A MAGNIFICENT fightback at Ilkeston on Tuesday stretched Eve-sham United's unbeaten run to five matches.

The Robins trailed by two goals after 17 minutes but, amazingly, found themselves 3-2 in front six minutes after the break.

Dave Busst's men hit the crossbar three times in the second half but they were indebted to a superb late Tim Clarke save as they recorded a third win in five Western Division outings.

An unmarked Paul Eshelby gave the Derbyshire side a sixth minute lead and it was 2-0 11 minutes later when Clarke was deceived by a lob from Tony Brown.

That was the signal for Busst to replace Craig Ball with Craig Pountney and the latter's striking partnership with Lee Ross blossomed again.

Ross prodded home a cross from Craig Nicholls after 32 minutes and then reacted quickest to level matters from eight yards a minute before half-time.

Evesham's first attack of the second half saw Pountney's shot turned on to the bar but the substitute gave his side the lead when stroking in the rebound after his initial shot had been blocked.

Simon Marsh skimmed the bar and a goalbound Ross shot was deflected on to the underside of the same part of the framework before rolling agonisingly across the goalline and out for a corner.

Ilkeston now threw men forward but found the defence an impenetrable barrier with Clarke performing miracles to prevent Aaron O'Connor's deflected strike making it 3-3 before denying home substitute Chris Freestone four minutes from time.

That's five goals in five games for Ross but the striker will miss Saturday's game against old club Redditch after the club received confirmation of his one-match ban for a red card at Swindon.

Busst revealed that Jermaine Clarke, his latest recruit from Castle Vale Kings Heath, will start against Redditch, who are currently ten points clear at the summit.

"I don't fear any one in this division," Busst declared. "Hopefully, the players will be up for the game and we can continue our good run of form."

However, the Common Road chief will again be forced to reshuffle his pack with Linton Bailey and Steven Hands unlikely to be fit, while Inderpaul Khela suffered a recurrence of a shoulder problem in midweek.

Saturday's match is being sponsored by Reeves Supplies, Victor Business Centre, Redditch. The ball sponsor is Simcron, West Bromwich.

There's another Worcestershire derby to look forward to with Broms-grove Rovers visiting Common Road on Tuesday, March 2.