EVESHAM United suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against in-form local rivals Malvern Town in a blow to the Robins’ title hopes.
A moment of magic from Sam Clark in the second half condemned the Robins to defeat at the HDAnywhere Community Stadium.
And the result means Evesham sit third in the Southern League Division One South table, 10 points behind leaders Yate Town.
The game started at a frantic pace as Jack Watts delivered a couple of crosses in from the left which Evesham dealt with comfortably.
At the other end, the visitors broke quickly down the right and forced Josh Bishop into the first meaningful save of the game.
Malvern responded with a chance of their own as Watts released Harry Clark who saw his effort saved by Evesham goalkeeper Alex Harris.
Evesham called Bishop into action again later in the first-half as the goalkeeper held on to a close-range shot after a long throw bounced around inside the penalty area.
The visitors spurned another chance after the break as a visiting player dragged a shot wide of the target from the edge of the penalty area.
Bishop then saw his clearance land at the feet of an Evesham player 40-yards from goal who failed to hit the target with the goal at his mercy.
However, Malvern eventually broke the deadlock on 65 minutes as Clark won possession and sent a stunning lob over Harris and into the left corner of the goal from just inside the Evesham half.
The Robins pushed for a late equaliser but could not find a way through as Evesham’s eight-game unbeaten run came to an end.
Evesham are next in action against Larkhall Athletic on Saturday, February 22 with kick-off at 3pm at the Spiers and Hartwell Stadium.
