Ilkeston Line up:-

Ilkeston Town boss Phil Stant made five changes to the side that lost so disappointingly to Bedworth ten days ago. Ross Turner, Chris Thompson and David Jervis returned from injury, Kristian Stephens returned in defence and Andy Evans made his debut up front. Top scorer Chris Freestone declared himself fit after a chest but found himself relegated to the subs bench.

Lowly Evesham United included ex Ram Sean Flynn in their line and keeper Tim Clarke who played for Scunthorpe united against Ilkeston in the FA Cup in 1997.

Ilkeston had a dream start when after a spell of heavy pressure Aaron O'Connor crossed for Paul Eshelby (pictured left) to score a rare headed goal on five minutes. The Robins continued to pour forward and debutant Andy Evans had a shot deflected over the bar. However on 17 minutes Ilkeston extended their lead when Evesham failed to clear a John Burns corner and Tony Brown lobbed the ball over his own head and into the net.

Evesham were now rocking and Andy Evans had a great header well saved by Tim Clarke and four minutes later Evans almost scored with an excellent shot on the turn.

The visitors held out and on 31 minutes in their first serious attack they scored when Danny Holyoak's poor clearance was crossed back into the box by Simon Marsh and Lee Ross pounced to score as Tony Brown and Ross Turner seemed to hesitate. Despite the setback Ilkeston had a number of chances to regain their two goal advantage when Tony Brown headed straight at the keeper and Michael Lyons shot narrowly wide.

It was Evesham however who got the next goal when another piece of shoddy defending allowed Lee Ross to muscle his way past a limp Ilkeston challenge to equalise.

Evesham came out after the interval looking like a team full of new found confidence and substitute Craig Pountney should have scored when he found himself unmarked in the 46th minute but Ross Turner managed to tip the ball onto the bar. Pountney did not have to wait long for his chance to make amends when another defensive allowed him to have to have two goes at slotting the ball home. He made no mistake this time and he gave Evesham a well deserved lead. 

Phil Stant introduced Chris Freestone into the fray on 59 minutes and within minutes of coming on he had a header cleared off the line and another header come back off the bar. Paul Eshelby then tried to gat back into the game with a fine shot on the turn that was well saved by Clarke. Ilkeston then seemed to run out of ideas and Evesham started to look comfortable as the Robins huffed and puffed but could not create any chances. It was not until the 83 rd minute that Ilkeston came close when a cross was deflected by an Evesham United defender and Clarke had to make yet another excellent save.

Evesham then broke out and should have scored a fourth but Kristian Stephens cleared by firing the ball against his own post. Fortunately rebounded to safety. Ilkeston's night was summed in the dying minutes when Andy Evans scored what looked like a perfectly good goal only to see it ruled out presumably for a push on the impressive Clarke in the Evesham goal.

WhiteBallProject Man of the Match - Andy Evans - An impressive debut that with a bit more luck could have been crowned with a hat trick.

Ilkeston poor run of results continue in a game that Ilkeston could have won comfortably had they been able to capitalise on their excellent start. Ilkeston looked a potent attacking force in the first thirty minutes but their weak points were exposed in Evesham's first attack. The defence lack confidence and ultimately cost Ilkeston three points. Danny Holyoak is struggling to regain the impressive form he showed at the start of the season and Kristian Stephens and David Jervis seem unable to gat in a decent tackle. Tony Brown is doing his best and has been impressive in recent games but even he can become dragged into the indecisiveness. The defence was not helped by a midfield which has ample creative aptitude but lacked the bite that is needed when the going gets tough and in the second half Evesham United outfought the Robins midfield and gained control of the game.

On the bright side Andy Evans had a fine debut, Aaron O'Connor had a good first half and Chris Freestone looked lively when he came on in the second half.

Manager Phil Stant will know where the weaknesses are and it will be no surprise that Ilkeston reportedly tried to sign Gresley Rovers defender Matt Smith last week.

The Robins must start to win games very soon if they have any chance of filling a top seven place. Unfortunately Ilkeston play Rugby United on Saturday.