Keep big Halifax defeat in perspective (From Worcester News)

Worcester's big defeat at Halifax needs to be kept in perspective

1:00pm Wednesday 6th March 2013 in Sport By Steve Carley - Midlands Sports Journalist of the Year 2013, @stevecarleyWN

THERE has been plenty written and said about Worcester City’s 5-0 defeat at Halifax.

Most of it has been pretty scathing, with last Saturday’s thrashing widely regarded as one of the worst City performances and results of recent times.

One particularly harsh posting by a Halifax fan on their club’s internet forum — areas that should be treated with some caution — reckoned Worcester were the worst team ever to play at The Shay.

That’s going dramatically overboard but it doesn’t detract from the fact that the game didn’t show the St George’s Lane outfit in a good light.

But, now the dust has settled, it is perhaps time to put the result into some sort of context.

City were beaten by a team that has resources far beyond anything manager Carl Heeley has to work with.

Financially at least, the two are worlds apart, and it is a similar story with other clubs.

Chester, Guiseley and Brackley all have significantly greater wealth to play with than Worcester, while Gainsborough, Altrincham and Harrogate also fall into that category.

It is not a coincidence that those sides make up the majority of the Blue Square Bet North top 10.

Therefore the fact Worcester have been flirting with the play-offs for most of the season shows how much they have been punching above their weight.

That doesn’t mean to say we shouldn’t talk up their chances or be any less disappointed when it all goes to pot, like it did at Halifax.

As Heeley said: “I’d love to be in a position where we can compete on a level playing field with the likes of Halifax but the bottom line is we’re a million miles away from that.”