Saturday, August 30, 2003

SHOCKING, awful, and frustrating!

That was just the journey down south after a bad crash forced the closure of the M40 but it could equally have applied to City who totally capitulated to Crawley in a toothless display.

Whether the Reds, led by hat-trick hero Carl Wilson-Denis, were too good or City merely atrocious was a moot point but either way it made for x-rated watching for those of the Blue and White persuasion.

Certainly the City fans making the trek to the Broadfield Stadium must have wished they hadn't bothered because a long and interminable trip south probably felt twice as long on the way back after witnessing a football horror show.

The now ritual pre-match huddle, a symbol of City's spirit and fight which had got them to the top of the table undefeated, was made to look something of an empty gesture as the home side out-flanked, out-manoeuvered and out-battled their visitors.

Over-run in midfield, picked off at the back, and barely stringing two passes together, City were simply not a threat. The best they could have hoped for was a draw but even with Danny McDonnell in fine form that was always a long shot and so it proved though City clung on without conceding a goal to the 45th minute.

The danger signs had been there from the off when as early as the fourth minute the impressive Daniel Marney sprinted clear leaving Barry Woolley flailing in his wake.

McDonnell rescued his defence but with City unable to make any impression it seemed only a matter of time before Crawley made the breakthrough.

Wilson-Denis and Marney proved a lethal combination and bisected City's defences as easily as a knife through butter.

One instant in the 23rd minute should have put Crawley ahead but McDonnell's reflexes and Holloway's last ditch challenge kept the scoresheet blank.

Marney, a loan-signing from Brighton, was the game's major influence but while he shone City's play was ragged with Snape and Darren Middleton chasing shadows, no link up between the midfield and front men and Adam Wilde an isolated figure on the left.

McDonnell meanwhile needed every part of his anatomy to keep the Reds at bay, notably his head to thwart Marney in the 33rd minute.

At the other end Mark Owen and Leon Kelly foraged hard but a diet of scraps left them with few if any clear-cut chances and in fact City's best opening fell to Woolley but he headed Wilde's cross straight at Andy Little.

The floodgates finally opened as the first half entered its dying minutes and aptly it was Marney who made the breakthrough, capping a fine move to head home a Nigel Brake cross at the back post.

Two minutes into stoppage time further confusion in City's ailing back line saw hesitation between McDonnell and his two centre backs, enabling Wilson-Denis to latch on to a little ball over the top and round the keeper.

Wilson-Denis made it three on 49 minutes when Holloway initially stopped to appeal for offside then headed weakly back allowing Wilson-Denis to once again skip round McDonnell.

Woolley, who endured a wretched afternoon was replaced by Carl Heeley in the 53rd minute, but he fared little better, when he was harshly judged to have tugged the shirt of Marney to concede a 68th minute penalty and allow Wilson-Denis to claim his hat-trick.

Paul Carty came close to grabbing a consolation goal in the 78th minute but that, plus a Woolley header and sliced effort past his own goal by Brake, was the sum total of Worcester's attacking efforts.

McDonnell, impressive to the last, made two saves at the death but his efforts had long been in vain.