A SNOWY Saturday in Merthyr turned into a woeful weekend in Evesham.

Welsh volunteers cleared part of the Penydarren Park pitch of four inches of snow on Saturday morning only to find that the surface underneath was frozen.

The Southern League Premier Division clash was the section's only casualty and results elsewhere saw the Robins slip to next to bottom after Aylesbury's 2-0 win over Banbury.

Only Chesham, who lost 2-0 at Kings Lynn, lie below Paul West's side but the relegation equation now looks to be a battle between five clubs with Evesham now nine points adrift of Cirencester who won 3-1 at Hitchin.

A draw would have been the ideal result at Northwood but it was visitors Gloucester who bagged the only goal to move out of the bottom four at the expense of the north London side.

The Tigers are now six points ahead of the Common Roaders having played one more game. The bottom three sides will automatically face the drop, while the fate of the club finishing fourth bottom will be determined on their points per game record compared to the equivalent sides in the UniBond and Isthmian Leagues.

Saturday's early morning postponement also means that Lee Knight and Richard Ball will miss this weekend's home game with Tiverton Town gut at least gave Dave Adey, Rob Taylor, Anthony Watson and Steve Duncan an extra week to shake off niggling injuries.

Saturday's match is being sponsored by Jim and Jenny Cockerton and the ball by Ken Tallis Butcher, Bishampton.

Premier Division

P W D L F A Pts

Bath City 32 19 7 6 49 24 64

Salisbury City 29 20 3 6 56 19 63

Chippenham Tn 32 19 5 8 57 37 62

King's Lynn 32 18 7 7 56 28 61

Bedford Tn 33 17 7 9 55 43 58

Banbury Utd 33 14 10 9 54 47 52

Yate Town 32 15 4 13 55 59 49

Mangotsfield Utd 32 12 12 8 57 50 48

Halesowen Tn 32 12 11 9 40 34 47

Grantham Tn 33 12 9 12 42 42 45

Tiverton Tn 32 12 7 13 56 49 43

Merthyr Tydfil 31 12 7 12 45 42 43

Rugby Tn 32 12 7 13 52 52 43

Hitchin Tn 33 11 10 12 49 57 43

Team Bath 33 12 5 16 47 54 41

Cheshunt 33 11 6 16 46 53 39

Cirencester Tn 33 11 3 19 37 55 36

Gloucester City 33 8 9 16 46 56 33

Northwood 33 9 5 19 41 69 32

Aylesbury Utd 32 6 11 15 30 50 29

Evesham Utd 32 5 12 15 33 45 27

Chesham Utd 33 6 7 20 31 69 25