A much changed Evesham side returned to winning ways in style bagging their third win on the road at a freezing cold Eynsham Park. The 3-1 victory against the Millers ended a sequence of four successive defeats and lifted Paul West`s side up to 10th in the Evo-Stik Southern South & West table.
Martin Hutchcox and Joel Hardwick made their first starts and youth team players Jamie O`Meara and Josh Goddard were named on the Robins bench. Kicking down a prominent slope, North Leigh made the better start forcing United keeper Tom Cross to make important stops from John Mills twice and Lewis Coyle in the opening quarter. Evesham, however, weathered the early pressure and broke away to take a 20th minute lead through James Blake`s angled finish after cutting in from the left. In the last action of the half, North Leigh were reduced to ten men when Toby Clarke was sent-off for a two-footed lunge on Simon Fitter.
With the elements in their favour, United made the extra man count by scoring twice in three second half minutes. With twelve minutes to go Carl Brown was pulled down in the box and Leigh Downing coolly dispatched the resulting penalty past Sam Worrell. Brown then got on the scoresheet soon after, when he beat Worrell with a splendid first-time effort from 25 yards. Despite Andy Caton pulling a goal back for the home side, substitute Dwayne Spence found the North Leigh net again in stoppage time but had his excellent finish disallowed for offside.
EVESHAM UNITED: Cross, Kalonji, Blake, Sysum, Hutchcox, Williams, Fitter, Downing, Palmer (Kandekore 88), Brown, Hardwick (Spence 60).
Subs not used: O`Meara, Vernaschi and Goddard.
Referee: Mr S Barry (Northampton)
Attendance: 79
