MANAGER Carl Heeley felt neither Worcester City nor Rugby Town deserved to win their FA Cup encounter at Aggborough.

Both sides squandered chances throughout an entertaining third qualifying round contest without being able to break the deadlock.

They will meet again in the replay at Rugby’s Butlin Road ground tomorrow night.

“It was a classic game of missed chances from both sides,” Heeley said. “In the first 20 minutes, Rugby had three or four good chances to score but we had a lot of chances as well.

“In fairness, neither side looked like they had any conviction so, although the most unlikely of results if you look at the chances, I think a draw is a fair one.

“They came with their tails up, they’ve got nothing to lose playing a team from a couple of divisions above and the pressure was off them but, that said, I thought they defended quite well.

“I was disappointed with us defensively for the first 20 minutes because I thought we got opened up too easily. After that, I thought we gradually got a grip of the game and, if you look at the chances late on, we should have won it.

“But we didn’t and we’ve got another opportunity tomorrow.

“The objective before the start of the game was to be in the hat for the next round and we’re still in it, we’ve got to make sure we go and do the job now at Rugby.”

Heeley was also quick to dismiss any suggestion his side had taken the Southern League Division One Central outfit lightly.

The City boss added: “As much as it’s a great opportunity for Worcester City to get in the fourth qualifying round, it’s also a great opportunity for Rugby Town and we’ve got to be respectful of that.

“Nobody has a divine right to win a game of football or progress into the next round just because you’re playing lower-ranked opposition.

“You have to be on your game and there were too many areas where we probably weren’t at it.

“Fortunately, we’ve got another opportunity and we’ve got to learn from what we know and move on.”

Danny Glover was replaced by on-loan Torquay winger Niall Thompson in the second-half as Worcester sought to grasp the initiative.

Heeley explained: “Danny wasn’t at the races and that happens, it wasn’t a personal thing.

“We don’t take players off to knock them down.

“We take them off because it’s not happening for them on the day.

“We just felt a change with Niall would give us something more positive to try and win the match.”