EVESHAM United were left frustrated when their bid to bounce back from Saturday’s FA Trophy exit was thwarted by the postponement of Tuesday’s scheduled Southern League Division One South & West encounter at Swindon Supermarine.
The match at the Webbs Wood Stadium fell victim to a waterlogged pitch and left Paul Collicutt’s men kicking their heels having seen their Trophy run ended by Saturday’s 2-1 loss at home to Northern Premier League Division One North outfit Spennymoor Town in the second qualifying round.
The County Durham side will now travel to FA Cup headline-grabbers Stourbridge in the third qualifying round.
For the Robins, attentions now turn to trying to claw their way into the Southern League Division One South & West play-off picture and their next opportunity is Saturday’s home game against AFC Totton of Hampshire.
The tenth placed Robins have designated the match as ‘pay what you like day’, meaning there is no set admission charge and supporters can pay what they wish at the turnstiles.
There will be a happy hour in the bar between 1-6pm with reduced prices on beer and wines and a £4 hot meal will be offer including a soft drink.
On Saturday Evesham exited the Trophy after Danny Frost scored Spennymoor’s winning goal 14 minutes from time.
The Moors substitute arrived at the back post to tuck away Lewis Hawkins’ low cross and end United’s three-match league and cup winning streak.
Ten-man Spennymoor, who had Shane Henry sent off for two yellow cards in the second half, then had to withstand a wave of late pressure form Collicutt’s side to ensure their progress.
Spennymoor arrived unbeaten away from home this season, while United were looking to continue their decent run of form which saw them knock out higher graded Redditch United in the previous round.
United, who were unchanged from the side that beat Redditch, made the worst possible start by falling behind after just 11 minutes when a ball played in from the right bobbled around in the United box before the visitors’ top scorer Nathan Fisher scuffed a shot into the bottom corner of Kevin Sawyer’s net.
Despite battling against a gale-force wind, United went on to carve out a couple of decent chances before half time as Danny Lowson in the Spenny goal beat away Adam Mann’s drive and then safely gathered the striker’s shot after good work by the hardworking Lance Smith.
With the wind and rain behind them in the second half, United looked the more threatening and levelled with a moment of brilliance on 55 minutes when Carl Brown tried his luck from 30 yards and beat Lowson all ends up with a terrific strike that will be a contender for the Robins’ goal of the season.
It was Spennymoor who then spurned opportunities to take the lead for a second time as firstly Fisher got clear but poked wide with only Sawyer to beat and then Sawyer twisted superbly to touch over Henry’s powerful drive.
On 76 minutes the winning goal arrived for the visitors courtesy of Frost’s tap-in despite United’s protests that Hawkins had handled in the build-up.
This was soon followed by a moment of madness from Henry, who lunged in on Sean Wood and earned a second booking to leave Spennymoor a man short for the remaining 13 minutes.
Predictably United threw men forward in search of an equaliser but Lowson was at his best in making good saves to keep out Smith who had wriggled clear and Mann.
UNITED will go to title-chasing North Leigh in a rearranged league fixture on Wednesday, November 25.
