Monday, October 24, 2005

ROB Warner was the late hero as Worcester City staged a night of glory to dump Accrington Stanley out of the FA Cup.

In a thrilling replay to remember at St George's Lane, City stormed back from two goals down to win 3-2, clinching a first round proper trip to Chippenham Town and £10,000 in prize money.

Worcester looked dead and buried when Gary Roberts and Michael Welch sent the Reds into a commanding lead within a quarter of an hour. But they showed tremendous courage to fight back to level terms.

The first goal came through Chris Smith's first-half header, then Adam Webster's equaliser arrived with 15 minutes left.

Extra-time loomed before full-back Warner clinched the victory in front of City's biggest gate of the season, ramming home the loose ball after Andy Dibble spilled Andy Preece's ferocious free-kick.

"I don't normally find myself up there!" said Warner. "The goalie spilled it and I was lucky to be on the spot. I don't think any of the lads wanted penalties.

"It was a fantastic performance from the team. We deserved to win over the two matches.

"We were up against it and we had to come from two goals down. But we were patient and just hung in there.

"Heads could have gone down when we went 2-0 adrift, but we needed to stay in the game. We really fancied it when Webby equalised. Luckily, we got the winner."

In similar fashion to Saturday's tie, City made a strong start and Tom Warmer came close when his 25-yard effort deflected off Paul Mullin and shaved the upright.

As City continued to press strongly, the Reds suddenly sil-enced the home crowd by scoring on 11 minutes following a slick counter-attacking move. Full-back Leam Richardson collected the ball on the right and his low cross found Roberts, who spun his marker on the edge of the box before slotting right-footed past Danny McDonnell into the bottom corner.

It got worse for City four minutes later when slack marking allowed Welch to bullet home Ian Craney's corner at the far post.

Rather than collapse, Worcester stormed back. Adam Webster should have buried McDonald's excellent cross, but Smith halved the deficit on 30 minutes with a flicked header that looped over veteran Dibble.

After the break, 16-year-old Sam Wedgbury sent a 25-yard screamer into the top corner, but the strike was ruled out after the linesman flagged for off-side.

It mattered not as Webster levelled for City on 75 minutes, expertly firing home from Des Lyttle's long free-kick.

Warner completed the remarkable comeback with two minutes left, blasting his first ever City goal to send a raucous home crowd delirious.

City: McDonnell, Warner, Hodnett, Smith, Thompson, Lyttle, Wedgbury (Preece 68), Warmer, Kelly, Webster, McDonald (Clegg 65). Subs (not used): Watkins, Jones, Skyers.

Attendance: 1,331.