SORRY Worcester City have plenty of time to dwell on their 6-1 hammering by Midland Premier title hopefuls Westfields before they return to action.
The Blue & Whites have to wait until Tuesday before they can right the wrongs from Saturday’s crushing defeat when they take on Victoria Ground landlords Bromsgrove Sporting in the semi-finals of the Worcestershire Senior Urn.
Sporting and City had some titanic battles in the Midland Premier last season, with a bumper crowd of 1,672 witnessing the 3-3 draw on Boxing Day. Bromsgrove then won the reverse fixture 2-1 in April in front of a 1,423-strong crowd as they went on their way to securing back-to-back promotions, while Worcester ended the campaign in third.
Any chances of John Snape’s men challenging towards the top end of the table this season seem to be fading away following a disappointing display against second-placed Westfields.
The result leaves fifth-placed City 11 points off league leaders Ilkeston Town at the halfway stage of the campaign.
It took all of two minutes for Westfields to break the deadlock at the Victoria Ground, with Jamie Molyneux starting the afternoon’s goal-fest.
Nine minutes later a Ben Hayes penalty made it 2-0 before Molyneux bagged his second just past the half-hour mark to put the Herefordshire visitors in total control.
Aidan Thomas then struck twice in 12 minutes to give Westfields a commanding 5-0 lead and prior to half-time City were reduced to ten men when keeper Dan Jezeph was given his marching orders for confronting the referee.
Three minutes into the second half Westfields made it 6-0, with Thomas completing his hat-trick.
Toothless City managed to stem the flow of goals and scored a consolation in the 87th minute when Kyonn Evans lobbed the ball over Westfields keeper Ian Havard.
Striker Dave Reynolds started in the heavy defeat having re-joined from Redditch United, while new signing Aaron Basford was an unused substitute.
Basford has joined City on work experience terms from League Two outfit Cheltenham Town and the forward was previously on the books at Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion at a very young age.
The 17-year-old joined Cheltenham seven years ago and scored two goals earlier this season in an FA Youth Cup first round victory at Forest Green Rovers.