WORCESTER City manager John Barton admitted his side failed in the crucial final third of the pitch after they were beaten by Nuneaton Borough on New Year's Day.

City dropped into the bottom half of Nationwide North following their 2-0 defeat at Manor Park, with Boro clinching the points with a controversial first-half penalty from Gez Murphy and late strike by Stuart Whittaker.

They now travel to struggling Bradford Park Avenue on Wednesday night hoping to get their promotion campaign back on track.

Despite the two-goal setback, Barton was pleased with City's general performance and believes a repeat display will be more than enough to conquer the lowly West Yorkshire outfit.

However, Barton's one cause for concern was the lack of shots on goal and insists more should have been done to test Nuneaton's goalkeeper Darren Acton in the appalling weather conditions.

The City manager claims that his side deserved a share of the spoils and cites Boro's opening goal, a penalty harshly awarded when a fierce shot struck the arm of Les Hines, as the game's turning point.

Barton said: "We deserved something out of the game, there's no doubt about that. I think it was quite an encouraging performance and we played some our best football for a long while. The players gave everything.

"The first penalty was more than harsh to say the least. I don't know what the referee expected Les to do when it hit him from close blank range. I don't see how anybody could have avoided that.

"Although we played some good stuff, I thought our football at times lacked a bit of penetration and we didn't work their 'keeper enough."

Defender Colin Hoyle and midfield Pat Lyons, both missing at Nuneaton with a flu bug, may recover in time for the trip to Bradford.