City lift the Urn

City twice battled back from sucker punches to draw 2-2 with Studley before seizing the silverware 6 v 5 from the spot.

Studley always looked dangerous throughout an edgy, scrappy affair in which Worcester struggled to deal with routine balls forward and a lively front pairing of Sean Brain and Dan Carter.

The opener arrived 19 minutes in when a delicious inswinging free-kick cannoned off the face of the bar from close range only for Carter to fire into the roof of the net.

Reynolds levelled within two minutes, expertly sweeping inside the near post after livewire Liam Lockett had jinked his way through to have his effort charged down by Jordan Jones.

Worcester went on to have their best spell of the game from there with Lockett wreaking havoc and Studley creaking, although the lower-ranked side remained dangerous on the break.

It was Levi Andoh’s misplaced pass that gifted Dale Edwards the ball within a minute of the restart and the tricky wide man drove towards the edge of the box and unleashed a rising drive that flew in to Sam Gilder’s left.

City kept probing but seemed shellshocked, even after making changes.

It was almost all over with 12 minutes to go when Brain nipped in ahead of Gilder near the corner of the box and wrapped his foot around a ball heading towards the corner flag only for it to drop the wrong side of the empty net.

Buoyed by the let off, City pushed forward and caught a break with six minutes to go.

Andoh bludgeoned his way through and got fouled 30 yards out by Jones and while Joe Bates’s free-kick hit Reynolds on the rear end, the hotshot was alive to the loose ball and rifled into the roof of the net.

Even then Studley might have pinched it with Carter hassling Stoddart before hitting into the side netting from an acute angle.

City came on strong after that and had their golden opportunity when another Bates free-kick ricocheted into the path of Tyler Weir who missed the target from the right corner of the six-yard box.

Studley took first in the shootout with Brain, Dale Edwards, Joe Adams, Anthony Miller and Jamie Clarke making no mistake only for Lockett, Bates, Ethan Moran, Reynolds and Weir to follow suit.

Jones was the unfortunate man to guide wide of Gilder’s right post with the keeper guessing the right way in sudden death and Kaoui Attoumani kept his cool to cushion inside Hayward’s left upright to win it. The Frenchman stepped up cooly and then ended the night with a little celebration dance.