Crawley Town 1 Worcester City 0

GONE in Sixty Seconds was how long it took Vinnie Jones and Nicolas Cage to steal a car in their Hollywood blockbuster but it took Worcester City just 58 seconds to surrender the points to Dr Martens Premier Division leaders Crawley Town on Saturday.

If manager John Barton thought matters could get no worse after recent poor displays he was in for a shock as Nigel Brake sped down the left to cross for Reds' captain Danny Carroll to slide home at the back post.

It was a disastrous start and immediately left a City side, already short on confidence, with a huge barrier to climb as captain, Carl Heeley, admitted.

"It was so early in the game, it knocks you back and you've got a mountain to climb straight away," he said.

"We battled well but at the end of the day we haven't got any points. It's no good playing well and losing. We've lost all the goals in the side, everybody knows that but we've got to keep plugging away."

Buoyed by the goal Crawley laid early siege to the City goal and two minutes after the goal Rob Collins forced a brilliant save from Danny McDonnell with a fingertip stinging drive.

For McDonnell it marked the beginning of a difficult afternoon made worse when he clattered Nigel Brake in the neck as he raced to deal with a through ball outside of his box late in the second half.

Brake was stretchered off but McDonnell had clearly won the ball, though that did not stop a tirade of abuse from the home fans.

City, after the shock of going a goal down, dragged themselves back into the match - aided by a half-time Barton rocket - and produced some of their better football in recent weeks.

Jamie Hyde was a surprise early substitute -- on for Paul Carty after just 29 minutes --and the young winger responded by crossing for Phil Stant to glance a header on to the roof of the net.

After the break Stant was pulled back as he was about to prod home a Marc Burrow knock down but no penalty was given.

City continued in search of an equaliser but largely in vain and it was Crawley who looked more likely to score with substitute Warren Waugh wasting two good chances.

Barton's appalling luck with injuries struck in the 63rd minute when Jon Holloway limped off with a hip injury, leaving him on crutches at the end of the game.

For City it was a frustrating afternoon and Barton will be praying he can bring in some desperately needed new players to bolster his squad, something his captain echoed.

"We probably played some of our better football for a while but we're lacking a cutting edge up front and it showed today," said Heeley.

"Crawley weren't bad but I don't think they were anything special and I felt we could have got something from the game.

"We're disappointed to have lost but I just hope something changes and we can get another striker in because that's definitely where we are struggling at the moment."

Assistant boss Mick Tuohy was also hopeful the club would be able to bring in new players this week to help the team through a sticky patch.

"It's down to hard work unfortunately but this time next week hopefully we'll have some new bodies in but we are really down to the bare minimum at the moment," he said.

"We didn't start well. John let them know in no uncertain terms that the first half performance was totally unacceptable.

"We were well short in every area but fortunately they responded in the second half. Our possession and movement was better and with a little more luck we might have been going home with a point but it is a difficult time at the moment."