Junior Football and Rugby

Pershore Town u13s 2, Crowle Searchers u13s 2.

CROWLE Searchers dictated the early pace against high-flying Pershore Town.

A fantastic passage of eight passes around the static Pershore midfield and defence was put away by Mitchell to give Crowle a deserved 1-0 lead.

Pershore became more frustrated with Wall being penalised for nipping at Stock’s ankles after the latter had won a fair tackle.

Crowle had all the early play in the second-half although Barnett had a couple of runs down the right. But good cover defending by Stock and Morris kept this threat at bay.

Against the run of play on 47 minutes, the ball fell to Barnett about 25 yards out and his mis-cued drive looped over the defence and went in off the underside of the bar.

Three minutes later Pershore’s route-one approach set up McIlvenny who finished neatly to take a 2-1 lead.

Just as the game seemed to be slipping away from Crowle, a piece of magical play saw Coleman win a ball in midfield, link-up with Mitchell, who played it out wide to Parsons who has made the right-winger position his own.

His audacious flick over Shepherd was then crossed to Mitchell who had raced to the edge of the box and ran in to fire home a great header to level.

Evesham United u16s 2, Atherstone u16s 3.

EVESHAM United produced one of the best first-half performances of the season.

The first action of the contest saw United’s Zac Brant header towards goal but Atherstone cleared their lines well.

Evesham came again with more pressure through a link-up between Matt Bodin and Alex Hammerton. However, Atherstone’s defence blocked well again.

A powerful Ryan Houlihan effort followed but drifted wide.

Constant Evesham pressure followed. This included a Houlihan run which forced a corner. He took this himself and the kick picked out Bodin to drive the ball home into the net to put Evesham into a 1-0 lead.

Another volleyed goal followed by Bodin from a well-worked Hammerton pass, but was disallowed for offside. Evesham pursued with more attacks with Houlihan blasting in Evesham's second before half-time from an accurate Bodin pass.

Atherstone started the second-half with more determination and cancel out Evesham’s 2-0 lead within five minutes.

Their first goal was slotted in by Ben White from a long goalkick driven towards Evesham’s goalmouth which he eventually scored from.

White’s second goal of the contest followed straight after, with a powerful header into the back of the net from a great Callum Crossland cross into the box.

The game seemed to even out a bit with end-to-end action from both sides but Atherstone won thanks to a well-struck goal by Crossland in the last minute of the game.

JUNIOR RUGBY.

EVESHAM GIRLS.

EVESHAM Girls claimed their first tournament victory of the season at Yardley to close the gap at the top of the league to just one point.

Captained again by Josie Symonds, who was leading try-scorer again on the day, the girls had a tough pool draw which included Bournville ‘A’ and home side Yardley.

In the first game against Bournville ‘A’, the Evesham girls dominated from the start and comfortably won the match, scoring eight tries to three.

New girl Sade Gerald ran in three tries, while the other debutants Sami Thomas and Georgia Evans scored one apiece.

The next game against Yardley lived up to all expectations and delivered a thrilling closely-fought competition which ended in the girls first draw of the season. Caitlin Donnahey scored two early tries to give Evesham the lead but Yardley fought back.

In the last minute, Lou Karlinski crossed for a late equalising try.

The girls third tie was against Bournville ‘B’ and although this should be considered an easy run-in, Evesham had try difference to consider if they were to progress to the final.

They finished the game with the score at nine tries to nil. This gave the girls a try difference of 14, compared to Yardley’s eight.

Old Salts comfortable progressed from the other group to face Evesham in the final.

Excellent handling skills from Sheri Cotton and Didi and Becky Anderson set up a half-time lead of six tries to four.

Anja Goonewardena came on in the second-half, which was even more comfortable for Evesham who finished the final 12 tries to seven.

The girls travel to Shipston on Sunday for the next tournament at which any new players would be welcome.

Any girls between the ages of 10 and 17 who are interested in trying either tag or full-contact rugby can either come to the club on a Wednesday at 6pm or Sunday at 10.30am, or call Alan on (01386) 830074.

Malvern u11s 0, Evesham u11s 12 (Game one).

FROM the start, this Evesham side produced its best performance to date.

Solid at set-pieces, the pack also dominated loose possession, while the back line passed and ran. The whole team kept its shape with and without the ball. Their first try came when Duncan Walter seized on loose ball at a Malvern line-out and fed the backs.

They swiftly moved the ball across the pitch, and although Tom Perry was held up on the line, Will Bugg was in support to score a try, which he converted.

The home side contested the breakdown with great commitment, but Evesham’s forwards continued to supply attacking ball for their backs.

Bugg crossed the line again, only for a last-ditch tackle to knock the ball from his hands.

Again, Evesham scored from a home throw. This time the forwards kept the ball.Will Moreland, with a clean catch-and-drive, forced his way over in the corner.

Malvern u11s 5, Evesham u11s 0 (game two).

A SECOND match followed where Evesham went slightly off the boil with the ball, but their gritty mauling and defence kept a clean sheet until Malvern produced a fine running move.

In a frantic finish, the ball went to and fro in the home half, and Evesham nearly levelled this game.