MALVERN Town’s first home game of 2024 ended in a rare goalless draw against Yate Town.

The first action of the match saw keeper Josh Bishop do well to punch clear a dangerous cross from James Taylor as chances were few and far between in the opening exchanges.

It remained a tight and cagey Southern League Division One South affair as the opening period went on.

The visitors saw a corner cause concern but they fired over through Joe Guest at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.

A chip towards the far post on the half-hour by Levi Francis was plucked out of the air by the keeper whilst at the other end Bishop did well to deny Calum English-Brown.

A neat move saw Francis do well before linking up with Joe Bullock who in turn fed Jordan Annear and he fired just over.

Moments later, at the other end, Bishop was called upon to block well from Ryan Hillier as the opening period ended goalless with little between the two teams.

Just before the half-hour mark, a low ball across found its way to Harry Clark via Jack Watts but his effort lacked the necessary power to trouble the keeper.

Similar to the first half, genuine chances were at a premium in the second period.

On 67 minutes, the best opportunity fell to Francis who broke through only to be thwarted by a smart save from Aaron Sainsbury.

Bishop did enough to deny the visitors at his near post and then, after Malvern gave the ball away in the middle of the pitch, Dylan Lewis went on to fire into the side-netting.

As the clock ticked down, Bishop made a superb save to thwart Lewis’ first-time effort.

Shortly afterwards, Francis saw a curling effort deflected inches wide.

In the end, the two teams could not be separated as it ended goalless in front of a crowd of 330.