IT looked all-over a goalless draw and an end-of-season stalemate until Workington somehow fashioned a winner in the last minute of the game.

Still not mathematically certain to be down and playing in the Evo Stik Premier Division next season, the Cumbrians are still clinging on by their finger tips to membership of Conference North.

A scrappy, ponderous contest was in the third and final minute of time added on when Workington were awarded a free-kick five yards outside the area.

Top-scorer Joe Jackson took responsibility and bent a shot round the wall beyond diving keeper Leigh Bedwell into the bottom corner.

Worcester, who have pulled their season around after a poor start, had been looking for a top-half finish so this late goal was a setback to those ambitions.

They had been the more ambitious of the two sides for most of the game and Workington hardly looked capable of breaching one of the strongest defences in the league.

Bedwell had only one shot on target to deal with before the late winner.

The lively Ben McKenna cut in from the left and his low shot was comfortably taken by the on-loan City keeper.

Not that the home keeper Danijel Nizic, on a temporary spell from Burnley, had much to do either although Worcester were more accurate with their shooting.

He went down well to hold on to a snap shot from Aaron Farrell on his first City start and also blocked a close-range effort from Ethan Moore with his legs.

Generally, though, defences were on top at both ends with Graham Hutchison a dominant figure for Worcester alongside the no-nonsense defending of the experienced Wayne Thomas.

For Workington, Kyle May, in his testimonial year, who had missed the midweek 6-1 capitulation against Altrincham, brought more stability and organisation to the back four.

Worcester, who started with a 4-2-3-1 line-up, were virtually playing 4-2-1-3 at the end and there was one frantic scramble when Nizic and his defenders put bodies on the line to block a series of close-range drives.

A relatively peaceful affair did flare up at the climax of this scramble when both Thomas and Dan Wordsworth were booked with the home defender apparently reacting after an alleged stamp.

If that was the dark side of the contest, the brighter moments were often provided by City skipper Ellis Deeney, who sat in front of his back four and sprayed the ball around for fun.

Unlike it’s Football League days, the Borough Park surface is not the smoothest now, yet Deeney showed cultured control and vision to pick accurate, telling passes throughout the game.

City's next game is at home to play-off chasing Brackley Town on Saturday.