Tuesday, July 30, 2002

STEWART Hadley's Achilles injury has dashed Worcester City manager John Barton's hopes of rotating his strike force.

Barton had planned to alternate Mark Owen, Adam Webster with Hadley but the former Kidderminster Harriers forward is still struggling.

The City boss admits the injuries to both Hadley and defender Allan Davies, who has missed pre-season training following a foot operation, are causing him concern.

"Allan and Stewart's injuries have not helped us," admitted Barton.

"Stewart's is a real concern in the sense that we've got Mark coming back and you have to be careful what you put him through, especially after returning from serious injury.

"People can see the amount of work Adam puts in but the opportunity to rotate and rest has, to some degree, been taken away from us at present."

Worcester lost 2-0 at Willenhall Town last night. After 67 minutes a Chris Rea cross looped over Paul Wyatt and three minutes later Chris Pearce doubled the advantage with a header.

Trialists John Shirley, Grant Pinkney, Dan Jones and Tom Radcliffe all played a part. Marc Burrow was replaced after just 25 minutes due to illness.