MIXED vegetable soup provided a tasty winter warmer on a dreary afternoon at Common Road.

The only problem with the cup of interval cheer on offer was that the "veg" got stuck at the bottom . . . and that's where Evesham are heading on the evidence of last Saturday's unpalatable offering.

The only common factor with the refreshment and the home team is that there is a different variety each week. Dave Busst's latest recipe for success included Danny Hodnett at right back, while Leon Blake was pushed out on the left after showing up well on the opposite flank seven days earlier.

Blake endured a torrid afternoon - and he wasn't the only one!

Defensively the Robins were sound against a lively visiting front line but the midfield was non existent, while Richard Ball and John Williams hadn't packed their shooting boots.

The pair were hauled off 15 minutes from time and, whoever made the decision to link up Blake and substitute Jamie Bailey, who hasn't featured since early November, up front, should be serving the soup at the next home game!

What was served up on the field was distinctly unpleasant and it's difficult to understand why. "Politics" was a word being bandied around after the match and the disharmony on the field - and off it - leaves it hard to imagine how United can manage to avoid the drop.

Cheshunt, acknowledged by one home player as the worst side he's played against this season, have now won three on the bounce and done the double over the Robins.

Ryan Barnard grabbed the winner in the 65th minute after George Greg-oriou's volley had rebounded perfectly into his path off a post.

The hosts also struck the frame of the goal when Steve Luckett's header from Gavin O'Toole's 24th minute flag-kick struck the top of the crossbar.

The Hertfordshire outfit should have been in front by then but two Dave Adey saves and a couple of last-ditch interceptions denied them.

Richie Robinson, who looked totally lost in his free midfield role, screwed badly wide at the other end where Ball spurned a glorious chance on the stroke of half-time when he raced clear only to be thwarted twice by goalkeeper Michael Kalli.

Ball, inevitably, was at the centre of a first half fracas that led to a flurry of yellow cards and, the striker's tenth of the season could see the top scorer dishing out the soup instead of the fouls, when Chippenham visit later this month!