Redditch United 2 Evesham United 2

ROD Brown's side thought they had done enough to finish off their county rivals after Peter Sutton ran onto a sublime Lea Shaw pass before slipping in an angled low drive past James McGettrick 13 minutes from time.

The jubilant celebrations said it all as Sutton was mobbed by his teammates but there was a sting in the tail as the visitors hit back to earn a point ten minutes from time.

There was little but bragging rights to play for with Evesham on the slide after a promising season and Redditch finally doing enough to banish their relegation worries.

The hosts dominated possession in the early exchanges but without threatening McGettrick's goal apart from the odd scare.

A Matty Southwick cross from the right caught McGettrick sleeping and bounced off his crossbar for Matty Hall who could not control it and squirted to Sutton whose point blank effort was instinctively clawed away by the visiting keeper in the ninth minute.

Southwick screwed wide from a promising position after unselfish work from Paul Danks in the 22nd minute but Evesham could have gone in ahead at the interval after Shaun Pratt turned Lee Knight inside out on the left hand side of the area before sending a bobbling effort the wrong side of Olden's far post.

And the unthinkable happened 13 minutes into the second period when Phil Preedy hit Redditch with a sharp counter-attack, making ground down the left before crossing for Steve Lutz to head home a simple but well-crafted goal at the far post.

Parity was restored four minutes later when Jay Powell grappled with Lee Knight in the Evesham area as the Reds defender tried to help on a Quentin Townsend long throw and the ref pointed to the spot allowing Paul Danks to confidently drive home an equaliser.

Evesham hit back with an unanswered Scott Mullen cross and penalty appeals in successive minutes from Powell and Preedy.

The ref waved them away and Peter Sutton seemed to have wrapped up the points before Pratt's late strike.