BROMYARD Town goalkeeper Dean Smith says his team have to battle for the full 90 minutes if they want to stay in the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division.

Smith retired in the summer after winning the Division One title.

He has now re-joined the club and believes Bromyard need to show a different type of mentality to ensure they don't go straight back down.

"We had a lot of things go our way last year and we didn't have to fight and to dig in now and again," said Smith.

"This is a completely different kettle of fish and we have to fight from the first whistle.

"A lot of lads are not prepared to do it at times, only for 40, 50, 70 minutes.

"You have to do it for 90 at this standard.

"I retired last year having won the league.

"Being captain and picking up the trophy meant a lot to me and I thought it was time to retire.

"I was asked to come back to help the club out because I love the club.

"I have been here now 10 or 12 years and it's nice to come back and I want to enjoy it again.

"We have got players at this club that could potentially go a lot higher if they are prepared to, but I don't think they are."

Smith amazingly scored against Malvern Town last Saturday when his long free-kick from about 40 yards deceived everyone and went straight in.

But Bromyard were very poor defensively and two late goals saw their local rivals claim a 6-3 win.

"I didn't think we played at all well and a few lads let themselves down in all honesty," said Smith.

"We've just got to pick ourselves up now.

"Everyone can say this and that, but for me it comes down to man-marking.

"We weren't tight enough and we've got to sort a few things out at the club and see what we can do about it to put it right."

Explaining his goal, Smith added: "I hit it long because I thought, if we hit it deep, someone up top could get a flick-on.

"The keeper came, struggled, and it went in.

"I'll take that goal all day long."

The defeat leaves Bromyard third-from-bottom in the division, two points from safety.

Bromyard opened the scoring in the 22nd minute thanks to a header from Josh Weatherby.

The striker had a great chance to double his side's advantage five minutes later, but his shot hit the inside of a post.

That proved costly when Malvern brought themselves level in the 32nd minute when Dave Reynolds' shot beat Smith.

The Worcestershire side, who started the day level on points with Bromyard, then went in front six minutes into the second half through Brian Craven before Ben Hayes made it 3-1 in the 64th minute.

Bromyard manager Nick Smith brought on Connor Thomasson and Dale Goddard in an attempt to get back into the game and they got some luck when Smith's free-kick sailed in.

But Malvern went and scored a fourth goal through Reynolds six minutes from time to seemingly seal the game.

However, Weatherby made it 4-3 with another header two minutes later to make it a grandstand finish.

But it was Malvern who were celebrating at the end thanks to two stoppage time goals from Hayes that completed his hat-trick and earned the away side three points.