North Leigh’s hopes of reaching the Division 1 South & West play-offs suffered a blow as they went down to a narrow defeat to fellow promotion hopefuls Evesham United at Eynsham Park on Saturday.

The result saw Mark Gee's men slip to eighth, nine points from fifth-placed Larkhall.

Having won in a midweek at Yate, the Millers were looking to maintain their push, but failed to deliver, thanks to poor finishing and some stubborn Evesham defending.

After a bright start, North Leigh were pushed back by a series of corners.

  •  Latest Sport news

Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.

And it was from one such set-piece that Evesham scored what proved to be the winner on 16 minutes.

Millers’ keeper Matt Bulman could only punch away a corner to the edge of the area where a lurking Adam Mann fired home through a crowd of players into the far corner.

The Millers responded well, with Callum McNish and Jamie Cook going close.

Just before the break, Andy Gunn hooked a shot over the Evesham bar from a corner.

North Leigh maintained their pressure into the second half, with McNish firing high and wide.

On 64 minutes, Cook combined with Hopkins, but his shot was deflected away for a corner.

Five minutes from time, Evesham almost got a second, but Marcus Jackson shot over.

The Millers cranked up the pressure, but Evesham held on to dent the Millers' fading play-off hopes.

North Leigh: Bulman, Else, Hopkins (Caton 71), Turk (Linford-Pill 49), Gunn, Westlake, Hughes, Osborne-Ricketts, Cook, McNish (Saunders 90), Williams.

Referee: D Leach (Eynsham).

Attendance: 114.