Evesham United 0,

Solihull Borough 2

NO wins in seven games, five goals in ten and a second successive first hurdle failure in a knockout competition. That's the tale of woe after last Saturday's FA Trophy first qualifying round reverse.

Add to that defeat at the hands of a side in a division below and formerly managed by under pressure United boss Dave Busst, then life at Common Road is far from rosy.

Of those five goals, Richard Ball has scored four and, had he made it five when faced with an open goal midway through the second half after Jermaine Clarke had put a chance on a plate, then the Robins would have had a lifeline.

However, the striker inexplicably fired wide and, in a match when chances for the hosts were few and far between, the chapter was closed on another route to glory and a financial boost.

While Dave Adey produced a couple of smart stops to ensure a scrappy first half ended goalless, opposite number Justin Bray didn't have a serious save to make during the entire 90 minutes. And, that is the most worrying feature of Evesham's game at present.

Another is the strength of the squad and, with Grant Pinkney suspended, Stuart Hamilton on the sidelines with a thigh strain and flu preventing Matty Hall and Jamie Bailey from taking any part, Busst's selected 11 and bench looked worryingly thin.

Neil O'Sullivan was drafted back into the defence, leaving the manager with few options in reserve.

However, Busst did exercise two of those at the interval when Adam Cooper and Steve Duncan replaced Richard Robinson and Jae Martin and it was Cooper who gave one of his former clubs an early second half chance to open the scoring.

Just five minutes in, referee Carl Henry ruled that the defender had handled inside the box and Justin Marsden sent the spot-kick into the corner with Adey, who guessed the right way, unable to keep it out.

Five minutes later, the tie was as good as over when Adey was beaten by Danny Hall's lob only for the ball to bounce back off the bar straight to John Grady who tapped the ball into the empty net.

Had Ball been able to do the same 12 minutes later then the hosts might just have sensed a comeback.

However, for the eighth time in 14 matches this term, United drew a blank leaving the club's management team with a huge task on their hands to rescue a season that started with high hopes that they would be able to hold their own in loftier company. Now they can't even match lower ranked opponents!