AS often happens after a heavy defeat, it doesn’t take long for the blame game to start.

The match is repeatedly dissected and analysed until the reason for the failure is unearthed.

Fans do it all the time and I do exactly the same thing in this newspaper.

It was no different following Worcester City’s wholly disappointing 3-0 loss to Altrincham in the FA Trophy last Saturday.

Those three goals in six first-half minutes took everyone inside St George’s Lane by surprise. Stunned might be a better description. It was a spell the like of which has, thankfully, not been witnessed for a long time.

Many theories have been presented for the capitulation by supporters via their internet forum, an online community for City fans.

Some simply blamed the whole team, others were critical of individuals, left-back Ellis Deeney among them.

But most of the fingers pointed towards goalkeeper Glyn Thompson, particularly for the second and third Altrincham goals.

The beauty of football is that everyone has an opinion and the former Newport County custodian certainly seems to be dividing them at the moment.

By and large, I think Thompson has been a good asset for City since his arrival in the summer — his shot-stopping is excellent and he is a safe pair of hands in the air.

However, the same can be said of Matt Sargeant and there are a growing number of calls for him to be restored to the team for this Saturday’s match against Workington.

Regardless of Thompson’s performance against Altrincham, Sargeant can count himself extremely unfortunate not to have played more than the five games he has this term.

Plucked from the obscurity of Tipton Town the summer before last, he was nothing short of superb when Thompson was ruled out with a thigh injury earlier in the campaign.

Sargeant kept two clean sheets in four matches and his save to keep City in the FA Cup at Weston-super-Mare in October was arguably the most significant of his career to date.

But he was dropped for the next round at Bromley and Thompson brought back in, with boss Carl Heeley, who has a policy of selecting on merit, no doubt torn between form and experience.

City lost 1-0 but, the Worcestershire FA Senior Cup defeat at Redditch United aside, Thompson has remained first choice since.

That may also be the case on Saturday but he knows that, with Sargeant waiting in the wings, he cannot afford to take it for granted.