Evesham United 5 Wantage Town 1
Southern League Division One South & West
THE ROBINS came from behind to record an ultimately convincing victory over lowly Wantage on Tuesday and rise to second in the table.
Paul Collicutt’s side are now within eight points of leaders Hereford having racked up a hugely impressive tenth successive league win and extended their unbeaten run to 11.
An intriguing clash against Salisbury now awaits at the Jubilee Stadium on Saturday as United aim to maintain the pressure on the table-topping Bulls.
Two goals each for Mark Magee and substitute Lance Smith clinched the three points but, in the first half in particular, United did not have it all their own way.
The Freds saw a penalty superbly saved by the returning Kevin Sawyer and then took the lead through Mark Francis in the 25th minute.
However, United regrouped and scored twice leading up to half time and then three times in a one-sided second half to round off an entertaining evening at the Jubilee Stadium.
United looked out of sorts early doors and a tug by Nick Stanley on Elliot Powell in the 19th minute presented Wantage with a golden opportunity to snatch a shock lead from the penalty spot.
However, Sawyer guessed the right way to brilliantly keep out Francis’ spot-kick.
It was not long before Francis made amends for his miss though as sloppy defending allowed the Wantage striker to fire the visitors into a 1-0 lead.
Slowly but surely United started to look their old selves as Magee fired into the side-netting and then the United frontman saw his shot blocked after good work on the right by Paul Fahy.
On 39 minutes, after a decent passage of play, United finally levelled through the impressive Magee who took advantage of a poor back pass to round Eddie Cavanaugh and slot home the equaliser.
Cavanaugh then produced a flying save from Magee’s curler before Liam Harding met Lorcan Sheehan’s corner with a superb header to give the Robins a 2-1 interval lead.
The second half began with United on the attack and Sheehan’s header came back off the crossbar before Harding’s goalbound header was hacked off the line by James Glover.
Just beyond the hour a barrage of pressure ended with Magee finding space on the left and bursting into the box before placing a delightful finish into the far corner to make it 3-1.
The United fans did not have to wait long for another goal as leading scorer Smith, on as a substitute, tapped in from close range after a great run and cross from Lewis Binns.
Two minutes later Smith became the leading scorer in the South & West Division as he overtook Hereford’s John Mills when he sprinted through the Wantage defence and rounded Cavanaugh before rolling the ball into an empty net for his 19th league and cup goal of the season to complete another impressive display.
Evesham are also in action on Tuesday when they visit mid-table Didcot Town.