Worcester City have one hand on the Dr Martens League Cup after a stunning 4-0 win over Crawley Town last night.

Two goals from in-form striker Mark Shepherd and one from the outstanding Jamie Hyde added to an early own-goal at St George's Lane in the first leg of the final.

John Barton's men are now overwhelming favourites to complete the job in next Thursday's second leg at Crawley.

City should have built an even bigger lead after dominating against a Crawley side who played for over an hour with only 10 men.

Barton said: "It was a very good all-round performance, and what pleased me most was that we stood up to some physical aspects that were going on.

"We had a lot of chances in the second-half and we haven't taken a high enough percentage of them, but having said that we scored some super goals.

"Jamie's performance was a revelation. He hasn't had a lot of football lately but we just felt he could do more and be more positive in his outlook - he has taken that on board and was outstanding."

Hyde, a constant threat with his pace on the left, helped set City on their way after only four minutes when he hooked the ball into the area and Crawley's Danny Wackett, under pressure from Shepherd, headed into his own net.

The visitors were pinned back by lively City play and their cause was not helped when skipper Luke Anderson, having already been booked for a foul that forced midfielder Marc Burrow to go off with an ankle injury, floored Chris Greenman with an apparent elbow and was red-carded after only 25 minutes.

City overcame the rough stuff and three minutes into the second-half the skilful Shepherd capitalised on a defensive error to lob into an empty net.

For a while it looked as if City might regret some poor finishing, top scorer Mark Owen the chief culprit.

But on 74 minutes Paul Carty picked out the unmarked Hyde, and he superbly chipped the third from 25 yards.

Two minutes from time Shepherd ran on to substitute Wesley Joyce's pass to make it 4-0.

Worcester: McDonnell 7, Carty 7, Burrow 6 (Lutz 19, 7), Greenman 7 (Joyce 81), Weir 8, Heeley 7, Cottrill 7, Ellis 8, Owen 6, Shepherd 8, Hyde 9. Sub not used: P. Wyatt. Star man: Jamie Hyde. Attendance: 986.

* Worcester City went top of the Midland Floodlit Youth League when they won 2-1 at former leaders Gloucester City last night. Their scorers were Dan Jones and Lee Goodman.