Worcester City 2

Bradford Park Avenue 1

A gutsy second-half comeback could not produce the two goals needed to gain a deserved point from this Conference North clash but it was a close-run thing for Avenue.

The home side were left hanging on for dear life and the width of the post denied on-loan Bradford City striker Daniel Ekoku his first Avenue goal.

That, two minutes from time, would surely have given Avenue a share of the spoils. If they had not switched off in the first half they could quite easily have won the game.

"A one-minute spell cost us the game," said bitterly disappointed manager Carl Shutt.

"We gave a daft goal away and put the ball out of play from the kick-off. They took their throw-in from that and bang - it was 2-0. It was a crazy 30 seconds and it shouldn't have happened at this level of football.

"When you concede a goal away from home, all you want to do is keep possession for a short while until it settles down. That's what comes when you have a side out with no older heads at the back. It was down to a shortage of experience.

"If we had gone in at 1-0 down, I think we would have done it in the second half but that two-goal cushion was a bit too much. Even then Danny has had a great chance late on and hit the woodwork.

"That was very late but I would have backed us to have gone on to win it because Worcester were wilting under the pressure. We had them rattled and they were forced to hold on at home in front of their own fans."

It was another scratch team that Shutt fielded with skipper Dean Jones, Michael Naylor, Ryan Crossley and Jonathon Holland all unavailable. However, Dean Calcutt did make a quick return to the side after re-signing, on loan, just the day before the game.

Avenue's problems were added to when recent signing Danny Ryan limped out midway through the first half. That was followed by the devastating blow that saw Calcutt pull up with a groin injury at the start of the second period.

The re-shuffle that followed Ryan's departure did nothing to help Avenue find their feet as they adapted to a different formula.

Worcester found a way through in the 38th minute and it was a route-one counter- attack after home keeper Danny McDonnell had saved an Ekoku shot. His long punt was latched on to by Adam Webster and he lobbed Andy Britton.

Avenue lost possession after running the ball into touch almost right from the re-start and Webster completed a quick-fire double when he rifled a diagonal shot low into the corner of Britton's goal.

When Calcutt was forced to leave the field, Tom Greaves replaced him and it was the young substitute who got the goal that raised the stakes. Steve Oleksewycz had chipped the ball back and Greaves got in front of his man to net a good header. Avenue, though could not force an equaliser.