Mangotsfield Utd 2,

Evesham Utd 0

by Mervyn Collins

at Cossham Street

ACCORDING to the league table, these were the two best sides in Southern League Division One West. If that's the case then the remaining 20 teams can't be made of much!

The home side failed to take advantage of Evesham ill-fortune that left them minus goalkeeper Dave Adey for 58 minutes after an earlier injury to full back Neil O'Sullivan ensured a quick return for the axed Grant Pinkney.

Dave Busst rang the changes - Stuart Hamilton and Simon Fitter were given starting berths - but his side still failed to produce the goods and, on this and recent displays, even a place in the top six that would guarantee a play-off place looks beyond them.

The visitors had a great first minute chance but Richard Ball's shot was saved by the legs of Danny Greaves, while Leon Blake's surging run from midfield midway through the half ended with Danny Hallett bundling the ball off the line.

Clear-cut chances were scarce at both ends but Mangotsfield grabbed the crucial first strike after 13 minutes when Mark Summers volleyed past Adey after a loose ball fell kindly for him ten yards from goal.

Three minutes later, O'Sullivan failed to recover after a clash with James Zabek that earned the home man a yellow card and there was more work for the physios when Jermaine Clarke and Greaves clashed in the home penalty box.

Ross Casey brought home fans to their feet on the half-hour but his thunderous drive hit the side-netting.

Adey's clearance brought on a serious recurrence of a previous groin problem and the goalkeeper had to be stretchered off a pitch that had only been declared fit an hour before kick-off.

Hamilton volunteered to don the gloves and he was extremely fortunate not to be picking the ball out of the net before half-time just before which Clarke's 20-yard screamer was a foot too high.

Evesham started the second half in fine fashion but a purple patch of 15 minutes failed to bring the equaliser they deserved with Steve Duncan twice going close and Ball also seeing an overhead kick drift wide.

Hamilton survived a shot from Zabek that hit a post and then the stand-in keeper before going for a corner before Duncan saw a close-range header easily saved by Greaves.

Gavin O'Toole flashed a 35-yarder narrowly wide and that was to prove Evesham's last chance as Mangots-field took advantage of poor defending to clinch three crucial points when an 87th minute clearance from Steven Hands was charged down and David Seal easily beat Hamilton.

Ball and Lee Knight both picked up silly cautions that will rule the latter out of the game against Bromsgrove later this month, while Clarke was yellow-carded for the second successive match for a late tackle on an afternoon when the losers again failed to snap out of a two-month spell of mediocrity.