MANAGER Carl Heeley believes Worcester City are still “well in the tie” after his half time team talk inspired his side to fight back and claim a 1-1 FA Cup draw at Scunthorpe United.
Daniel Nti’s goal just 43 seconds after the break cancelled out Paddy Madden’s opener as the Blue and Whites dug deep to put in another heroic cup performance in front of more than 2,000 travelling fans.
When asked what he said to his players at the interval, Heeley said: “No regrets.
“It is a long, long way for a non-league club to get to the second round of the FA Cup and then to not do yourselves justice when you get there is something you would regret for the rest of your lives.
“We can be critical of our performance and frustrated in the first half, but I think the fact we are a non-league club and have come away to two League One sides, we’ve beat one and held the other to a draw, and to take them back to a replay is a fabulous achievement and we are well in this tie.”
Ever-improving defender Graham Hutchison was quick to back Heeley’s claims about their first half showing and admitted he and his team-mates received a “rollocking” during the break.
“We were a bit disappointed in the first half performance,” he said. “They got the goal which was a bit fortunate, they probably deserved it, but it was a fortunate goal, and we got a bit of a rollocking at half time which we fully deserved.
“But we came out and more than matched them second half and I think we were unlucky not to get more than one.”
The achievement saw Worcester in the hat for the third round of England’s most famous cup competition for the first time in more than 30 years, something which delighted chairman Anthony Hampson.
“We have done tremendously well,” he said. “We have got a wonderful cohort of seriously talented footballers, a marvellous manager and assistant manager and of course the support here has been absolutely outstanding.
“It is a manna from heaven. We are looking for funds for the new stadium for what we hope may be Perdiswell, and of course this all builds to the realisation that Worcester City really is a footballing city and we do have the support for a club of this type of calibre.”