WORCESTER City boss John Barton has warned that the next stage of progression for his side will be the most difficult.

City round off their Dr Martens League Premier Division campaign at Havant and Waterlooville tomorrow (3pm), with fourth place now their most realistic target following last night's 1-0 defeat at Crawley.

But having moved on from the avoidance of relegation last term to taking the Dr Martens Cup and an improved position this season, Barton believes progressing to being title contenders will not be easy.

"I know what the situation is and there is still a lot of work to be done," said the City boss.

"The first phase was done last year in preserving our Premier Division status. The second phase has been done in terms of showing success this year and a much-improved league position.

"But the next phase may be the most difficult to do. We will certainly have a go at it, but it will be a tough task.

"I am not fooled by the fact that we have won a trophy - it has to go on from that."

Of last night's defeat at Crawley, he said: "It wasn't a poor performance and it was good enough to have won the game.

"But we were chasing it again -- we didn't deal with a set-piece. We had a lot of possession in the first-half and even more in the second, but we didn't really look like scoring."

City thus go into tomorrow's game on a run of four successive defeats, and have failed to score in their last three encounters.

Their hopes of finishing third are now unlikely barring a big victory and a heavy defeat for King's Lynn, but they will still finish fourth if they win and Weymouth fail to do so at home to Tamworth.

Conversely, if results go against them, they could end up as low as 10th - and would certainly drop below tomorrow's opponents.

Barton said: "I was quite impressed with them in the game at Worcester. They have had a punishing schedule recently but have continued to pick up victories and points here and there, which has put them in a position to have a good finish."

Midfielder Andy Ellis, who scored the only goal when the sides met at St George's Lane in March, will return after work commitments prevented him travelling to Crawley. But youth development officer Ray Woods, who came into the side last night, is unavailable and striker Mark Shepherd remains doubtful with a groin strain.

Barton plans to announce his retained list at the end of next week, while he is believed to be close to securing two new signings.

Worcester (from): McDonnell, Carty, Lutz, Bradley, Tucker, Heeley, Weir, Cottrill, Greenman, Joyce, Owen, Shepherd, Hyde, Ellis, Reed, P. Wyatt.