IT has been a monumental week in the history of Worcester City Football Club.

In the space of 97 minutes on Sunday, they went from a non-league team chasing the FA Cup dream to national stardom.

City's stunning 2-1 first-round victory over 1987 winners Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena captured the imagination of the football public with the media falling over themselves to get a piece of the action.

Barely 24 hours after their achievement, manager Carl Heeley and assistant Matt Gardiner were on BBC television for the second round draw in Manchester, which pitted the Blue and Whites against another League One side in Scunthorpe United.

Barring the most optimistic of supporters, few people would have believed victory possible against Coventry.

Yet, City came and conquered, outplaying the Sky Blues in their own back yard, capped with two goals from Sean Geddes and a penalty save from Nathan Vaughan.

It is often said that teams need luck to succeed but there was nothing lucky about this.

Coventry might have had 10 men for more than half the game but that should not detract from what Worcester achieved. They were deserved winners fair and square.

It was built on painstakingly detailed analysis from the City backroom team, spearheaded by Gardiner.

The Worcester deputy, who has completed the first part of his UEFA 'A' licence coaching qualification, left no stone unturned in the quest for success, even going as far as attending West Brom's match against Stoke in the Barclays Under 21s Premier League at the Ricoh last week to assess the pitch dimensions.

He also spent hours, after his day job with Audi, studying the Coventry squad and the Worcester players carried out their instructions to the letter.

Gardiner explained: "We had a plan, we did a lot of tactical analysis before the game.

"When their team sheet came in I knew roughly how they were going to play - I think I was out on two positions.

"I knew their formation and we knew Lee Burge was a left-footer and Ryan Allsop a right-footer, that's the detail we went into to.

"I must say thank you to my wife. I've got a demanding job but I've been burning the candle at both ends out of work hours."

He continued: "But we needed to play well and be at it and that's what we'd talked about all week. We had to believe we could do it because then you've got a chance.

"Things like this don't happen very often but I have to say the players who were involved on the pitch and off the pitch were outstanding.

"Their attitudes have been fantastic. We've got excellent technicians of the ball, they're fit and understand football.

"They have taken everything on board and when you execute a plan like that all you do is applaud them and say well done."