Evesham Utd 1, Solihull Boro 2
A TRAUMATIC seven days ended in more agony as a last minute goal from Derek Hall sent United crashing out of the League Cup, writes Mervyn Collins.
The prolific striker has a nasty habit of scoring at Common Road and he struck twice to inflict more misery on Phil Mullen's men.
Shaun Pratt had given Evesham a seventh minute tonic on Tuesday when he stormed forward and banged in a terrific 20-yarder.
Mike Payne denied Pratt a second before the ever alert Hall pounced on more sloppy defending to fire a left-footer past Danny Watson 13 minutes before half-time.
Watson produced a miraculous stop to push aside Richard Beale's point-blank strike and then needed two attempts to keep out another Hall effort after 77 minutes.
But, Watson was helpless on the stroke of full-time when the ball fell into Hall's path ten yards out and he rarely misses from there.
There was still time for Phil Preedy to blast over from the same distance at the opposite end on a frosty and foggy night when Hall's winner at least prevented the icy prospect of extra-time.
Mullen received another blow in the wake of last Saturday's hammering when Andy Hodgetts informed the Robins' chief that he was quitting the club.
The 6-0 defeat was hard to swallow for everyone a the club but Mullen preferred to be philosophical about what he described as a "freak result".
"When we were the better side they didn't trouble us and we had three good chances before they even scored but the young players up front sometimes find it a bit too much," the manager remarked.
"We've got good defenders at the other end but they are prone to losing concentration. We were very poor in giving away stupid goals and it four bad mistakes that cost us."
United are without a game on Saturday but they will be hoping to stay in knockout contention on at least one front next Tuesday when Halesowen Town are the visitors in the Worcestershire Senior Cup (7.45).
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