Worcester City 3-0 Coventry United
Midlands Football League Premier Division
Rob George reports from the Victoria Ground
IT WAS the great AA Milne who once said: ““Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
Had the creator of Winnie the Pooh been a football fan he could applied his wisdom to this Worcester City team, both during this clash and for the Blue and Whites season as a whole.
For this was a game where patience was a virtue in a first half which saw no goals but lots to encourage the home faithful.
Yet when Alex Tomkinson opened the scoring, the floodgates opened somewhat as City sailed to their third win in their last four games, three of which have included clean sheets.
The Coventry United clash was also notable for the improved discipline at the back and ball-winning ability in midfield, slowly but surely these City Cavaliers now have a touch of the Roundheads to them.
City went into the game on the back of Saturday’s impressive 1-0 win at leaders Coleshill Town but knew three points would be important considering their promotion rivals all had games against teams in the bottom half.
Joint chiefs John Snape and Lee Hughes made two changes from the trip to Warwickshire with Matt Birley coming in for new signing Bekir Halil and skipper Brad Birch in for Wayne Thomas.
The changes saw George Forsyth moved to centre back once again but City’s backline looked far from unsettled in a promising opening which saw them pressure their visitors at every opportunity.
Tomkinson linked up well with Dave Reynolds on the left and the forward was just unable to get a cross into Hughes before the experienced former West Bromwich Albion man’s excellent effort to keep the ball in saw him release Birley on a mazy run down the right before his cross was blocked.
Reynolds low shot was well kept out on 26 minutes by United keeper Richard Morris who had to be at his best to deny the striker with two further efforts as the half drew to a close.
A surprisingly silent home crowd greeted the interval, scant reward for an enterprising and solid first half.
A finishing touch to good approach work was needed in the second 45 minutes and City signalled their intentions after 90 seconds when a Birley free kick from the left was lifted in and found Hughes who turned and shot over.
The reward came on 50 minutes when Hughes chased a ball down the right and United only cleared it as far as Birley who played it across the box to Reynolds who in turn laid it off to Tomkinson to slot home and hand City a deserved lead.
One became two three minutes later when Reynolds was first to a loose ball 25 yards out and breezed through the Coventry defence into the penalty area to finish well and make it 2-0.
The home side had the ball in the net for a third time on the hour but Mark Smith was clearly offside. It’s fair to say the final half hour was no advert for football at this level with a number of sinister fouls and raised tempers not helped by referee Ryan Williams approach to certain decisions.
Hughes was booked on 78 minutes despite being almost in the dressing room. Mr Williams called him back and while the card was deserved, the scene created sadly summed up the officials afternoon.
Coventry offered little going forward and the three points were secured in the seventh minute of injury time when sub James Baldwin chased a ball down the left and burrowed into the box to cut it back to Reynolds to finish low for his 21st of the campaign.
City look like they are beginning to find the X Factor and April 10 against Bromsgrove Sporting is beginning to look like Super Tuesday for many reasons.