WHAT a battle this turned out to be.
From the first to the last whistle every Malborough player was willing to put in that bit extra against a very physical home side.
It was Malborough who started by far the better and got there just rewards on 20 minutes when Alex Watts picked the ball up out wide, slid it down the line to Kielan Arblaster who totally outstripped the defence, got to the bye line before cutting the ball back to Din-Dan-Gill on the penalty spot, who rifled his shot into the top corner.
Malborough dominated for long periods, Watts again stinging the keepers' hands with a low drive, then Rob Austin completely dissected the home def-ence with a peach of a pass that picked out Ricky Gritten, who bore down on goal, his shot forcing the keeper to pull off a fine save.
The home side got back on level terms five minutes into what ended up, bizarrely, being a total of 10 minutes of added on time in the first half.
The second half went much the same way, Nick Martin putting in some crunching tackles, Matt Walters, Gareth Head and Jack Soper looking so tight at the back giving absolutely nothing away.
Gareth Morgan at the heart of the midfield released Arblaster down the right once more who whipped in a cross for Gill who grazed the bar with a half volley.
Arblaster went thro-ugh one on one with the keeper, kept his shot low, the rotund keeper getting down well to his right.
Connor Cranfield in only his second outing for the club looked very accomplished between the stick.
Man of the match Nick Martin.