Monday, March 29, 2004

SO near, yet so far! Worcester City's brave effort to de-rail champions-elect Crawley Town came up short last night.

It may have only been fractions, here and there, but bundled together and Francis Vines' Reds team just had that little bit extra on their St George's Lane hosts.

It was enough to give the Reds the narrowest of 1-0 wins and inflict only a second defeat in 13 games on City.

Charlie MacDonald's goal, an adept turn and shot from 12 yards on 24 minutes, left Barry Woolley marking thin air, though in hindsight the defender was perhaps turned too easily.

John Barton's side worked tirelessly to bridge the gap but ultimately at the sharp end couldn't muster a way past Andy Little.

City came closest during a 25 minute spell either side of half time in which they had the upper hand. But a combination of keeper Little's reactions and their own limitations in failing to carve out enough clear-cut openings saw City come off second best.

Leon Kelly came within a whisker of a superb equaliser on 34 minutes -- a surge of pace and power catapulting him down the right and into the box but, with an option to square the ball back, his toe-poked effort lacked enough pace and was cleared off the line.

Two minutes later the striker engineered a great opening for Wilde but he opted to cut in and shoot with his weaker right foot, enabling Little to save.

Wilde then had two 30-yard free kicks either side of the interval, one missed by a whisker the other was clawed away brilliantly by Little.

But the burden of chasing a game told on City. In between a miraculous stop from McDonnell to deny MacDonald and a looping Woolley header at the death which clipped the angle of bar and post, the last 30 minutes dwindled to fevered activity but with little end product, though Liam McDonald's late arrival improved the quality of delivery into the box.

Struggle

Pat Lyons admitted the early goal had left City with an uphill struggle.

"The main thing was not conceding because chasing the game made it more difficult. They got the goal and sat back off us and we had to break them down and we just didn't get the break and as the game wore on it got harder and harder," he said.

"Their lad did well for the goal, a bit of quality, but Adam Wilde's put two great free kicks in -- one just past the post and the other the keeper's made a fantastic save to keep one out.

"They are the big things that change games. We battled but I just don't think we did enough all round."

In the final minute Kelly shoulder-barged Little, complete with ball, into the net in a carbon copy of Nat Lofthouse's famous 1958 FA Cup final goal but those days are long gone -- like City's title hopes for this season.

CITY: McDonnell 7, Davies 6, Holloway 7 (Middleton 79), Woolley 7, H Heeley 8, Snape 6, Stanley 6 (McDonald 73), Lyons 7, Webster 6 (Owen 69, 6), Kelly 7, Wilde 7. Subs (not used): Khan, Hayes. Attendance: 1,856.