Saturday, May 3, 2003

WORCESTER City's season was concluded in controversial fashion as they lost 2-1 at Dover Athletic and ended the game with nine men following the second-half dismissals of Jon Holloway and Carl Heeley.

The defeat means that John Barton's men finished a disappointing sixth in the Dr Martens Premier Division, having led the table for a large part of the season.

Bad feeling that had carried on from Dover's controversial 1-0 win at St George's Lane in January was never far below the surface and finally erupted with 10 minutes of this feisty affair remaining.

The problems started when Dover's Danny Chapman appeared to head-butt John Snape, who duly went down in instalments on the edge of the home side's 18-yard line.

After a regrettable free-for-all had burnt itself out, Chapman was red-carded along with Holloway while one or two others on both sides might consider themselves fortunate not to have joined them in the dressing room.

Within a minute City skipper Heeley, who was booked for his part in the altercation, received his second yellow card from referee Michael O'Keefe for a late challenge on Dover's Lee Spiller, thus ensuring that City's hopes of salvaging something finally went west.

Fisticuffs apart, it proved an entertaining encounter, particularly after Dover had taken the lead after 18 minutes.

The goal came as Spiller knocked in a cross from the right and as top scorer Tommy Tyne flicked the ball on, the outstanding Jamie Day scored with a half-volley from 12 yards.

City were behind for just four minutes, however, as they equalised following their first corner of the game. Adam Wilde's outswinger from the left was flicked on by Snape to wrong-foot the Dover defence, leaving Heeley to score with a thumping header from the edge of the six-yard box.

City might have gone in front following the best move of the game soon after, but their opportunities were limited after Adam Webster had smacked Wilde's cross against a post and Dover always looked the likelier to succeed after the interval.

The Whites' winner came after 72 minutes and came largely as a result of some sloppy City defending.

After being the only one to chase a seemingly lost cause, Tyne got to the dead ball line and squared the ball for Day to thump the ball home from barely two yards out.

Although City were still in contention at this stage, the aforementioned dust-up effectively ended their interest in the contest and it was Dover who went on to claim the third spot that City had hoped to achieve.

Worcester: McDonnell 7, Holloway 5, Carty 6, Heeley 5, H Shail 8, Snape 7, Jones 6, Counsell 6 (Smith 75), Webster 6, Hadley 6 (Middleton 89), Wilde 7. Subs not used: Tomkins, Hayes, Parker.

Attendance: 1,013.