EVESHAM were six minutes away from missing out on the play-offs when Steve Duncan headed in his second goal of the afternoon.

Simon Fitter provided the inch-perfect dead-ball kick and the midfielder burst through a crowd of players to find the back of the net and earn the Robins a semi-final trip to Bromsgrove tomorrow night.

"I have started scoring goals recently but that was one of the most important," United's goal hero declared.

"There are some great balls put into the box and Simon and Mark (Owen) put in two cracking ones. I've managed to get forward more in recent games and it's paid off," Duncan, who has found the net six times in the past two months, added.

And how vital two of them were on Saturday after lowly Leighton had taken a 16th- minute lead when James Mc-Nulty headed in after confusion in the home penalty area.

Dependable defender An-thony Watson's absence was an obvious factor but Eve-sham earned a lifeline in first- half injury-time when Owen's astute centre was met by the onrushing Duncan and the ball looped into the net.

Chris Johnson and Ben Gallant both spurned excellent openings to inflict more misery on Paul West's side, while Daniel Lennon headed wide and Owen's 70th minute left-footer was diverted for a corner off the Town goalkeeper's boot.

Lennon flashed a 20-yarder wide before Fitter's deadly right foot delivered the perfect ball from which Duncan netted his side's most important goal of the season so far.

There was still time for early substitute Jamie Bailey to hit a post just after news of Aylesbury's win had filtered through but that result didn't matter in the light of deadly Duncan's double blast.

"I am absolutely delighted," said a smiling boss West. "The pressure is off us. We can now go to Bromsgrove and enjoy the game and atmosphere. We've beaten them before this season so I see no reason why we can't go there and do the business."