WORCESTER City might have seen their game against Droylsden fall foul of the weather, but they weren’t about to let it ruin their Christmas party.

The St George’s Lane club had arranged for a night out in Manchester following yesterday's Blue Square Bet North fixture and had booked hotels in the city.

Yet, despite finding out in the morning that the Butchers Arms pitch was waterlogged, they were determined not to let the wet weather beat them and headed up the M6 for their festive celebrations anyway.

It is the second year running City have opted for Manchester as their destination having descended on it for their annual knees-up following the trip to Colwyn Bay 12 months ago.

Manager Carl Heeley was delighted the entire squad wanted to honour the booking, citing it as another example of excellent team spirit.

He said: “I am really pleased. Normally you get people dropping out but we haven’t had that this time, everybody still wanted to be together. It’s brilliant and that’s great for the team spirit so we made something out of it.”

He continued: “It’s an easy excuse sometimes to not have a night out but for me it’s brilliant that every single one of them still wanted to make the effort to go because of the importance of it.”

Heeley added: “It will stand us in good stead.”

Last Saturday’s match was one of 10 called off in Blue Square Bet North as rain lashed the country, Stalybridge winning at Gainsborough the only game to survive.

However, Heeley said the postponement came as little shock to him and even admitted the club had made enquiries about the Droylsden pitch earlier in the week.

The Worcester boss explained: “We actually lodged a call last Thursday and they seemed surprised that we were asking the question but it was always a major doubt.

“With the weather forecast, I felt there was little or no chance of it going ahead.”

A new date has yet to be set for the fixture, which will now take place in the new year.