Having forced his way into the starting line-up earlier this month, Alex Bell has certainly made an impact for Malvern Town.
Not only has he helped the Pitching In Southern League Division One South club go on a five-game unbeaten run that has included becoming the first team to beat Helston Athletic this season, leading League leaders, Yate Town, up until the 95th minute and also securing a 5-4 victory over Bristol Manor Farm, but the former Swindon Town youngster has also scored four times in the last three games from the right-back position!
“The football is good at the moment,” he told us with a smile. “I haven’t felt this feeling for a while, so it’s great for me personally and also good to see the positive vibes around the club, but we need to stay on this run and keep getting points.
“I’m just happy to be out there and making a contribution. I came back into the team for a County Cup tie at the start of the month, did well and have been given the opportunity in our busy schedule of League matches since then.
“It’s been nice to score some important goals and build some momentum and confidence. Saturday’s victory at Helston Athletic saw us display real character, to go from two goals up to 3-2 down with time running out and then bring it back to win 4-3 with a Sam Clark hat-trick.
“It was a crazy game and came on the back of quite a journey to get there! We left Malvern at 4pm on the Friday only for problems on the M5 to delay our journey, which meant that we didn’t reach our hotel until after 3am, so to then be up and put in a hard-working performance like that the next day says everything about the type of character we have within the group.
“My aim now is to keep my starting place. I was previously coming off the bench a lot but now I am determined to hold down my place and continue to enjoy my football in what is a good group of lads.
“Everyone is capable of beating each other in this League and that’s what makes it so exciting. From what we have done over this past month, there’s no reason why we can’t push for the play-offs and with our superb fan base behind us every step of the way, that always gives us an extra boost.”
The Hillsiders head to Worcestershire rivals, Evesham United, on Tuesday before hosting Bideford on Saturday.
IMAGE: Cliff Williams
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