MALVERN Town’s next two home games will be an examination of their promotion-credentials, according to manager Les Jones.

Town are flying high in second position in West Midlands League Premier Division with six wins from their opening six fixtures.

But they will now come up against two sides in equally impressive form.

Third-placed Black Country Rangers will arrive at the HDanywhere Stadium tomorrow (3pm) with just one loss to their name from their first eight matches.

Malvern will then play host to Tividale, who have won four of their five games, on Wednesday (7.45pm).

“The next two games will give us a clear indication of where we are in the league,” Jones said.

“If we win both of them then we will be thinking we will be right up there.

“If we lose the next two then we will be thinking we might be looking at fifth or sixth, so they are massive games.

“But I am confident the boys will be really up for them.”

Malvern will also be looking to put their cup disappointment behind them after suffering a 4-1 defeat to Smethwick in the FA Vase last Saturday.

It was only their second loss this term with their other coming in the FA Cup when they were on the receiving end of a 7-0 hammering by Wolverhampton Casuals.

“We just seem cursed when we play in a competition which has FA written on it,” Jones said.

“We had enough chances in that first half to put the game to bed, but we didn’t and they scored, so we were then chasing the game.

“It would have been nice to have a run in the FA Cup and FA Vase, but we weren’t going to win either of them.

“It’s just frustrating as we don’t seem to have any luck in the cup games. Maybe we will have all our luck in the league.”

Striker Josh Weatherby has overcome a virus while winger Oli Saunders is back available.

But there are doubts over the fitness of midfielders Chris Parker (back) and Mason Mansfield (calf).

Jones added: “We have got a really tough game against Black Country Rangers, but we want to go out there and get back to winning ways.

“Tividale are also a strong side, so after that game we should be able to assess whether we have had a really good start or just a good start.”