A STUTTERING display from Malvern saw Sutton Coldfield secure a 24-13 victory at Spring Lane in Midlands One West.

Having been forced into making six changes for the third week running Malvern looked disjointed and the visitors made their opponents pay for their mistakes.

The early signs looked good for Malvern as they went on the attack, winning penalties and forcing some desperate defence which ended in a sin-binning for a Sutton forward.

Ben King put the home side 3-0 in front and with the scrum shoving their much heavier opponents around, the fans were getting bullish about a second home win.

But Sutton soon turned defence into attack as Malvern gave away a penalty for not releasing before the away side kicked deep into the hosts’ half.

A catch and drive then took Sutton into the red zone where the ball was released for their winger to score in the corner.

Having turned the game around Sutton again used their forward bulk to great effect with a driving maul. The ball was then sent out to their pacey wing who went over for a converted try to give his side a 12-3 lead.

Malvern captain Glen Potter was forced off with an injury but for a while a resurgence looked on as they won a penalty which King dispatched to cut the deficit to six points at half-time.

With Jack Longley also going off in the second half the Malvern lineout unravelled and they kept conceding the ball to Sutton.

They attacked, won a penalty, opted for a scrum as Jack Curtis was sin binned and went over in the corner after the ball was moved across the line.

Malvern then compounded one of several errors by knocking the ball on in defence before another converted try gave Sutton an 18-point lead.

As the big Sutton forwards started to tire in the last 20 minutes, Malvern went up a gear and struck late on.

Malvern moved the ball into the visitors’ half, James Tutty put in a fine carry and the ball was fed out to Jon Wills on the wing to score. King added the extras, but it was a case of too little, too late for the home team.

Malvern travel to North Shropshire to face fellow promoted side Whitchurch on Saturday (3pm).