Evesham 6, Cirencester 4

EVESHAM produced an inconsistent performance in stuttering to eventual victory against Saturday's hard working visitors.

The hosts started slowly and it came as no surprise that the visitors took the lead after ten minutes. Almost immediately, Evesham respo-nded by improving their pitch discipline and stringing a number of passes together.

Stuart Bearcroft used his skill and pace to expose the visiting defence and claim a short corner from which Matt Bau-mber once again showed his skill to equalise. Yet, rather than give the home side composure, this seemed to bring further lethargy and Cirencester were gifted a soft second.

Once again, Evesham increased mom-entum and, when a Baumber shot was illegally stopped on the line, Martin Husbands levelled from the penalty spot.

Parity again didn't last too long as Cirencester again took advantage of sloppy defending to claim the interval honours.

The break allowed Evesham to focus their thoughts and the whole second half saw a marked improvement.

Four well-taken goals were scored with Husbands netting his second at the end of a superb passing move involving Stu-art Harris, Baumber and Seb Seneque.

Steve Miller then tapped in from close-range following perseverance from Harris along the right flank but a further lapse at the back saw the Vale side concede for a fourth time.

Baumber, Husbands and Bearcroft all missed good chances but Evesham continued to dominate. A 30-yard aerial pass from Baumber beat both defender and goalkeeper and allowed Husbands to volley the ball into the net to complete his hat-trick before Bearcroft scored an outstanding individual goal when he skipped past several bamboozled defenders.

The winners play their final pre-season game against Warwick on Saturday (1.30pm) at Evesham High School.

Other result: Newent 5, Pershore 2 (Jock Robinson, Rob Curley).