IT was a brave move by Andy Preece to pin his faith in youth at Crawley -- but a correct move nonetheless.

For the first time this season, Preece boldly selected three players educated at Worcester City's successful academy, Shabir Khan and Liam McDonald, in the line-up, along with speedy striker Troy Wood.

He may have picked four lads groomed at the St George's Lane development school had Sam Wedgbury not hurt his ankle.

And, in addition to City's player-manager dropping older heads Adam Webster and Les Hines at Crawley's Broadfield Stadium, he continued to ignore the previous 3-5-2 system -- or 5-3-2, depending how you view it -- to explore a more attack-minded 3-4-3.

The FA Trophy tie provided an opportune moment to try different players and new formations.

Understandably, Preece and assistant Andy Morrison are loath to veer from a three-man central defensive unit as City have shipped just 27 league goals this season -- the best record outside sixth-placed Lancaster.

But drastic measures are required on the offensive front. City are Nationwide North's poorest scorers with 20 and it is the key reason they stare at a relegation battle.

Poor finishing, tactics and general under-performance can be blamed for that meagre return.

City are not getting the most from their three-at-the-back formation, which carries a crucial role for wing-backs to manoeuvre up and down the flanks and deliver a good supply of crosses into the opposition's penalty box

Rob Warner and Hines are steady full-backs, but they are not blessed with genuine pace and neither saunter forward enough to support Worcester's front-men.

Hines is under increasing pressure from Khan, who City supporters are praying can finally end his injury-jinx nightmare.

Khan is one of the squad's quickest players and he struck a good partnership earlier this season with fellow 20-year-old McDonald, who delivers good set-pieces, equal to those of specialist Hines. Forging together the Khan-McDonald axis may be the way forward down the left-hand side.

City's goal-scoring conundrum is Preece's biggest headache and he quickly needs to solve it to quash the club's relegation fears.

He stuck patiently with Leon Kelly and Adam Webster, but the goals are not coming and it was only a matter of time before Wood was handed a chance.

Wood has appeared in four of Worcester's last five games and deserved the starting nod in West Sussex after showing prolific form at youth and reserve level.

The diminutive striker produced decent flashes against Crawley -- a sign that he could hold his head above water in the senior side.

That was a major plus for Preece, but his biggest dilemma is whether to trust youth over experience in maintaining City's status in the division.

A section of supporters are demanding the inclusion of younger players ahead of struggling higher-profile names.

It worked wonders at Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup, when a central-midfield combination of Wedgbury, Danny Hodnett and Tom Warmer out-battled the now Conference leaders.

But during the second-half of the season, when Worcester face more pressure-cooker games, will the likes of Wood, Wedgbury, Khan and McDonald have the nerve or know-how to help the club beat off relegation?

That is a tough judgement for the manager, who is desperate to sign new players and breathe fresh life into City's troubled season.

Preece made an adventurous decision at Crawley, but will he make the most courageous call of all?