A SECOND-half onslaught from Hednesford Town inflicted a heavy 4-0 defeat on Worcester City on Monday (April 21) in the Skrill Conference North.
Goalless at the break, the hosts came out on fire in the second 45 and goals from Dave Macpherson, Wayne Riley, a John Disney penalty and Paul Sullivan secured the three points and guaranteed them a play-off spot.
Chances were few and far between for the Blue and Whites and a miserable day was compounded when long-term absentee Danny Edwards made a rare appearance and suffered a suspected broken ankle.
With five minutes on the clock the visitors created the first half-chance of the game when Daniel Nti turned well from a Tyler Weir throw but his tame effort bobbled into the grateful arms of Dan Crane.
Former City man Danny Glover raced onto a Wayne Riley through ball three minutes later and, despite the linesman’s flag being raised on the far side, the striker drilled his effort off the post much to the travelling Worcester fans’ delight.
In a half neither side gained a foothold in, Carl Heeley’s men went close again after 21 minutes when George Williams’ long throw was inadvertently headed onto the roof of his own net by Ben Bailey.
Promotion-hopefuls Town came out with a renewed sense of urgency in the second period and Glover was inches away from diverting home a Marvin
Johnson cross before the on-loan Kidderminster midfielder drilled his 25-yard strike just over.
The goal Hednesford’s pressure warranted came with an hour on the clock when Glover teed the ball up for Macpherson who arrowed a sublime half-volley into the top corner of the net via the underside of the crossbar.
The dangerous Johnson was causing visiting ‘keeper Leigh Bedwell all sorts of problems when his corner after 70 minutes had to be tipped onto the woodwork, before the following one was clawed from under his goal-line.
Town doubled their lead with just 12 minutes remaining when Bailey’s long throw wasn’t dealt with by Wayne Thomas and Riley sneaked in at the back post to nod home.
Any hope of a dramatic City comeback were severely dented when Edwards, who had just come back from a year on the sidelines, picked up a suspected broken ankle and with all three substitutes used, Heeley saw his side play the closing stages with ten men.
The man advantage paid dividends as Rob Smith’s men scored two goals in two minutes to add extra gloss to the scoreline.
With one minute of normal time remaining Graham Hutchison was adjudged to have brought down substitute Sullivan in the box, with Disney despatching the following spot-kick before Sullivan beat the offside trap and showed composure to round Bedwell and tap home into an empty net.
Heeley said: “There was nothing in the game first half, Hednesford were the better team second half but it was a very very scrappy game and we’ve gone behind to a great strike, the second goal is a bit of a killer for us and then it’s all gone wrong.
“I’m a bit disappointed today, I suppose it was inevitable when you’ve got one team desperately trying to get in the play-offs and they need a positive result, and you’ve got one team that’s exhausted with not many changes to make, I suppose it isn’t surprising that it’s happened.”
Jonny Bonell reporting from Keys Park
Picture by Rob Bazley