Evesham United 2, Weston-super-Mare 0

PHIL Mullen received an early Christmas present with a first clean sheet of the season at Common Road as his side got back to winning ways.

It was a vital game to win after the previous week's setback and there was little chance of any festive frustration after goals from Steve McCartan and Phil Preedy gave the hosts a two-goal lead inside 37 minutes.

The Somerset side, boasting a good recent record against the Robins, rarely threatened, but they were left cursing two fine stops from Damien Beattie at crucial stages of Saturday's contest.

The home goalkeeper kept out Jody Bevan's pont-blank effort on the stroke of half time and then hurtled sideways after 62 minutes to palm David Hunt's 25-yarder for a corner.

A goal then could have set the alarm bells ringing in the United camp but, despite not really firing on all cylinders, they again showed glimpses of their title potential.

One man who was at full throttle again was Mark Wolsey, who was in inspired mood in the middle of the park.

He will be sorely missed at Sutton Coldfield on Saturday when he serves a suspension for his sending off against Bilston.

Shaun Pratt was an absentee last weekend, but replacement Dean Roberts certainly did his hopes of a regular slot no harm with a fighting display in a first half of few chances.

In fact Evesham had a 50 per cent success rate as McCartan's precision finish on 17 minutes after Matt Pendleton's supply made up for an earlier miss after Wolsey's whipped centre and Phil Preedy's equally adept strike from John Deakin's pass left Weston with a tough second half task.

It could have been even harder had Roberts not poked the ball over the top after Steve Weaver's fumble - the keeper then redeeming himself by touching Andy Smith's shot round the post a minute after the restart.

The visitors, looking for a third successive win on their travels, were continually caught offside, but they were still in the game as long as they didn't concede again.

Steve Taylor, Smith, Preedy and Wolsey all went close to making the scoreline a more realistic one on an afternoon when a return to winning ways and the shut-out prompted a double pre-Xmas celebration.