Hereford 2 Evesham United 1
Southern League Division One South & West
UNITED boss Paul Collicutt was left with mixed emotions after watching his side fail to become the first side to inflict a league defeat on the table-topping Bulls this season.
The Robins gave a good account of themselves, especially in the second half of Monday’s game at a packed Edgar Street, but were unable to complete a comeback from 2-0 down despite Linden Dovey’s goal 20 minutes from time.
The crowd of 4,406 was Hereford’s biggest of the season and included 340 who made the short journey from the Vale to support Collicutt’s side.
Evesham conceded two soft goals in the first half but responded with all guns blazing after half time and deservedly pulled a goal back through Dovey.
However, despite hitting the woodwork and going close on a number of occasions, the Robins failed to find the equaliser their second half efforts merited.
Collicutt said: “If we play like that for the rest of the season we’ll give ourselves a good chance.
“We froze in the opening 45 minutes but came back to life in the second half and caused Hereford problems.
“We moved the ball better and got into wide areas but ultimately two mistakes cost us and I was disappointed we didn’t perform for the whole 90 minutes.”
The champions-elect looked dangerous from the start as leading scorer John Mills blazed over from inside the six-yard box.
The pressure told on 15 minutes when the normally reliable Kevin Sawyer fumbled Jimmy Oates’ shot and Mills capitalised on the mistake to prod home the loose ball.
It became 2-0 in the 35th minute when a misplaced pass in midfield found its way to Mike Symons who curled a delightful shot beyond Sawyer into the top corner.
Evesham came out after the interval in determined mood and Garyn Preen, who was ending his first month on-loan from Hungerford Town, went close before Hereford stopper Alex Harris saved well to keep out Evesham’s top scorer Lance Smith.
Harris then had to pull off another crucial save to deny Adam Mann as Evesham continued to press before Mann saw his cross-shot rebound off the crossbar with Harris beaten.
However, Dovey got Evesham back into the game on 70 minutes when he powered towards goal from the centre circle before firing past Harris with a wonderful shot to set up a grandstand finish.
United went in search of an equaliser and Harris saved well from the hardworking Mann before Smith, with his back to goal, was unable to get a touch to divert Sawyer’s huge punt upfield into the net.
Hereford were defending for their lives but survived to take the three points and extend their unbeaten league run this season to 24 games.
Third placed Evesham, who have lost four of their last six matches including Boxing Day’s 2-1 home defeat to Shortwood United, will bid to return to winning ways at home to relegation-haunted Bridgwater Town on Saturday.
Another home match follows on Wednesday, January 11 when mid-table Winchester City visit the Jubilee Stadium.