WORCESTER City have been dealt a major blow after captain Tom Thorley made a shock decision to join Skrill Conference North league leaders Hednesford Town.
City received an official approach from The Pitmen on Sunday and Thorley, who has made 18 appearances in all competitions, told the club he would like the opportunity to talk to them, before finalising the deal today (Tuesday).
Manager, Carl Heeley, said it was a blow to lose Thorley but wished him well.
“Tom expressed a wish to join Hednesford to me and subsequently he decided that it was best for him to go,” he said.
“Tom has been a fantastic servant to the football club and it is a real body blow to lose a player of his calibre and he will be very difficult to replace, but replace him we must.
“We would all like to wish Tom the very best for the future and sincerely thank him for his time with the club as he has been an absolute pleasure to work with.”
With City’s squad already down to the bare bones through recent injuries, Heeley said he would be immediately looking to fill the gap left by the 23-year-old.
“We have to get more players in, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
“Over the next few days I think we have to look at adding more players to our squad.
“I have known this was a possibility since Sunday, so we have got irons in the fire but nothing official yet.”
One area Heeley was particularly keen to bolster was his attacking options after his side failed to find the net in their last four league games.
“That’s an area I am concerned about,” he added.
“We haven’t scored enough goals and we aren’t going to win games if we don’t score goals, I am not happy with it to be honest.
“It’s been an incredibly tough season, we knew it would be tough, but we have got to address those areas and get the right type of players in the squad, to freshen things up a bit.”
City will be looking to pick up their first away win of the season when they travel to mid-table Harrogate Town on Saturday (November 9, 3pm kick off).
