This was a windy October Saturday and having visited my parents, I went to watch Evesham play Halesowen Town (who play a league above them in Step 4), in the FA Trophy Preliminary Round.

The Evesham stadium is modern, set on land surrounded by hills a little outside the town. The ground has a main stand and a decent clubhouse and refreshment provision and the ground was busy.

The Halesowen Town away fans are apparently known as “The Yeltz” and made a huge noise throughout the game with their drummer and despite being exposed to a strong wind!!

The game was evenly fought with some tough tackling and Evesham defensive action being a key feature. Evesham had made a decent start to the season, as the matchday programme league table reflected. While they played well you could see they still lacked confidence themselves in the final third.

It took a while for Halesowen to break through, but just before half-time they edged in front with a sliding shot from inside the box, which the Evesham keeper appeared to misjudge.

Halesowen pressed for a second throughout the second half going close repeatedly.

Finally, on 81 minutes, Harry Franklin headed in a corner with his first Evesham goal to send the match into a replay.

The replay, on Tuesday night of the same week, resulted in a more predictable 3-0 win for Halesowen. It reflected how well a battling Evesham had played in this game.

The YouTube link from the Evesham club website below shows the full highlights of the game: