Bishops Cleeve 1, Evesham United 3

EVESHAM laid the bogey that was Bishops Cleeve but they made hard work of it at Kayte lane.

Leading courtesy of Mark Owen's 37th minute penalty they pressed the self-destruct button only to recover and claim three vital points.

Owen made it 1-0 after Steve Lutz had been shoved in the area in a half that the Robins dominated.

However, all their hard work was undone inside 20 seconds of the restart when Danny Hodnett fouled Matt Collins and Luke Corbett levelled from 12 yards.

United's problems worsened after 64 minutes when Gary Hay was sent off for lashing out at Lyndon Tomkins.

Lutz headed a great chance wide eight minutes later but Joe Clarke could hardly miss when Danny Scheppel's 75th minute free-kick floated over the Cleeve back line.

Owen sealed victory six minutes from time after a clinical finish after an error from Sam Avery.

And the final margin of victory could have been doubled as Simon Fitter hit a post and Danny Hodnett brought a superb save of out of Sam Gilder in stoppage-time.

The win, a first over the Kayte Lane outfit in the Southern League, leaves United nine points clear at the summit with Leamington having two games in hand starting with a 3pm kick-off at Stourbridge.