Saturday, September 16, 2000

JOHN Barton may have been absent -- but he will draw a great deal of satisfaction from Worcester City's fine 3-2 victory at Cambridge City on Saturday.

The Worcester boss was forced to miss the match after undergoing a knee operation the previous day, leaving his assistant Mick Tuohy and head of scouting Graham Selby in charge.

But he kept in touch by telephone, and his players responded with their best attacking display of the season to lift them into fourth place in the Dr Martens League Premier Division.

Cambridge went into the game without having conceded a goal at home this season - but Worcester destroyed that record with some slick and incisive passing football, although defensively they still have some work to do.

Perhaps the main difference was the return of Paul Carty in midfield. He made a last-minute decision to play despite his broken toe, and showed how much City have missed him in recent weeks by commanding the game.

He said: "My foot is still quite sore but I put a bit of padding on and it was OK.

"It was a hard game but we seem to rise to the challenge against better sides. We got at them, didn't allow them to play and looked a decent side."

Tuohy added: "Paul was a big influence for us today.

"We were bitterly disappointed with the start we had, but we came back into it and played some of the nicest football we have played since the Bath game.

"Mark Owen scored a fantastic goal which gave us breathing space and Danny McDonnell was absolutely fantastic, and Carl Tranter had his best game for us."

But it could have been so different. Cambridge played the slicker football in the early stages, took the lead with Tes Bramble's close-range header on eight minutes and only the brilliance of McDonnell, who made a string of quality saves, kept City in it.

But Worcester, forced to reshuffle the defence with Martin Weir ruled out by a dead leg, then began to impose themselves on the game with Carty and Ian Cottrill making their presence felt in midfield.

On 27 minutes they drew level when Carty's cross was headed back by Steve Lutz and Tranter drilled home his third goal in four games from 12 yards.

Tranter, until he tired late on, was a constant menace to the Cambridge defence and could have a hat-trick, also hitting the post and having an effort cleared off the line.

City's increasing dominance was rewarded again four minutes into the second half, defender Mark Tucker putting in a cross that Cambridge failed to clear and Cottrill applying the finishing touch from close range.

On 72 minutes a great individual effort from Owen looked to have sealed the points. Receiving the ball inside his own half, he used his pace to burst between two defenders and calmly slotted past advancing 'keeper Martin Davies.

But Cambridge were then allowed back into the game on 79 minutes through sloppy defending at a corner, allowing Kevin Wilkin to head home.

Worcester almost threw away victory six minutes into injury time when another Wilkin header hit the post.