Evesham United 1, Cirencester Town 1

A MATCH that should never have been played cost United two points in their championship quest.

Referee Martin Forder from Hereford admitted that the pitch wasn't fit but, in the light of the fixture backlog, he decided Saturday's game should go-ahead.

Standing water, clinging mud and incessant rainfall made life treacherous for both sets of players and in all honesty the person you feel most sorry for is the groundsman.

The pitch was an absolute quagmire after a heavy downpour just before the interval and, when Evesham made it 1-1 within a minute of the restart, the referee conferred with both managers about an abandonment.

However, both were happy to continue although Phil Mullen was understandably annoyed at the loss of two vital points.

"In hindsight, we shouldn't really be taking chances. Those sort of pitches don't suit us, but if we'd have won then we would have been sitting here happy," said the United boss.

"That's five points dropped because we have decided to play games that shouldn't have taken place."

Damien Beattie was tested three times before Cirencester took a 28th minute lead when the home goalkeeper and Andy Smith got their wires crossed.

The full back's attempted clearance was charged down by Justin Miller, who chipped the out of position Beattie to make it 1-0.

Shaun Pratt wasted Evesham's best openings and, when he did find the target, the impressive Kevin Sawyer produced a point-blank stop to keep out the striker's volley six minutes before the break.

Steve Taylor then saw a header cleared off the line before the Robins made the best possible start to the second half when Pratt fired into the roof of the net from eight yards after a Mark Wolsey corner.

The scorer shot wide when clear ten minutes later before his unnecessary push on a defender ruined Joe Licata's celebrations after he had fired in a Stuart Payne centre.

A minute later, Matt Pendleton's shot stuck in the mud four yards out and Pratt was a split second behind Stuart Fraser in the race for the ball.

The latter's clearance 16 minutes from time rebounded off Licata's knee and over the crossbar, while substitute Andy Hodgetts headed Andy Smith's centre narrowly wide five minutes from time.

Russell Jones headed over another teasing Pratt cross on the strike of time which was completed exactly on 45 minutes by Mr Forder despite numerous stoppages.