Midfield marvels seal fine success (From Worcester News)

Midfield marvels seal fine success

6:51pm Sunday 28th October 2012 in Sport

MIDFIELD mastercraft and two moments of decisive finishing were Worcester City’s keys to success.

And, for added good measure, Carl Heeley’s men — for once — got on the right side of a goal in the dying throes.

The whole package combined to fire City to a crucial three-point return from their long-haul trek to tackle Boston United.

In the process, the confidence-boosting victory propelled City into the Blue Square North play-off places — and fully primed for tomorrow night’s tussle with high-riding Brackley.

At Boston, the goalscoring heroes were Matt Breeze and debutant Alex Meechan, who had joined from Harrogate Town.

But while plenty of plaudits will go their way for hitting the target, City’s triumph was based on a thoroughly impressive all-round team effort in which weak links were virtually non-existent.

Biggest factor in the win was the central midfield partnership of Breeze with man-of-the-match Tom Thorley. Their confidence on the ball, tenacity and sharp passing gave Boston a headache throughout the 90 minutes.

Throw in the impressive contributions of wide men Danny Edwards and Greg Mills and there was ample evidence as to why City performed so well creatively.

The power and hold-up play of Mike Symons gave the home rearguard a worrying time — sufficiently so for Meechan to scurry around in hungry fashion eager to cash in when chances arose.

The duo had Worcester’s two best early chances — Symons just failing to force the ball in from an Edwards cross and later when Meechan twisted superbly to smack a rising drive inches too high.

But City’s excellent free-flowing creative work didn’t go unrewarded much longer. On 25 minutes, Breeze seized possession in midfield and his 25-yard drive packed far too much dip, swerve and wobble for the flailing Dan Haystead in the home goal.

For all their attacking prowess, though, Worcester still had to look to their back line in which the central defensive pair of Stuart Whitehead and Jacob Rowe were assured figures.

A couple of times Boston threatened but had to settle for off-target strikes from distance that never troubled keeper Glyn Thompson.

However, the City custodian might reflect a little self-critically on Boston’s 38th minute leveller. He tried to catch instead of punch a cross by Gareth Jelleyman. Under pressure from Marc Newsham, the ball broke free for the striker to recover and lash high into the net.

After the break, it was City who again carved out the bulk of the clearer chances, again with Thorley and Breeze conducting things. Right-back Tyler Weir whipped in a couple of useful crosses and left-back Ellis Deeney was a threat with set-pieces.

In the final moments, City benefited from the sort of luck that has so often deserted them.

With 85 minutes gone, home sub Kallum Smith cracked a potentially match-winning drive inches wide.

Then, straight on the counter, Edwards threaded Meechan clear. He twisted past Tom Ward and curled an exquisite shot past Haystead to spark victory celebrations with his team-mates.