Evesham Utd 1, Mangotsfield Utd 0

A SEVENTH clean sheet in eight games maintained Evesham's amazing run of form that has now produced 16 Western Division points and a place in the County Cup final.

That particular showpiece occasion will now get under way next Tuesday night (7.45pm) at The Grove after Halesowen Town overcame Bromsgrove 3-1 last night.

The second leg will take place at Common Road on Wednesday, April 23.

It's been a remarkable turnaround since the two sides met at Cossham Street in January when Mangotsfield ran out five-goal winners.

Since that miserable night, Phil Mullen's men have won nine out of 13 matches -surely not the record of a side going nowhere!

Defeats at the hands of Clevedon and Redditch should have been avoided, while the capitulation at Gloucester two weeks ago can now be excused after their April Fool's Day success.

Admittedly, the visitors were a pale shadow of the side that has scored the most Western Division goals and recalled goalkeeper Tim Hart was only seriously tested on one occasion.

That the winning goal came courtesy of visiting defender Scott Hendy shouldn't take any credit away from an Evesham side denied the services of Mark Shepherd who didn't emerge from the dressing room after the interval.

It was replacement Scott Mullen who had the clearest chance to double the lead five minutes after half-time but he lobbed wide after racing clear.

Manager Mullen handed a debut to Kidderminster youngster Nick Heath but it was another borrowed Aggb-orough player, Inderpaul Khela, who twice went close to adding to his recent goal haul.

Seven league matches remain and there's a bit of revenge in the mind in four of them starting with the visit of Gloucester City to Common Road on Saturday.

There's also the small matter of a visit from leaders Merthyr Tydfil on Easter Saturday, - United have already lost twice to the Welshmen this term, while a visit to Stourport and a home date with Clevedon on May 3 can also rectify earlier misfortunes!

Saturday's game is being sponsored by The Danish Bacon Co, Petersfield, Hampshire and the ball by Evesham Printers.

Dr Martens League Western Division

P W D L F A Pts

Merthyr Tydfil 36 24 6 6 66 30 78

Weston-s-Mare 35 23 6 6 68 36 75

Mangotsfield 36 20 7 9 97 43 67

Solihull 36 19 10 7 63 39 67

Bromsgrove 36 20 6 10 68 35 66

Redditch 35 20 5 10 66 33 65

Gloucester 35 18 7 10 70 49 61

Gresley 36 17 9 10 58 50 60

Evesham Utd 35 18 5 12 68 56 59

Taunton 34 16 6 12 51 58 54

Rugby 35 15 8 12 43 37 53

Sutton Cold 36 14 9 13 53 46 51

Clevedon 36 12 12 12 47 54 48

Cinderford 33 12 10 11 45 50 46

Cirencester 36 13 6 17 47 66 45

Stourport 36 10 7 19 44 60 37

Shepshed 36 10 5 21 45 67 35

Bedworth 36 9 6 21 41 65 33

Atherstone 36 8 8 20 38 66 32

Rocester 36 7 7 22 29 69 28

Swindon Super 36 5 5 26 40 82 20

RC Warwick 34 1 8 25 27 85 11