Missed opportunity as City lose to local rivals

It was another game of missed chances as Worcester City crashed to a 3-0 defeat to local, and relegation, rivals Leamington.

The Brakes bagged two first half goals with former Aston Villa and Walsall striker Stefan Moore and Lee Chilton on the scoresheet, with former City player Matt Dodd adding the third from the spot in the second half.

Worryingly, City have now gone over 500 minutes without scoring a league goal, and remain rooted to the bottom of the Skrill Conference North, missing the chance to leapfrog the visitors in the league standings.

City started positively and nearly took the lead in the opening minutes after Ellis Deeney’s deep corner was headed back across goal by Aaron Williams, only for Dior Angus’s prod goal wards to be salvaged off the line by the visitors.

But Leamington hit back immediately and with their first chance of the game took the lead. Lee Chilton’s mazy run saw him jink past several City defenders, cutting in from the right hand side and crossing for Moore to head low into an empty net.

Buoyed on by a healthy, and vocal, travelling contingent, The Brakes doubled their lead just minutes later, as Joe Magunda crossed from the right to allow the unmarked Lee Chilton to hammer home into the roof of the net.

City had chances to claw themselves back into the game and on the half-hour mark Aaron Williams’s low cross found Danny Glover, who curled his effort just over the angle of the cross bar via a deflection, before Richard Taundry’s corner flashed across the Leamington goal with Graeme Hutchinson inches away from touching the ball home.

There was a late first half onslaught from City, who peppered Tony Breedon’s goal, but they couldn’t find a break through. Deeney had his drive from distance beaten away unconvincingly by the goalkeeper, before Niall Thompson’s cross from a Taundry short corner again flashed across the goal before being flapped wide by the goalkeeper.

In the dying seconds of the half, a leaping Graeme Hutchinson’s thundering header from inside the six yard box flew over the cross bar meaning the Brakes took their 2-0 lead into the break.

The turning point in the game could have come at the fifty-minute mark, as City counter attacked with the frightening pace of Niall Thompson, whose run from the half way line saw him enter the Leamington box before appearing to be hauled back by the defender. The midfielder stayed on his feet, but couldn’t guide his shot past the advancing Breeden, who turned the ball behind.

But approaching the hour mark, The Brakes were awarded a penalty as a Josh Hawker corner was deemed to be flicked onto the arm of defender Sam Smith. Matt Dodd stepped up and coolly converted, stuttering before slotting the ball into the bottom right hand corner to condemn City to their third successive league defeat.

Manager, Carl Heeley, thought the score line flattered the opposition, but acknowledged that his side needed to improve in front of goal, “I think if you watched the game, we probably don’t deserve to lose 3-0. But the bottom line is they’ve scored three goals and we haven’t. We’ve absolutely dominated the game and created five or six times the number of chances they’ve had".

“The goals scored column is a real cause for concern,” admitted the City boss.

City will take on Lancashire outfit Ramsbottom United in the FA Trophy third qualifying round on Sunday at Aggborough (3pm Kick off) hoping to record their first win in six games in all competitions.

Attendance 486

Report by Alex Harris