Article taken from this week’s Evesham Journal

EVESHAM United will be hoping for better fortune in their pursuit of cup success when they visit Stamford in the FA Trophy preliminary round on Saturday (3pm).

Matt Clarke’s side have already been knocked out of the FA Cup at the first attempt following a 2-1 defeat at Leek Town last month.

Now they head to Lincolnshire to face another team from the Northern League Division One South — Stamford are second with 12 points from five games — intent on ensuring history doesn’t repeat  itself.

Because of their FA Cup exit, the Robins were without a match last Saturday so are raring to go having not played since beating Clevedon Town 3-2 in Evo-Stik Southern League Division One South and  West on September 4.

“The players had last Saturday off so hopefully they will come back refreshed and go to Stamford and have a really good go at them,” manager Clarke said.

“It’s a tough one because they have the biggest budget in their league and have signed a lot of players from divisions above and are favourites to win their league.”

He added: “We couldn’t have had a tougher draw in the Trophy.

The cups have not been kind at all.”

Evesham have drafted in striker Dan Polan on loan from Worcester City as Roland Agbor starts a three-match ban following his red card in the 1-0 league reverse at Abingdon United on September 1.

Fellow forward Luke Corbett has also been released by the club and has since linked up with Halesowen Town, who play in the same league as Stamford.