STRUGGLING to score goals has been Worcester City's Achilles heel this season.

While their survival in non-league's second tier has been built on a stubborn defence, they have been let down by their lack of firepower.

With just three games of the campaign remaining, the Blue and Whites have the least number of goals to their name than anybody in the division with 36.

Even cellar-dwellars Workington have managed one more than that and they are all but relegated despite beating City 1-0 last weekend.

Worcester have also relied too heavily on two players for the goals they have scored - Daniel Nti and Ethan Moore.

Between them, Nti and Moore have accounted for 21 of City's league goals this season, 13 of which have gone the way of the former.

The other 15 have been shared around, with Danny Glover, George Williams, Aaron Brown, Shabir Khan, Ebby Nelson-Addy, Aaron Williams, Steven Leslie, Ellis Deeney, Martin Devaney and Exodus Geohaghon all chipping in.

Remarkably, of those only Aaron Williams, Brown, Nelson-Addy, Geohaghon and Glover, the latter two having long since left the club, have managed to score twice in the league.

Consequently, City have failed to find the net in 16 of their league matches to date, more than a third of 39 they have played.

But, by stark contrast, they have kept 12 clean sheets in the league, which is equally as remarkable as a polar opposite.

Only today's Aggborough opponents Brackley Town, who are seventh in the table, and leaders North Ferriby United have conceded fewer than Worcester's 48 goals this term.

If City had managed a few more goals, something which admittedly often comes at a price the club's budget can't stretch to, they would likely be much better off than their current position of 14th.

They would also have been safer a lot sooner, which was their ultimate goal when the season began in August.

Manager Carl Heeley said: "We are the lowest scorers in the league and have the third best defensive record so there's a gulf there.

"The target at the start of the season was to be difficult to beat and that's helped us keep our status.

"But as long as we didn't have the lowest points tally, that was all that mattered."

Meanwhile, today's home match against Brackley (3pm) is by donation as the exiled club bid to attract more fans through the turnstile.