MANAGER John Barton admitted his Worcester City side nearly blew it in last night's third round FA Trophy clash with Newport County.

The St George's Lane eventually triumphed 3-2 after squandering a three-goal advantage against 10-man Exiles and now face Nationwide Conference Margate in the fourth round on February 1.

"There were neat little pockets of play but it wasn't a convincing performance," said Barton.

"At 3-0 I think we switched off and I wouldn't have liked to face an extra 10 minutes.

"But the fact we have beaten Tamworth and Newport back-to-back and are still nit-picking over our displays shows the progress we have made."

Adam Webster stole the glory with two stunning goals, while Darren Middleton scored his 14th goal of the season from the penalty spot.

"Looking at the penalty decision I think in their shoes I would have been upset if it had given against us.

"But Adam has produced two tremendous finishes and I'm very pleased for him," added Barton.

"He was left out against Tamworth but has come back with three goals in a game-and-a-half and he deserves that for the work he has put in.

"Cup football is about 90 minutes and the main thing is to be in the hat for the next round," he added."The draw doesn't mean anything until you win but now we've achieved that and we have now got our third home draw.

"The gods are smiling on us in that respect and have handed us another big game against Margate and as far as I'm concerned keep them coming."

The St George's Lane ground is being inspected and graded by the Nationwide Conference later today as part of the league's three yearly assessment of Dr Martens Premier Division stadiums.