Monday, November 26, 2001

CAPTAIN fantastic Carl Heeley grabbed a 51st minute winner before pulling off a superb goalline clearance to help Worcester City to a 1-0 win against Merthyr Tydfil last night.

But John Barton's side rode their luck as Merthyr had a Gavin Beddard goal ruled out on the stroke of half-time, while goalkeeper Danny McDonnell was forced to make a brilliant double save in the final minutes.

The three points eases the pressure on City but there was little to separate them from managerless Merthyr -- struggling second from bottom in the Dr Martens Premier Division -- in a scrappy affair.

Heeley, who was presented with a shield before the game to mark his recent 350th appearance against Belper Town, has scored some vital goals for City and assistant boss Mick Tuohy paid tribute to the skipper.

"Carl never ceases to amaze us. He's got a big heart, is always there, always one of those rock solid people and you are pleased for people like him," said Tuohy.

"I thought Martin Weir did exceptionally well too because they've been under a lot of pressure in recent games due to us not keeping possession."

Tuohy added: "We needed three points just to get ourselves back on track. It was a fraught and frenetic game and Merthyr probably excelled after the manager's departure on Saturday but we were still disappointed with the way we performed.

"I think with the chances we had we should have won the game comfortably if we'd had people full of confidence but we haven't but we still won 1-0 and we're quite happy to take the three points."

Chances were scarce with Phil Stant rifling a left-foot strike just wide while Merthyr's Andrew Mumford spurned a glorious chance after breaching the City defence in the 23rd minute.

Barton had recalled Marc Burrow and Jon Holloway in place of Andy Ellis and Jamie Hyde, and Burrow was involved in the key moment of the match.

His flick found Stant whose volley was brilliantly saved by Neil Thomas but the ball fell to Heeley to head home from six yards.

Ten minutes later Heeley sprang into action at the other end when he rescued a McDonnell error with a diving header off the line to deny Pete Knox.

Mark Shepherd wasted a great chance to seal the points for City before McDonnell saved his side in injury-time, when he first kept out Lee Brown's long-range shot and recovered to block the follow-up effort from Knox.

Worcester: McDonnell 7, Davies 7, Jukes 7, Heeley 9, Weir 8, Holloway 6, Carty 6 (Ellis 66, 6), Burrow 8, Stant 7, Bullock 6, Shepherd 7. Subs not used: Hyde, Goodman.

Attendance: 769.