AUSSIE keeper Damien Beattie was goal saver and goal maker at Blakenall on Tuesday night, writes Mervyn Collins.

Victory seemed a tall order for a depleted United outfit but, Beattie's first half spot-kick save and an astute finish from Paul Davies, made it six points out of six for Phil Mullen's side.

Injury ruled out Paul West, youngsters James Brown and Adam Twine were unavailable, while Joe Licata failed to turn up. Add to that Sam Bowen's suspension and Steve Shaw's late arrival and it's easy to see why the three points were taken against all the odds.

"The lads got together before the game and said 'let's go and do the job'", Davies revealed. "We could have gone out and felt sorry for ourselves because of the problems but we just buckled down and deserved the win," a delighted assistant manager added.

But Davies added a note of caution after the game ahead of the weekend trip to Gresley Rovers. "If we lose on Saturday then it will have been a waste. They are a good set of lads and the reaction tonight has been absolutely brilliant."

Manager Mullen echoed the veteran striker's thoughts. "I will be very disappointed if the spirit in the camp doesn't get us through more games like tonight."

Jay Powell epitomised the spirit with an exemplary display alongside the recalled Darren Rogers but it would be unfair to pinpoint individual stars on a night when the whole eleven showed an outstanding appetite for the task.

Powell's only error saw him drag down Jon Muir after 22 minutes but Beattie plunged to his right to push aside Les Palmer's penalty and Richard Gardner struck the rebound wide.

Four minutes after the break, Beattie's long punt downfield picked out Davies and the veteran produced the slickest of finishes to loop the ball into the net.

The visitors were forced to soak up plenty of pressure from a home squad containing six ex-Common Road players, but Beattie had just one real save to make, apart from the penalty, and that was after 90 minutes from Muir's point-blank header.

Skipper Steve Taylor was the pick of a hard-working midfield, while Dean Roberts showed he will take some shifting from a striking spot after another excellent show.

Steve McCartan was denied a second on the stroke of full time by the finger tips of Matt Lowe and it was Evesham who produced the clearest sight of goal.

Phil Preedy and Mark Wolsey should have done better from good positions, while an unmarked Taylor will have been disappointed to have missed the target with a brace of far post headers.

Davies made his United debut at the Red Lion ground eight months ago, scoring twice as Matt Coppin snatched a last-gasp leveller.

The ex-Common Road favourite was called off the Blakenall bench with 24 minutes left but he failed to contrive a similar strike and put one over on his former club, who are just one of four sides with a 100 per cent Western Division record.