MICHAEL Blackwood came back to haunt his old club as Worcester City's poor form continued last night.

The winger, who starred in City's first seven games of the season before moving to Stevenage Borough, scored a last-gasp equaliser to earn his new club Halesowen Town a 1-1 draw at St George's Lane.

Blackwood's strike cancelled out an excellent early goal from Adam Webster and stretched City's run to four games without a win in the Dr Martens Premier Division.

Halesowen, fighting for survival, certainly deserved their point after looking sharper for much of the match.

But Blackwood's goal was a crushing blow for City, who despite an indifferent display had held the lead for more than 80 minutes.

Manager John Barton said afterwards: "We are trying to be positive. We played three up front, had a good start and scored a good goal but we haven't forced it on from there.

"Halesowen are scrapping for their lives and I thought they deserved something out of the game.

"We have to look back and say what we have done wasn't good enough to win the match."

City hit the front after only six minutes when Stewart Hadley released Adam Wilde on the left. The winger whipped in a low cross and Webster controlled the ball, turned brilliantly and lashed a close-range shot past former Kidderminster Harriers 'keeper Tim Clarke.

It was Webster's 15th goal of the season and capped an excellent, hard-working display by the striker who almost had another goal early in the second half when his fierce shot just went over the angle of post and crossbar.

But City seemed to tail off after that good start and most of the forward momentum came from the visitors, who had the measure of City's under-strength midfield.

Former Halesowen 'keeper Danny McDonnell made important saves to deny Mark Danks and Lee Williams while a Lee Collins header was cleared off the line by Allan Davies.

But just as it seemed that City would hold out, an unfortunate rebound off defender Mark Shail's shoulder in the 87th minute fell into the path of Blackwood, who'd otherwise had a quiet game, and he capitalised to calmly lift the ball over the advancing McDonnell.

Worcester: McDonnell 7, Davies 6, Carty 6, Heeley 7, Shail 7, Holloway 7, Middleton 6, Counsell 6 (Jones 61, 6), WEBSTER 8, Hadley 6 (Owen 65, 5), Wilde 6. Subs not used: Parker, McDonald, Wyatt.

Attendance: 817.