Telford United 4 Worcester City 1

TWO mad minutes made all the difference as Worcester City's Wembley dreams went up in smoke.

The first-half dismissal of striker Sam Bowen, coming immediately after City had gone behind in Saturday's FA Umbro Trophy fifth round tie at Telford United, left them with a mountain to climb.

And although City could not be faulted for effort, Telford made full use of their one-man superiority to run out 4-1 winners.

City will surely think that they could easily have got a result but for Bowen's moment of madness.

They were not overawed by their Nationwide Conference hosts and created the better chances, and the scoreline did not fully reflect the game.

But Telford proved much more clinical in making the most of their opportunities, and they can now look forward to a place in the last eight.

City defender Mark Tucker said afterwards: "We said before the game that as long as we played well it was a winnable game for us.

"It was a little bit of a sloppy goal to go 1-0 down, and going down to 10 men didn't help us.

"It was the second goal that killed us. We were chasing the game and everyone was feeling and looking heavy-legged.

"We showed we can play football but it is going to be hard to beat a Conference team on their own ground when you are 2-0 down and down to 10 men.

"They had four shots and scored four goals which gave the score a slightly unfair reflection, but they deserved to go through."

Tucker, however, was full of praise for City's 1,000-strong travelling army of fans. "They were absolutely terrific and a great credit to the club -- I am just sorry we couldn't give them a bit more to cheer about."

Having made the better start, Telford hit the front on 17 minutes. City failed to deal with Charlie Hartfield's right-wing corner and former Kidderminster Harriers player Jon Ford headed home from close range.

Almost straight from the kick-off Bowen went up for a challenge on the left touchline with home defender Carl Macauley and clearly led with his elbow, which left the Telford man needing treatment.

Although Bowen may not have made full contact with his opponent, you can't lead with your elbow in any standard of football, and particularly not right in front of the assistant referee. He alerted referee Mr A. McGee, who was correct to produce the red card.

It was a huge blow for City, but initially they responded positively to going down to 10 men, with Mark Owen doubling his workrate to compensate for losing his strike partner and Paul Carty working tirelessly in midfield.

On 32 minutes they could easily have equalised when Owen held off a couple of defenders before crossing to find Jon Purdie completely unmarked in front of goal. But the former Telford player delayed his shot and 'keeper Ryan Price was able to save.

Purdie also hit a spectacular volley just over the bar early in the second half, but on 52 minutes came the killer second goal.

There appeared to be hesitancy between defender Martin Weir and 'keeper Danny Watson as Telford mounted another attack, and Steve Palmer nipped in to slide the ball under Watson.

The industrious Bradley Sandeman forced another fine save from Price before it was 3-0 in the 77th minute. Substitute Gez Murphy's cross-shot was only parried by Watson and Chris Malkin headed into an empty net.

Five minutes from time a great turn by Murphy took him past Mark Tucker and his cross enabled Malkin to shoot home his second goal.

But City and their fans, who swelled the crowd to the biggest of the season at the Bucks Head, deserved something to cheer about.

Two minutes from time they were rewarded when Steve Lutz popped up at the far post to head home Carty's right-wing cross. But it was too little, too late for City.