Saturday, December 14, 2002

ON the face of it, a goalless draw at third-placed Chippenham Town would seem like a good result for title-chasing Worcester City.

But with leaders Tamworth cruising to a 4-0 win at Chelmsford, John Barton's men have lost further ground in the Dr Martens Premier Division championship race.

A draw was probably a fair result in a game where defences generally had the upper hand.

But it's these sort of games that City will have to nick if they are to stay in contention at the top -- and they are now three points behind Tamworth having played a game more.

Manager Barton admitted afterwards: "With a bit more penetration we could perhaps have won the game. They have had a couple of chances but so have we."

Barton also felt that the conditions did not help the entertainment value. "It was not easy. It was a heavy pitch with no pace in it and the ball was not coming on to people. Trying to generate some pace and tempo to our game was difficult."

But Barton was still happy to take a point off the Wiltshire side, who have made an excellent start in their first season at this level.

He added: "Chippenham are not up there by a fluke -- they are a tough side to play against. They have players that have been around with a fair amount of experience.

"Both sides are where they are on merit, but what we have shown is that we are halfway through the season now and we have proved we can go to places like this and be no pushovers."

Clear chances were at a premium as two of the division's tightest defences showed their mettle in front of a large and noisy crowd at Hardenhuish Park.

Carl Heeley and Jon Holloway were their usual solid selves in the centre while Paul Carty did some good work down the left despite a silly booking, John Snape was a terrier in the midfield and Adam Wilde on the left flank always looked City's best attacking option.

But there weren't many clear sights of goal for City, and when there were, they lacked conviction in taking their chances -- something which has happened before this season and may come back to haunt them in the final analysis.

Wilde had City's best first-half chance when he cut inside two defenders and fired in a shot that Chippenham 'keeper James Bittner saved well, having been similarly denied by Bittner a few minutes earlier.

Adam Webster mis-hit a shot wide following a good cross by Pat Lyons, while midway through the second-half Webster raced clear onto Darren Middleton's through ball but Bittner rushed out of his goal to deny him again.

Chippenham were likewise restricted to mainly half-chances and City 'keeper Danny McDonnell did not have a serious save to make throughout.

Charlie Griffin hit a fine volley on the turn inches wide in the first-half, but the hosts could have stolen all three points had their experienced striker Adie Mings, who played one game for City under George Rooney's management 10 years ago, shown a cooler head.

He twice raced through the City defence in the second-half, but the first time Heeley got back to block his shot after Mings had rounded McDonnell, and on the second occasion he dragged his shot wastefully wide with only the City 'keeper to beat.