EVESHAM United enjoyed a hard-fought key victory at home against Hungerford Town.
Coming off the back of a narrow defeat to Walton & Hersham, a brace from frontman Levi Steele powered The Robins past a sole Hungerford strike from Harry Williams.
A scrappy affair early on saw Will Owens and Aaron Heap both cautioned with a yellow early on into the occasion.
Both sides looked dangerous in the opening half hour but neither could find the difference with defences on top and attacks repeatedly snuffed out.
The pick of the bunch in the opening half hour came from Hungerford's Brad Hooper, who unleashed an effort from distance on the 10 minute mark, only to see the ball fall narrowly over the crossbar.
However, with eight minutes to go of the first half Levi Steele in back-to-back matches, tapping home a square ball across the box from Andre Wright.
United cruised into the break with a one-goal advantage, but Hungerford rallied back early on into the second period and drew level within the first 60 seconds.
The ball was booted up-field and tapped home by Williams to put the two sides at a level pegging.
With 20 minutes to play, Steele netted his second and sealed the win for Mike Ford's side.
The forward raced past his man and struck early to leave the goalkeeper stranded and find the bottom left corner.
The result sees Evesham jump three places to 11th in the Southern League Premier South.
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Next up for the side comes an away trip to lower-division side Racing Club Warwick in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday, September 13.
Ford's Robins qualified for this stage of the competition by triumphing over Worcestershire rivals Bromsgrove Sporting in their opening fixture - the first qualifying round.
Racing Club - who are struggling in the relegation zone of the Northern Premier League Midlands Division - meanwhile triumphed 2-1 over Droitwich Spa in the extra preliminary round of the competition, before seeing off Lye Town in the preliminary round and triumphing 2-1 over Kidsgrove Athletic in the first qualifying round.
Following the cup break, Evesham will return to league action with a match away against seventh-placed Wimborne Town on Saturday, September 20.
Wimborne - who have only lost once in league competition up to this point - will also go into the league tie off the back of a cup match, against The National League South's Bath City, also taking place on Saturday, September 13.
