7/10/02 - Barton praises ten-man City

Ten-man Worcester City roared back to the top of the table with a 2-1 win despite having defender Paul Carty sent off and going a goal down in the 75th minute.

The match turned on the controversial penalty awarded against the veteran full-back for blocking Paul Wood inside the area.

But despite his sending off, the St George's Lane club, cheered on by another thousand strong crowd, fought back to complete a thrilling victory.

City face another test of their title credentials with a difficult trip to Bath City tomorrow night needing victory to cement their place at the top of the Dr Martens Premier Division.

Goals from Adam Webster and a deflected Darren Middleton shot in the 87th minute sealed Saturday's comeback but Barton was never in doubt of his side's spirit.

"They've got some guts and courage there's no two ways about it," he said.

"It might not look like that at times but the players don't dodge anything even if they're not always happy with the situations they put themselves in.

"The display wasn't vintage but it was on the verge of a decent performance and we had little spells of play but lacked pace and tempo.

"I think coming here Havant would have been quite happy with a point and it looked as if that was the way it was heading.

"But the sending off spurred us on and we got ourselves back into the match and to be fair we looked as though we were going to win it."

Barton and Danny McDonnell were both critical of referee Stephen Phipps for Carty's sending off.

"If players are going to be sent off for that kind of offence we are going to be left with a five-a-side team," said Barton.

McDonnell who had a clear view of the incident said he was stunned by the red card.

"The ball was headed back across goal and Paul held his ground as the player came in behind him," he said.

"But he must have sent him off for denying the player a clear-cut opportunity but I was right behind Paul so it wasn't a clear cut goalscoring chance."