WORCESTER City boss John Snape has insisted his side are focused on their own performances ahead of a packed programme of fixtures.
Tuesday’s nights defeat to Bromsgrove Sporting means this weekend’s trip to Boldmere St Michaels becomes a must win for City side desperate to stay in the promotion hunt.
Speaking before the clash with Sporting, Snape said Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Rugby Town was two points dropped for his charges.
City find themselves in fourth place 14 points off leaders Sporting and four behind Coleshill who occupy the second promotion spot.
But the City chief refused to be downcast and said: “We want to win every game from now until the end of the season and I am only focused on what we do and not anyone else.”
On Saturday, the City chief made four changes from the Westfields win with Hamilton Chiwara, Yannick Gomes, Ben Robinson and Alex Tomkinson coming in for Scott Hall, Matt Birley, Nick Turton and Brad Birch.
His reshuffle looked to have worked as City began on the front foot with Tomkinson a real threat down the left and the winger’s cross found Dave Reynolds in the 12th minute who headed over.
City were rewarded for their early pressure with the lead after 22 minutes when they won possession in midfield and found the dangerous Tomkinson whose cross was met with a superb overhead kick from Reynolds to make it 1-0.
David Kolodynski brought the best out of City keeper Matt Gwynne before Rugby notched a deserved equaliser in first-half injury time.
The impressive Ruben Wiggins-Thomas was played in down the right and evaded a challenge from Mark Smith before squaring it to Stuart Hendrie who rolled it in to make it 1-1.
Rugby rattled the crossbar through Sam Belcher in the second half and Kolodynski forced Gwynne into a fine reflex stop befire the keeper turned a Wiggins-Thomas shot around the post.
But City finished the stronger of the two sides and Smith headed over a left-wing cross on 82 minutes before the move of the match almost secured all three points in the final minute.
Sub Mark Danks found Hayward just inside the penalty area on the right who stood up a perfect cross which was well met by Smith who headed wide with visiting keeper Niall Cooper rooted to the spot.
Snape praised the impact of Reynolds who hit his 25th of the season in the draw with Rugby at the weekend.
“Dave was frustrated after Thursday night against Westfields but to be fair to him he drove back from Wollacombe to play in the Rugby game, the idea was the front two would get a rest but with injuries he wanted to play and rightly so,” he said.
“Dave’s our leading goalscorer and makes a lot of chances, to be fair to Dave he will want to play every game but so will 20 others. He’s a player the club needs to capture and keep hold of going forward
A frustrating afternoon ended on a sour note when skipper Hayward confronted a fan in the main stand as tensions spilled over. Hayward was eventually ushered away by club officials and team-mates.
Both the fan involved and Hayward are understood to want to resolve the matter amicably at the club’s next home game.
