MANAGER Richard Dryden was pleased to see his Worcester City side show some character despite losing to Chelmsford City.

Last night’s 2-1 defeat was City’s second in three days at St George’s Lane following on from Saturday’s 1-0 reverse against Welling United.

Rob Davies deflected home Matt Dinsmore’s strike to equalise seconds before half-time but Ricky Holmes netted the winner for the visitors with 12 minutes remaining.

City remain one place above the relegation zone but Dryden feels there was improvement against Chelmsford.

He said: “It’s a disappointing result. The character was there but that is beginning to sound like a broken record.

“We were probably looking for between four and six points if we’re honest with our home form before the last two games and to get nothing is disappointing.

“To perform like we did on Saturday was extremely disappointing and I don’t want to see a performance like it again.

“We will get beaten in games but sometimes it’s how you get beaten and it was embarrassing on Saturday but this was a step up.”

Captain Tom Kemp was replaced by Davies moments before the substitute levelled for the hosts.

However, the skipper aggravating a rib injury forced the change and was not a direct result of the poor challenge which earned Chelmsford’s John Martin a booking.

Dryden said: “He’s had a rib problem for a couple of games. He gets on with it but he wasn’t himself against Welling on Saturday.

“He did better against Chelmsford but once he went down he was in pain.

“He was a big miss and with Mark Clyde missing as well it left a bit of a gap. Craig Wilding was decent at the back but, not being a centre-half, we left ourselves a little bit vulnerable.”