2014/15

2004/5 - 2022/23

CITY V FYLDE - TUESDAY 16th MARCH 2015

CITY V BARROW SATURDAY 21ST MARCH 2015

Inside the space of a week Worcester entertained both of the contenders for the league title and for all their efforts City came away pointless from both games. The football style of the two visiting teams could not have been more different. Flyde played with a fluency rarely seen at this level and never looked back after taking an early lead to run out easy winners by four goals to nil. Barrow, on the other hand, looked every bit a team struggling under the weight of the fans expectation that their club's unexpected new-found riches would bring them instant promotion. Barrow has a bunch of good individual players but there was very little cohesion to their play whilst a lack of discipline could yet cost them dearly. The game was decided on two chances in the first half of the game. The first being when Sean Geddes's firmly struck penalty was well saved and the second being a route one ball that fell kindly for Barrow to give them a one goal lead. After this there was little further action except in the Referee's book wth no less than eight yellow cards being given - five against Barrow. In a few short weeks fans will know whether it is the flair of Flyde or the dull monotony of Barrow who win the title.

CHORLEY v WORCESTER CITY – SATURDAY 28th FEBRUARY 2015

DUNKLEY ON FIRE

Tristian Dunkley set the Victory Stadium alight with a five star performance to help City earn a well-deserved point against high-flying Chorley and in doing so made a massive dent in the home team’s hopes of a play-off place.

It was a perfect day for a non-league spectacle with a bitterly cold Lancastrian wind blowing across the pitch and the threat of a blizzard never far away.

Indeed the game ended in near white-out conditions that reduced the game to little more than a lottery afternoon.

The weather conditions did not affect the ability of the teams to entertain a sizeable crowd and it was Worcester who were first to test the home team’s defences but City soon found themselves a goal down after Ryan Boot had saved a far-post header a Chorley player was on hand to stab the rebound in from close range. It was a 13th minute hammer-blow but City reacted in the best possible manner when Dunkley cut in from an inside-right channel to place a firm shot post a helpless home keeper.

Chorley were soon back into their stride and a superb lay-off left Jack Ryan in the clear and his unstoppable shot gave the City keeper no chance.

It was Worcester who were dominant in the first part of the second half and following two magnificent saves by the Chorley goalkeeper City deservedly drew level when Sean Geddes threaded a neat pass to Tristian Dunkley who ran through the defence to score in style.

Mike Symons celebrates City's third goal

The home team had no time to gather their thoughts before Dunkley was at them again, this time breaking down the right wing and finding Symons on the edge of the six-yard box. The City striker turned on a sixpence and lofted the ball into the net for City’s second goal in a minute.

The fate of the game rested on a controversial decision by the referee who failed to act when Mike Symons was felled in the box. It was an obvious penalty but the referee who was of the usual standard for this league failed to act one way or the other. Inevitably the Chorley pressure built on the City goal and they got the equaliser with a fine header from a corner to leave a final score of 3-3.

WORCESTER CITY v OXFORD CITY – Tuesday 27^th January 2015

DUNKLEY TO THE FORE

Following the home defeat against Bradford (see below) City turned in a poor performance to lose 2-0 at Gloucester but followed this up with a "bonus" point against Hednesford (after the original game was abandoned with City three goals down).

Boosted by the newly re-signed Aaron Brown (see 2013/4 season) City seemed to have more bite and control than in other recent games. The first half though was a poor lifeless affair with neither side managing to create much in front of goal, but both Aaron Brown and Wayne Thomas were superb in dealing with the odd aerial long balls floated into Worcester's penalty box.

The introduction of Tristian Dunkley into the fray shortly after half time sparked Worcester into a flurry of activity around the visitors goal and for once it brought a rich reward when WayneThomas was unmarked to drill Sean Geddes's deft corner kick into the net. Worcester could have had a second which would have settled the nerves of the fans but with the defence turning in a rock-solid performance there was no way through for Oxford and the home team bagged all three points.

WORCESTER CITY v BRADFORD PARK AVENUE – Sunday 11^th January 2015

CITY SHOOTING BLANKS

At a bitterly cold and windy Kidderminster Worcester’s shooting let them down as they fell to a late goal in a classic smash and grab raid by the visitors. Worcester hit the woodwork no less than three times and saw two more shots saved inches from the line. With such bad luck in front of goal there was a certain inevitability that Bradford would grab the points with their only shot on target in the game.

WORCESTER CITY v SCUNTHORPE UNITED

WEDNESDAY 17th DECEMBER 2014

A BLAZE OF GLORY

Worcester City's tremendous FA Cup run for 2014 is over but it needed a record breaking thirty penalties to separate the two teams on a night of high drama, live before the television cameras.

This was a night when. because the officials in charge of running the competition have surrendered to the Premier League, City were denied a deserved second replay which would have been the appropriate ending to a night of high drama. Whichever team wins a penalty shoot out it is inevitably the game itself that suffers but let that not detract from the finest game of football seen since Cityy moved their home to Kidderminster.

Scunthorpe took the lead when City let their concentration lapse after the referree had indicated one minute of additional time but bizarly allowed the game to continue long enough for Scunthorpe to score in the 47th minute of the game, even allowing a corner to be taken which led to the goal and the game to restart.

Undeterred City set about restoring parity and did so in when Geddes neatly interchanged the ball with Nti and when the former glimpsed the target he drilled the ball into the net across the body of the visiting keeper.

Both sides had chances to win the game but neither could do so in the rest of the half nor in the thirty minutes of extra time.

The bizarre penalty shootout seemed to go on for ever as the crowd lost count of the score before finally Scunthorpe took the place in the next round.

Surely now the City Council must get behind the club and support the planning application to allow the club to return to Worcester?

UPDATE: Apparently I did miscount the number of penalties taken. According to Switzerland's Berner Zeitung newspaper the total was actually 32 penalties and that the 16 in a row that were converted into goals is a world record.

A truly amazing game which shows just how good a team Worcester have now got. Better than the legendary 1978/9 team? Perhaps.

SCUNTHORPE UNITED v WORCESTER CITY

SUNDAY 7th DECEMBER 15th 2014

NTI STRIKES

A stunning goal, within a minute of the start of the second half, by Daniel Nti settled the nerves of the City players and fans alike and banished the memory of a very poor first half when City were taken apart by a slick moving Scunthorpe United team who proved to be a cut above the very poor Coventry team that Worcester encountered in the previous round of the FA Cup.

The ground presented a strange sight with several thousand City fans packed into the away end but huge gaps in the rest of the ground as the home fans seemingly didnot bother to attend.

After City had equalised they took the game to Scunthorpe and could easily have won the game. As it was there was no further goals and so City go into the hat for the next round and can look forward to a home replay next Tuesday night.

ADDENDUM: The replay date has been moved to Wednesday as it is live on BT TV.

WORCESTER CITY v LEAMINGTON - SATURDAY 15th NOVEMBER 2014

CITY BAND WAGON ROLLS ON

Leamington must be fed up of meeting Worcester as this, the fourth, meeting in recent weeks again saw the Brakes go home empty handed as late goals from Nick Wright and Graham Hutchinson saw City to another win. A late goal for Leamington was the only blemish in this excellent performance by City. Worcester should have been ahead by half-time but they created and then missed a series of good chances.

City ramped up the pace after the break and started to create more chances as the visitors defence visibly tired. City’s first came with a header from Nick Wright who converted Ellis Deeney’s corner. The second goal came straight from the training field as a cleverly taken free kick to the near post was deftly glided home by Hutchinson.

Nearly 900 fans turned up, lured by the attraction of tickets for City’s away cup tie at Scunthorpe.

COVENTRY CITY v WORCESTER CITY - SUNDAY 9th NOVEMBER 2014

AMAZING

Worcester City's long unbeaten run continued with an easy win against a very poor Coventry City team at the Ricoh Arena. Worcester were superb from the first whistle to the last to record probably their finest FA Cup away win in club history. Other giant killings have been at home against the likes of Millwall and Liverpool which were before my time so I cannot comment as to how this team compares to that of 1958/9. Following a good run in the FA Cup in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Plymouth, Aldershot and Wrexham were all beaten it has been a tale of nearly but not quite, most recently a televised home defeat again Huddersfield.

On any measure this performance exceeded that against Plymouth Argyle in 1978 and whilst two-goal hero Sean Geddes takes the Man of the Match it really was a top class performance from all involved.

CITY V HARROGATE TOWN – SATURDAY 18 th OCTOBER 2014
SUPER CITY WIN AGAIN

City suffered an early blow when Jose Veiga limped off the field in the first minute of the game and with no substitute goalkeeper on the bench centre-half Wayne Thomas was forced to don the goalkeeper's jersey. City fans though had nothing to fear as he proved an able replacement as he helped City keep another clean sheet. The first half was a very one-sided goalless event as City’s slick build-up play was not rewarded with the sight of the ball in the Harrogate net.
City redoubled their efforts at the start of the second half and we soon rewarded with a splendid goal by Nick Wright, soon doubled by Jordan Murphy. After this a very poor Harrogate side fell apart in a flurry of bad temper and poor fouls. The only amazing thing being that none of the visiting players was sent off. Harrogate looked every bit a team falling apart at the seams and heading rapidly towards the relegation zone.
The final score of 2-0 to Worcester was just reward for this fine all round performance by the team and the best possible warm-up before next Sunday’s important fourth round FA Cup tie,

WORCESTER CITY v RUGBY TOWN – SATURDAY 27th SEPTEMBER 2014
GEDDES DOUBLE SEES OFF RUGBY

A sweetly struck shot from Sean Geddes finally broke the resistance of a plucky Rugby Town in this FA Cup Second Qualifying Round tie at Aggborough. Although Rugby defended well in the first half their attack could manage but one shot on target before the interval as compared with many efforts from Worcester. The Rugby defence was kept at full stretch for that first half and were noticeably flagging. The interval break did them no favour as City redoubled their efforts and Nti’s strike came back off the post before Geddes's shot from the edge of the box gave City the lead. City were soon two up thanks to Jacob Rowe’s header. Rugby briefly threatened a shock result and got one back with a close range shot but City were not to be denied as Geddes scored again to leave a final score of City 3 Rugby 1. Celebrations though were limited as Tristian Dunkley was left in agony after being quite needlessly bumped off the ball by a Rugby player. The City player left the field on a stretcher.
The biggest cheer of the day though was for the re-appearance in a City shirt of former favourite Michael Taylor, a new signing from Solihull Moors. (Sorry for the lack of reports this month.)

WORCESTER CITY v TAMWORTH - SATURDAY 23rd AUGUST 2014

Mike Symons first goal of the season was sufficient to give Worcester their third draw of the season but this still leaves them looking for their first win. City were good value for the draw as they dominated the game for large periods against a very strong Tamworth team who broke fast and skillfully out of defense. Smons goal came from an excellent cross by Tyler Weir.
Tamworth's equaliser came despite no less than four City players attempting to clear the danger. Although it had an element of fortune about it there was no denying that they were worthy of it, contributing fully to a very entertaining game.

WORCESTER CITY v STALYBRIDGE CELTIC - SATURDAY 9th AUGUST 2014

Stalybridge Celtic proved much stronger opposition than opposition than on their previous visit to Worcester's temporary home in Kidderminster and were good value for the point they took away from the opening fixture.
City paraded many of their recent signings and if first apperances are anything to go by then it could prove to be the most entertaining City team for many years. It is true that the defence looked a bit shaky for both the Stalybridge goals but the response to the unexpected setback of conceding a goal out of nothing was excellent. Many in the crowd thought there might have been a hint of offside about the Stalybridge opener but as the officials thought otherwise there were none of the useless protests so often seen on the pitch. Instead City simply went down the other end and equalised with a neat crisp attack.
City went 2-1 down just before half time following some poor defending borne out of clsed season rustiness. Within a couple of minutes of the start of the second halfa fine low shot by Nick Wright saw him score his second goal of the game. Stalybridge were then forced to defend for the rest of the match which they just did even though they had the post to thank when a mishit effort by Symons narrowly failed to give City the winner.