Evesham United 1-1 Cinderford Town AFC – Report by Dean Speake
The first 45 minutes of this game were played in the worst weather conditions seen at The Spiers & Hartwell Jubilee Stadium in a long time, with the rain and wind making football very difficult at times. That said Evesham United started the game showing purpose, with some excellent passing football and good pressing when out of possession.
Some good early Robins pressure lead to nothing as they were lacking that final ball. After a foul on Harry Franklin, Jack Horrell’s free kick could only find its way over the bar.
With 20 minutes on the clock the rainfall decided to increase to biblical proportions, not happy with that the wind also increased to the point that the visitors were struggling to get the ball out of their half at times.
A Lorcan Sheehan shot from the edge of the box in the 24th minute required an excellent save, Nicolas Jones in the Cinderford goal managed to get his fingertips to the ball, tipping an excellent strike over the bar.
It was then the turn of The Foresters to show their hand, William Gibbons shot on the half hour looked as though it was going to break the deadlock, his shot evaded Lewis Clayton but, Matt Williams was on hand to clear the ball off the line.
Cinderford took the lead in the 3rd minute of first half injury time when they were awarded a very dubious free kick on the edge of Evesham’s box. Zackary Drew’s excellent shot found the back of the net, giving the visitors an unexpected lead as the first 45 ended.
Horrell scored equaliser
The weather conditions were improving as the second half got underway. The visitors managed to get into The Robins box only for Kieran Alder to see his shot go well wide of the goal. Just two minutes later Evesham were level, with Cinderford unable to clear the ball from their box Jack Horrell’s well placed shot found a clear path to goal, giving Jack his first league goal of the 2020/21 season.
Both sides were showing that neither would be happy with just a point, the visitors long range efforts were not getting any reward. An impressive Sheehan corner on 66 minutes found the head of Williams but, he could only head the ball over the bar.
An impressive cross from substitute Aaron Basford was very close to finding Harry Franklin’s head on 76 minutes, which was followed by some excellent pressure from Evesham without reward.
One of the Cinderford substitutes, Liam Wright looked like he was going to secure all 3 points for the visitors, having found his way into Evesham’s box, his shot beat the keeper but found Ryan Paddock on the goal line who was able to clear the ball.
Evesham then had their own chance to nick the points when on 87 minutes the visitors were unable to clear the ball from their box, the ball did not seem to drop in the right place for a Robin to pull the trigger.
EUFC MoM: Matt Williams
Attendance: 245
Evesham United: Clayton, Staten (Hayes 71), Mace, Williams©, Paddock, Sheehan, Franklin, Horrell (Dinsley 61), Hunt, Lucas (Basford 71), Lymn. Subs Not Used: Clarke, Johnson
