Pitching In Southern League Division One South
Evesham United 3–2 Barnstaple Town
EUFC MoM: Toumani Sidibe
Attendance: 248
The Robins followed up three excellent away points against Melksham last week with three more points at the Spiers & Hartwell Stadium.
This time their opponents were basement club Barnstaple Town, whose performance was far better than their league position.
Following a fairly even start it was the visitors who found the net first. William Tucker scored on his return to The Barum, after finding himself unmarked deep into the Evesham box, his shot gave home keeper Isaac Parry no chance in the 5th minute.
If going behind was not enough, the task looked to be made even more difficult on 36 minutes, Calvin Dinsley picked up his 2nd yellow card of the game, reducing the home side to 10 men.
Despite being a man down Evesham turned the game around in five sublime minutes of football, with a couple of goals that were well appreciated by the 248 spectators. The first Robins goal was a truly solo effort in the 38th minute. Tounami Sidibe picked up the ball in his own half before twisting, turning, and powering his way into the visitor’s box, before making no mistake with a well-placed top corner shot past Jack Arthur.
Evesham took the lead through Kyle Belmonte just before the break. Having already seen a class goal the home fans were treated to a worldy, a goal that sent the loyal following into an incredible celebration. Kyle was 30 yards from goal when he struck the ball perfectly, a shot that gave the Barnstaple keeper no chance.
With 54 minutes on the clock, it looked like Evesham were going to double their lead, when a Mike Symons cross found Sidibe whose header looked to be goal bound, only to be denied by a fingertip save that pushed the ball onto the post.
The scores were all level on 73 minutes, Bradley Gale got on the end of a deep cross giving the visitors what looked like a very valuable equaliser.
10-man Evesham United kept pushing, playing some excellent passing football before getting their just reward with 3 minutes of normal time remaining. A well struck Adam Mace free kick could only be parried by the visiting keeper and was calmly slotted home by Man of the Match Sidibe.
Evesham United: Parry, Lymn, Mace, Armitage, Staten, Belmonte 1, Chamberlain, Dinsley©, Symons (Sheehan 89), Smalley (Horrell 70), Sidibe 2
Sub Not Used: Paddock, Hunt, Tustin.
