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Evesham United Preview

Evesham United Preview

Devin Ward18 Nov 2022 - 10:42

A preview of today's opponents Evesham United Devs

Kick Off: 19:45

Ground Location: The Spiers & Hartwell Stadium, Cheltenham Road, Evesham, Worcs, WR11 2LZ

Directions: [DISTANCE FROM RAILWAY STATION – 1.8 MILES (30 to 40 minutes walk through Town Centre)

FROM M5 NORTH

Leave M5 motorway at Junction 7 and follow B4084 through Pershore onto Evesham. At traffic lights in Evesham with River Avon and Bridge on left, take right hand lane and turn right into Cheltenham Road signposted A46, M5 Southbound, Oxford and Cheltenham. Continue through two sets of traffic lights passing Tesco Garage and Ambulance Station on left before reaching roundabout. Ground situated on right at roundabout. (This route avoids Evesham Town Centre)

Entry fee: Unknown

Floodlit Ground: Yes

Club Info:
The Evesham United Football Club that we know today dates from just after the Second World War when soldiers returning from action reformed the club and immediately joined the Worcestershire League.

However, a club did exist in Evesham prior to the War, the “Town” reaching the F.A. Amateur Cup Final in 1923, losing 1 – 2 after extra time to London Caledonians at Crystal Palace.

Starting in the 1951/52 season, in the club’s first five years in the Worcestershire Combination they were League Champions twice and runners-up on two occasions, their lowest position being third in that first season.
In 1956 they left to join the Birmingham League and followed this with a move to the Warwickshire League in 1959 before returning to the Worcester (now Midland Combination) in 1963. They won the league title four times (1965/66, 1967/68, 1968/69, and 1991/92) and reached the Challenge Cup Final on six occasions, lifting the trophy in 1988 and 1992.

Initially the club played at Crown Meadow, moving to Common Road in 1968 and opening the clubhouse in 1975.

A terrific season in 1991/92 saw the club complete a memorable double of Midland Combination Premier Division Champions, thus achieving promotion to the Southern League Midlands Division, and the Combination Challenge Cup. They also reached the quarter final of the F.A. Vase before losing to eventual finalists Guiseley. Some £5,000.00 was spent on the ground and they marked their first season in the Southern League by finishing in a creditable 15th position.

A number of Managers and poor seasons followed but in November 2003, former Coventry City defender, Davis Busst, was appointed a successor to Phil Mullen. Busst took over a club struggling near the foot of the Dr. Martens League Western Division, but managed to turn things around and Evesham eventually finished mid-table with a creditable 50 points.

The 2004/05 campaign saw Evesham take their place in the Southern League Division One West, with Busst in his first full season in charge with the experienced Paul West as his assistant. It turned out to be a season to remember for Evesham’s long suffering fans with the Robins earning a place in the play-offs.

A tense 2 – 1 victory against Ashford Town (Middlesex) paired Evesham with local rivals Bromsgrove Rovers in the play-off final. A crowd of over 800 squeezed into Common Road to witness Evesham romp to a 4 – 0 win and promotion to the Southern League Premier Division for the first time in their history.

After a poor run of results, Busst left in February 2006 and West stepped up to take over. Despite a marked improvement, Evesham were relegated on the final day of the season, finishing just one point behind Northwood.

After selling their Common Road ground for housing Evesham entered into a ground share agreement with Worcester City whilst moves were being put in place to build a new stadium on the southern outskirts of Evesham.

In 2006/07, the club took a step in the right direction with former Wigan, Bradford and Port Vale defender, West, again at the helm. Evesham lifted the Worcestershire Senior Cup for the first time, beating Stourbridge 2 – 1 in the final. The play-offs were also reached but unfortunately a late goal ensured Bromsgrove a narrow 1 – 0 win and eventual promotion.

Season 2007/08 turned out to be one of the most memorable in the club’s history. The club took Blue Square Premier Halifax Town to a replay in the 4th Qualifying Round of the F.A. Cup before losing 2 – 1 at the Shay. In the Carlsberg Trophy, West’s side beat higher graded Bromsgrove Rovers and Corby Town en route to the 3rd Qualifying Round, before going out at Blue Square North Redditch United after a replay.

However, it was Evesham’s league form that caught the imagination. Despite suffering three defeats in the opening six games. Evesham put together a remarkable run of results and stormed to the top of the British Gas Midlands Division. Only two more reversals followed in 34 league games and West’s side clinched the Championship ahead of Leamington with a game to spare. A massive 91 points were bagged and a staggering 22 clean sheets kept in 40 games with the experienced Mark Owen topping the clubs scoring charts with 33 goals, including two hat-tricks.

2008/09 saw Evesham back in the Premier Division and finishing in a creditable 9th position. They reached the 1st Round Proper of the F.A. Cup for the first time in their history before bowing out to Torquay United at Plainmoor and completed a second Worcestershire Senior Cup win in three seasons when defeating Kidderminster Harriers in the final.

2009/10 was a season of struggles as the Robins finished in 16th place. After being just outside the play-offs when the bad weather disrupted the season, a disastrous run of only 2 wins in the last 25 games saw them in freefall, before they finally made sure of staying in the division with a point at home to Bedford Town with three games left to play.

2010/11 was again a season of contrasting fortunes with the club in the drop zone at Christmas and staring relegation in the face. However, some shrewd signings saw the club enjoy a tremendous run of form and climb the table to finish in a respectable 12th spot and beating play-off hopefuls Hednesford Town and runners-up Salisbury City.

After five and a half years at the helm Manager Paul West and his brother and Assistant Manager Leon West called time on one of the most successful periods in the club’s history. Matt Clarke was appointed as the new Manager at the end of November 2011 and joining him as his assistant was Rob Elmes together with UEFA B qualified Coach Kieran Jackson.

Season 2011/12 was a disappointment with the club being relegated from the Evo-Stik Southern Premier Division and after spending six years ground sharing at Worcester City Football Club the Robins began the 2012/13 season in Division One South & West at their new Spiers & Hartwell Jubilee Stadium.

A mediocre start to the 2012/13 season saw Matt Clarke and Rob Elmes resign from their positions with Paul West returning to see the team through to the end of the season.

West departed in early May 2013 and was replaced by former West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland midfielder Shaun Cunnington. The experienced Cunnington managed previously at Willenhall Town, Alvechurch and Halesowen Town. The squad was re-vamped with high hopes for a successful 2013/14 campaign. However after a series of poor results Cunnington resigned his position at the end of October with former Bishops Cleeve manager Paul Collicutt taking over as the new permanent boss.

Season 2013/14 was a disappointing one for the Robins who finished 16th in the South & West Division.

Season 2014/15 will be remembered as one of success and heartache for the club. The Robins enjoyed an excellent run in the FA Cup before bowing out to Conference South side Bromley in the Fourth Qualifying Round after beating higher graded Redditch United and Histon on the way. Following the FA Cup exit a remarkable run of form resulted in just one defeat in 28 league games and a second place finish in the South & West Division behind Champion Merthyr Town. However, despite home advantage in the play-offs Evesham suffered a disappointing defeat against Larkhall Athletic.

Season 2015/16 was another successful one for United who finished just two points short of the play-offs. Due to Cinderford’s refusal to accept promotion at the end of last season, United were originally placed in the Evo-Stik Northern League, but after a successful appeal were re-instated in the Southern League South & West Division.

The 2016/17 campaign saw the Robins reach the South and West play-offs for a second time in three years but were narrowly beaten by Salisbury in a classic semi-final 2-1 after extra time, playing for 90 minutes with ten men.

In 2017/18 the club did not have a brilliant start to the season in either the league or in the cup competitions, losing to Newcastle Town in the FA Cup Preliminary Round replay and a first-round defeat at home in The FA Trophy to Cirencester Town saw more cup misery. In the league victories were hard to come by winning just 8 of the first 18 games of the season. With mid-season form looking reasonable it was starting to look like being a mediocre season until United put together a fantastic late season run, winning 9 out of the last 12 league games. The play-off semi-final had an air of Déjà vu about it, with the scores between ‘The Robins’ & Swindon Supermarine being all level after 120 minutes, it was another season of not to be as Supermarine who eventually won the play-offs pushing Evesham aside 5-4 on penalties.

The 2018/19 season was not one of Evesham’s finest, eventually finishing seventh with Collicutt relieved of his duties and Carl Abbott taking over for the 2019/20 campaign. Ultimately this season was curtailed by the Covid pandemic with Evesham in ninth position. Abbott left the club in March 2020 with Neil Hunt taking over the manager position in a caretaker capacity. Hunt was made permanent manager in the summer in readiness for the 2020-21 season.

source: Evesham United Website

Last Season: The side finished 4th last year, winning 13, drawing 3 and losing 6 games. Charlie Barrett their top scorer with 14 in 23 in all competitions.

So far this season: So far Evesham sit in 5th place, winning 3, drawing 2 and losing 3 from their 8 league games. They have also beaten higher opposition Littleton in the Hellenic Cup and emphatically knocked out Welland Reserves in the County Cup scoring 10 goals in the process. Jack Wright is the top scorer with 6 from 9 games.

Previous Meetings: Last season the sides met 3 times. Firstly in the league at Archdales back in September we came out on top winning 2-1. Goals from Connor Grant and Kie Scollan saw us overturn the lead Henry McMahon had given the away side.

In the reverse in February of this year, we played on the 3G at Evesham, finding ourselves 3 goals down before Jay Collins and Josh Farnsworth pulled 2 back, but it wasn't enough to see us get a share of the points.

Finally in the league cup back at Archdales, the game was again decided by the odd goal, when we came from behind after a Matthew Kear goal had put the away side ahead, we responded through Connor Grant and Paul Smith to win through to the next round, Evesham going on to win the Plate version of the competition.

Further reading