Cirencester 5, Evesham 4

EVESHAM continued their pre-season friendly campaign with an encouraging performance that simply lacked better finishing.

For long periods the Vale side were the more dominant, creating chances and controlling the game. Yet, the counter-attacking play of the Gloucester side caught Evesham off guard and they made the most of their few opportunities.

The visitors fielded a much-changed side with Mark Brown making his first appearance for more than two years and Phil Rose was handed a first team debut.

Evesham took time to settle with many players having to play out of position. Lack of communication saw Cirencester take an early lead before some excellent passing moves allowed Miles Harris to skilfully deflect the ball past the stranded keeper to equalise.

Yet more confusion in the Evesham ranks provided opportunities for the home side and they soon extended their lead despite some excellent saves from youngster Matt Cook.

However, Evesham found their form in the last ten minutes of the half as Stuart Harris continued his fine form by adding Evesham's second and Mark Brown showed glimpses of class as he skilfully converted two chances from difficult angles.

The second half was almost one-way traffic with Evesham dominating the game. However, despite their dominance and possession, they wasted too many chances.

Cirencester were forced to play on the counter-attack and scored twice against the run of play to regain the lead.

Evesham should have been awarded a penalty stroke in the dying seconds but once again they were denied by strange umpiring decisions.

Skipper Martin Husbands said: "I am disappointed because we should have won comfortably.

"However, we have learned a lot from the defeat and things are building positively for our first league game. Injuries and unavailability are proving awkward at present but things are moving in the right direction."

Evesham continue their warm-up schedule against Stourport on Saturday in what should prove to be another difficult contest.