stadium, where they have won seven out of 12 league fixtures this season.

Smethwick sit 13 points behind Town in mid-table but are coming off the back of emphatic defeats at Gornal Athletic (5-0) and Shawbury United (4-1).

Malvern have played 25 league games this season, as many as eight more than others in the division, but manager Les Jones doesn’t think this is a major issue.

He said: “There are number of teams who have to ground-share in this league and so I suppose that has to be taken into consideration.

“It was frustrating to play so many games given our injuries early in the season but we’re happy we’ve got points in the bag at this stage.”

He continued: “We’ve scored lots of goals and we’re an attacking side but some of the pitches recently have been a defender’s nightmare so I don’t read too much into it.

“Smethwick are an attacking team too but we have home advantage so we will be confident of victory. I don’t care how we win as long as we do.

“Our aim for the rest of the season is to finish in the top five or six and make sure we are guaranteed an FA Cup qualifying spot next year.”

Jones also spoke of his support for artificial surfaces with Malvern having long-term plans for their own.

He added: “As long as the 3G pitches are equivalent to grass, I think they are a good addition at our level.

“They would ease some of the scheduling problems and also provide reliable training facilities all year round.”

Defender Phil Harris will be back in contention for Malvern tomorrow.

Under 21s players Chris Parker, Jamie Lush and Jake Hollylee are all available for first-team selection too.

Malvern went up to fourth in the table with last weekend’s 4-1 home win over Haughmond but dropped back to fifth after Shawbury United’s 3-1 win at Willenhall Town in midweek.