Hereford 24 pts

Malvern 26

STRUGGLING Hereford suffered a last-gasp Midlands 1 defeat after squandering a commanding 18-3 half-time lead on Saturday.

Hereford's Jeremy Grisman appeared to have secured a vital win for the Wyesiders in the dying minutes after he kicked a long-range penalty to put his side 24-23 ahead.

But Hereford's celebrations immediately turned to despair when the visitors won a turnover from the resulting kick off and fed captain Andy Longley who kicked a mighty drop goal from within his own half to snatch a dramatic victory for the Worcestershire club.

In fact, the match-winning drop goal was the finale to a thrilling match because the referee blew for full time immediately after the ball had sailed through the posts.

The second half, in which Malvern totalled 23 points, was in stark contrast to the first where Hereford took control from the kick off.

John Jenkins popped the ball to Jason Lewis who crossed the Malvern line for an unconverted try in the first minute.

Malvern suffered a further early blow when Williams picked up a yellow card and Hereford extended their advantage through a Grisman penalty on 10 minutes.

The Wyesiders continued to keep Malvern pinned in their own half, with good line kicking from Gary Preece and incisive work by Simon Lewis, and the visitors had Richard yellow carded in the 20th minute.

Grisman slotted over another penalty to extend Hereford's advantage to 11 points and more pressure from the home forwards resulted in a try for Gareth Miles which Grisman converted to make the score 18-0.

Malvern reduced the deficit with a penalty from Longley after their first serious attack of the game in the 35th minute but Hereford responded and went close to scoring a further try shortly before half time.

Malvern's Young put his side back into the match with a converted try in the 45th minute and Longley punished Hereford's indiscipline five minutes later with a successful penalty to cut the home club's advantage to 18-13.

Grisman increased Hereford's lead to 21-13 with another penalty kick, but the home side continued to play inside their own half and eventually conceded a penalty and an unconverted try to trail 23-21.

With four minutes to go, a Grisman penalty restored Hereford's advantage at 24-23, before Longley made his match-winning contribution on the stroke of full time.