MATT Williams fired the decisive goal as Worcester City's FA Cup adventure failed to get off the ground.

There will be no rollercoaster rides at St George's Lane or mid-week replays at obscure non-league outposts this year.

Instead, City may well be kicking their heels unless a fixture can be found to keep them occupied in two weeks' time.

Seven days on from their capitulation at Alfreton, Andy Preece chose to give the same 11 players the chance to redeem themselves following one of the worst displays of the manager's reign.

There was an improvement, with the defence much more together, but City rarely looked like scoring after Williams' 52nd-minute strike despite piling forward at every opportunity.

Adam Webster wasted their best chance of the match, hitting the ball against goalkeeper Jose Veiga when one-on-one in the first-half.

There was little to choose between the sides early on although Tamworth did cause some problems for the visitors with a corner and Chris Smith later had to divert Gareth Sheldon's shot wide.

Graham Ward also caused panic when his under-hit back-pass almost let in Williams but Danny McDonnell was alert to the danger.

McDonnell came to his side's rescue on 27 minutes when Tamworth, fielding just four of the same players from three weeks ago, thought they had broken the deadlock.

Captain Adie Smith's powerful header appeared destined to hit the net but City's keeper somehow managed to smother his effort on the line.

Worcester should have made them pay seven minutes later but Webster's run lacked a finish.

At the same end where he had put City ahead on September 8, the striker beat the offside trap from Peter Doran's pass but his tame shot hit Veiga and rolled wide for a corner.

Then it was Gary Mills' side's turn to flirt with the goal and leave their fans thinking they had taken the lead.

Despite Anthony Robinson blatantly barging Ryan Clarke off the ball in the build-up, the Tamworth forward cut into the penalty area from the left and squared for Dave Bampton, but his shot cannoned off the post with McDonnell beaten.

City made a bright start to the second-half but within seven minutes found themselves chasing the game. George Clegg conceded an innocuous free-kick, awarded by the referee's assistant, level with the edge of the penalty box.

Former Kidderminster Harriers player Sheldon swung the ball over, it bounced nicely for Williams and he volleyed it past the helpless McDonnell from 18 yards.

The game then began to open up as City started to chance their arm going forward, a ploy that saw Webster caught offside on several occasions.

Tamworth, though, had chances on the break and racked up their share of close calls seeking a killer second goal.

A moment of madness from home goalkeeper Veiga might have cost them dear on 68 minutes.

Inexplicably, the Cape Verde international came out to tackle Paul Barratt and pursued him well outside his area but Barratt was unable to take advantage.

Patrece Liburd then produced a well-timed challenge to deny Robinson close in two minutes before being replaced by Nick Colley.

Taunted as he took his seat in the away dug-out, a fate also endured by manager Preece, Colley was booed every time he touched the ball during his 16-minute cameo.

Joined by fellow subs Mark Danks and Troy Wood, City resorted to their custom desperate measure of four up front but only had long punts from Smith to feed off.

Danks enjoyed the most ball time of the reinforcements but he constantly found himself running down blind alleys in pursuit of forging an opening.

Emeka Nwadike did head Ward's free-kick over the bar with two minutes remaining but, despite a few more hopeful balls forward from Smith, Tamworth held out.