Evesham 0, Bishops Castle 6pts

EVESHAM were looking to get back to winning ways in Saturday's North Midlands Shield match but, yet again in atrocious conditions, the Avonsiders came up short.

Still not being able to field their strongest back line through injury, the home side started positively and pressured the Castle rearguard with some intelligent play from half-backs Gary Diston and Chris Evis.

Luke Matthews, Dave Scott and Simon Thwaites were making inroads into the heart of Castle's large forward pack, but they couldn't quite manage a score that their play deserved.

Bishops, slowly but surely, came back into the tie and, with their slow, driving maul build-up play, they crawled into the Evesham half and were rewarded with a penalty.

The visitors again used the wind to their advantage to swarm back into the Evesham half where they met great defence from Joe Worth and Chris Maritza.

Evesham started the second half well and were soon into their stride but poor handling in the backs undid their efforts.

Time and time again Evesham attacked but dogged defence kept the home side out. The visitors rarely ventured into the Evesham half and all they came away with was another penalty. It was another disappointing result for the Avonsiders who, with crucial league matches ahead, a lot of effort and hard work must be put in to turn their season around. They are back in lea-gue action against Manor Park on Satur-day for a 2.15pm start.