Larkhall Athletic 1 Evesham United 2

Victory a the Plain Ham made it five consecutive wins in the league and lifted Paul Collicutt’s side to seventh in the table.

United’s match winner was captain Matt Sysum who tucked away a second-half penalty to extend the Robins’ unbeaten run to six games.

Evesham were forced to make one change to their starting line-up that ended Merthyr’s undefeated home record, with Carl Brown replacing the injured Marcus Jackson, who had limped off in Wales with a calf injury.

The visitors made the perfect start when Ashley Edenborough produced an explosive finish to give Collicutt’s men the lead with just three minutes on the clock.

Evesham continued on the front foot and went close to adding to their leas when on-loan Gloucester City striker Adam Mann turned his marker in the box and his effort shaved the post with keeper Alex Shaftoe beaten.

The Lark’s stopper then denied Liam Harding his first goal for United when he dived full length to push the youngster’s shot past the post.

After that, Larkhall upped their game and Evesham were indebted to in-form keeper Kevin Sawyer for keeping their slender lead intact.

The giant keeper made some fine saves to deny top-scorer Tyler Sibbick, Matt Thorne and Luke Byran.

On 38 minutes, however, he conceded his first goal in five games when unable to prevent Byran levelling for the hosts with a powerful strike from 25 yards.

On the stroke of half-time, Shaftoe prevented Evesham an interval lead with an acrobatic save to deny George Washbourne’s free-kick.

Evesham went on to dominate the second period but found LArkhall’s packed defence difficult to break down.

That all changed in the 70th minute when Mann burst into the box only to be brought down by Ben Horan.

Up stepped Sysum to send Shaftoe the wrong way from the spot for his sixth goal of the season.

Evesham United: Sawyer, Wood, Wellon, Harding, Sysum, Dovey, Brown, Stanley, Edenborough (Smith 69), Mann, Washbourne (Binns 63).

Attendance: 130.