Derby day despair as Gloucester triumph over Worcester - The Worcester Observer

Derby day despair as Gloucester triumph over Worcester

Worcester Editorial 18th Jan, 2015 Updated: 19th Oct, 2016   0

Gloucester City 2-0 Worcester City

Vanarama Conference North

Jonny Bonell reports from Whaddon Road

Attendance: 804




HOW QUICKLY times can change in football. A month ago Worcester City could do no wrong and had just put League One Scunthorpe United through their paces in a record-breaking FA Cup penalty shootout.

But just 32 days later the Blue and Whites succumbed to their fourth defeat in five as they were outfought and outclassed in a 2-0 reverse at arch rivals Gloucester City.


For the second successive Sunday Carl Heeley’s men tasted defeat against the Conference North’s second-bottom outfit, this time thanks to goals from Nathan Modest and a Billy Jones penalty.

But this loss, their sixth on the spin against Gloucester, will hurt Worcester who, in the 98th meeting between the pair, rarely threatened and have now gone more than 500 minutes without finding the back of the net.

Manager Heeley said: “We have come again to a side scrapping for their lives and you can see that, fair play to Gloucester they wanted it more than us and I thought they were better in most areas.

“There was certainly desire in the first 30 minutes or so I won’t accuse them of not having any desire they were just as up for the game as Gloucester but a fortunate ricochet has got Gloucester in front and from that moment it just seemed to knock the wind out of our sail.”

It was a cagey opening to a game which saw both sides fail to split the other open on a bobbly Whaddon Road pitch which had been played on less than 48 hours prior to kick-off.

The biggest threat was coming from the hosts and, in particular, the boot of Jones whose corners caused all sorts of problems in the Worcester box as Sam Avery glanced a header wide before Nathan Vaughan was bailed out by his defence after failing to keep hold of the left-backs delivery.

Relegation threatened Gloucester had more about them then their near neighbours and the brightest moment of an otherwise forgettable first 20 minutes was a neat one-two between Chris Knowles and Harry White which resulted in the former curling an effort straight into the grateful arms of Vaughan.

If there was going to be a goal which typified the encounter it arrived for Tim Harris’ side ten minutes before the break.

Knowles attempted to take aim from the edge of the box but his scuffed effort deflected off the leg of White and fell perfectly to Modest who, just outside the six yard box, hit his strike into the ground and past a static Vaughan.

The goal somewhat brought Worcester to life but Heeley’s men could only boast long shots to their effort tally as Daniel Nti curled his 25-yard free kick past the near post before Ellis Deeney drove at the heart of The Tigers’ back line and drilled just wide.

Worcester put their best move together two minutes after the break when neat work between Kyle Haynes, Danny Jackman and Nti created space for Connor Gater but the midfielder sliced his shot high and well wide.

Heeley threw on Sean Geddes and Michael Taylor after 57 minutes, for Gater and Mike Symons, in a bid to inspire a second-half comeback but within ten minutes the Blue and Whites found themselves two down.

A swift counter from The Tigers saw debutant Femi Orenuga burst into the box and take the ball round Vaughan who tripped the winger and John Busby had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and booking Worcester’s stopper.

Jones stepped up and confidently rolled the ball into the bottom left corner, sending Vaughan the wrong way, to double their lead.

Harris’ men saw out the remainder of the encounter with relative ease and could have added further gloss to the scoreline with both Modest and Orenuga going close, but it wouldn’t matter as Gloucester secured three vital points in their bid to avoid relegation.

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