Rugby Town 1, Evesham Utd 3 by Mervyn Collins

A NEW era is dawning at Common Road and, on the evidence of Tuesday night's second half showing, it promises to be an exciting one for United fans.

Only four players who helped the Robins defeat Bromsgrove to earn promotion were on the pitch at the finish and three summer recruits were on target as the visitors came from a goal behind to earn their first-ever Southern League Premier Division success.

Richard Robinson, Guy Hadland and Jamie Bailey were the men on target after Town had taken a 15th minute lead through the unmarked Chris Tullin, while goalkeeper Karl Lewis and defenders Neil O'Sullivan and Adam Cooper lent their weight to overcome a dithery first half at the back.

Jae Martin showed some classy touches up front, while the contribution of Leon Blake, who took the armband off Lee Knight at the break, Anthony Watson and substitutes Grant Pinkney and Steve Duncan cannot be overlooked.

Those 11 are likely to be be given another chance to shine at Cheshunt on Saturday as Dave Busst shows that he isn't prepared to shy away from his responsibilities in an effort to keep his side in the top flight.

"That's all I want to do - I have no other expectations," the manager revealed after the match. "There was one particular person having a go on Saturday and I don't want those sort of people at the ground. We've just picked up four points and scored five goals in two game and we're going to enjoy that but the hard work starts again on Saturday."

Busst is expected to be without Knight, who has suffered a slight recurrence of the problem that kept him sidelined at the end of last season, but there is better news of Jermaine Clarke who the boss will check on at training tonight after missing the past two matches because of injury.

Injuries will keep Stuart Hamilton and Gavin O'Toole on the sidelines for at least the Bank Holiday fixtures, while Busst revealed that Tim Clarke had decided to quit the club.

"The committee told him that they weren't going to pay his wages after the Tiverton game and he didn't agree with the decision and he has decided to leave," explained the manager.

Clarke's stand-in Lewis kept Eve-sham in the match at Butlin Road, twice denying ex United man Danny Williams before producing a startling stop to keep out Kevin Shinn's point-blank piledriver.

Hadland and Blake sent in United's best efforts before the impressive Robinson levelled matters two minutes before the break with a stunning 25-yarder.

Busst's interval team talk and tactical change saw his side dominate the second half and Richard Ball was denied by both bar and post within four minutes of the restart.

Robinson spurned a great chance to make it 2-1 soon after Bailey and Duncan had replaced Ball and Hall but Hadland repeated his debut strike during an earlier brief spell at the club when he fired in a looping 40-yarder three minutes from time that caught out Steve Wilson in the home goal.

There was more to come from the rejuvenated Robins as Blake and Robinson combined to set up Bailey for a cool finish and, had Pinkney repeated Hadland's effort instead of his shot from distance landing just over the top, then United celebrations would have been even more pronounced.

Southern League Premier Division

P W D L F A Pts

Bath City 4 3 1 0 6 1 10

Banbury Utd 4 2 2 0 9 4 8

Merthyr Tydfil 4 2 2 0 8 4 8

Salisbury City 4 2 2 0 6 2 8

Hitchin Tn 4 2 2 0 8 5 8

Aylesbury Utd 4 2 2 0 3 1 8

Chippenham 4 2 1 1 7 4 7

Bedford Tn 4 2 0 2 7 6 6

Team Bath 4 2 0 2 4 3 6

Chesham Utd 4 2 0 2 7 7 6

Cirencester Tn 4 2 0 2 4 5 6

Halesowen Tn 4 1 2 1 5 5 5

Grantham Tn 4 1 2 1 3 5 5

Kings Lynn 4 1 1 2 3 4 4

Evesham Utd 4 1 1 2 5 7 4

Cheshunt 4 1 1 2 4 6 4

Tiverton Tn 3 1 0 2 4 4 3

Mangotsf'ld Utd 3 0 3 0 2 2 3

Rugby Tn 4 0 3 1 5 7 3

Gloucester City 4 0 2 2 3 7 2

Yate Town 4 0 1 3 1 9 1

Northwood 4 0 0 4 7 13 0