EXPERIENCED forward Luke Corbett led the way with a hat-trick as Malvern Town made a stylish start to their West Midlands League Premier Division season.

Les Jones' side romped to a 5-0 win at Smethwick last night with Aaron Richards and Dave Reynolds also on target alongside the former Worcester City player.

It was the perfect response to Malvern's 2-1 home defeat to higher-ranked Rocester in the FA Cup extra preliminary round last Saturday.

Town kick off their HDanywhere Community Stadium league programme against Bilston Town Community on Saturday (3pm) and local rivals Pegasus Juniors on Wednesday (7.45pm).

Dene Whittal-Williams is away for the weekend and fellow defender Richards will be a doubt with an ankle injury.

Jones hopes keeper Charlie Weaver will be fit despite suffering a dead leg with club owner Chris Pinder and new signing from Bromyard Town, Aaron Thomasson, vying for the gloves if necessary.

Attacking players Matt Turner and Bryan Craven should return after illness for Malvern, though.

Jones said: "We played very well at Smethwick. We were very unlucky in the cup as we were the better team against Rocester but just didn't take our chances.

"But we took our chances at Smethwick. We started very well and just dominated them.

"They had won their previous game and the league cup last season. We had expected a really tough midweek trip.

"We are blessed in attacking areas and have got good firepower. It's great to have a player of Luke's experience and Dave is always among the goals.

"Bilston are quite a big club in our league and won their first game, while Pegasus will be a good local derby.

"But it will take six or seven games before teams begin to find their level. At the moment, players are still missing through holidays or social commitments.

"We have a good group of local players here who are friends off the pitch as well but that can hit you hard when there's a social event!

"We had a crowd of more than 200 for the cup match on Saturday and I'm hoping the fans who came to see us play well then will carry on coming down to watch."

Town's reserves lost their Division Two opener 3-2 at Warstone Wanderers and visit Sikh Hunters on Saturday (3pm).