Moore at the double at City win at last

It was ninth time lucky as Worcester City recorded their long awaited first win of the season, and they did it in style.

Ethan Moore followed his midweek goal with a first half brace, with goals from Exodus Geohaghon, who also found the net on Tuesday, and Danny Glover completing a comfortable victory.

The win means that City pull level on points with Workington and climb out of the bottom three in the Skrill Conference North.

Defensively, City were bolstered by the return of Shabir Khan from suspension, with Graham Hutchinson being moved to right back. Richard Taundry’s absence, after picking up a groin injury against Gainsborough Trinity, was countered with the experienced Phil Trainer moving into the centre of midfield.

Workington, who lost their previous four away games prior to their first ever visit to Aggborough, threatened early, and Jose Veiga had to react well to deny Joesf Jackson. Scott Allison reached David Lynch’s though ball, firing across the box, with Veiga palming the ball into the path of Jackson, but recovering to pounce at his feet to block the effort. That was as close at Workington would get to troubling Veiga.

Ethan Moore, who earned a start after earning and scoring City’s equalising penalty in midweek, was again amongst the goals, giving City the lead at the twelfth minute mark. Daniel Nti successfully closed down goalkeeper Callum Burton’s clearance, with the ball ricocheting fortuitously to the feet of Moore, who lobbed home from outside the area into the vacant net.

Moore doubled the lead just five minutes later. Danny Glover, who harassed the Workington defence with his tenacity, crossed low from the left, with the ball being prodded into the six yard box by Nti, and Moore bundled the ball home via a deflection.

Moore nearly scored a hat trick inside twenty minutes, but was denied amongst a frantic attacking spell from City. Glover used his pace to latch onto a long ball, trying to round Burton, who palmed the ball from the feet of the attacker. The ball fell to Ethan Moore, who tried to bend the ball into the corner, only to be denied by a clearance off the line. The clearance sent the ball spinning into the air, dropping kindly for Aaron Williams, only for the ex-Walsall man’s thundering header to be denied by the woodwork, cannoning off the cross bar. There was barely time to draw breath.

City were punishing the Workington back four with the pace and strength of Moore and Nti and the tenacity of Glover, with City bombarding the Red’s with through balls and long balls which were causing chaos, exposing the lack of pace amongst the Workington ranks, causing some nervy defending, and City took a deserved 2-0 lead into the break.

It took only ten minutes of second half football for City to treble their lead through Exodus Geoghaghon, scoring his second goal this week. Geohaghon started the move, playing to Aaron Williams before moving into the unfamiliar territory of the opposition penalty area, with Williams spotting the clever run with a lofted ball to tee the defender who lashed the ball past Burton.

Three minutes later, the Aggborough crowd were celebrating again after Danny Glover cut inside from the left, cleverly evading two challenges before rifling the ball into the right hand corner with his weaker foot, and a rampant City were cruising to their first win of the season in style.

It was nearly five minutes later, but Daniel Nti’s attempt to bundle home was cleared off the line. No goal line technology was needed!

Daniel Nti and Ethan Moore were substituted in the 65th minute, which queued a momentary sigh of relief from the Workington central defenders. But the lightening pace of Danny Williams and Danny Glover moving into the centre continued to cause problems for the Workington defence.

City were in the driving seat for the rest of the game and continued to dominate their demoralised opponents. Both Thorley and Williams tried their luck from distance, but neither troubled the goalkeeper as City ran down the clock to secure their first Skrill Conference North win of the season. And according to Carl Heeley, it could have been “many, many more”.

“I think anyone who has seen all our games this season, that’s been coming for a long time. It could have happened three or four occasions before today. We haven’t shot ourselves in the foot, we were solid defensively and we took our chances".

He added, “I wasn’t the slightest bit worried looking at the performances, and when you’re performing well the results will inevitably come. But it’s nice to win a game of football and that’s three games unbeaten, and it’s another statistic that we need to build on”.

The City boss is hoping to have Ebby Nelson-Addy back for Tuesday night’s game at Telford, but was doubtful that Richard Taundry and George Williams would return for the game in which a confident City will be hoping to build on their first win of the season.

Attendance: 549