WORCESTER City manager Chris Cornes says he "expects a little better" from the club's Claines Lane pitch after yet another postponement on Tuesday night.

City were due to face Worcester Raiders in the second Worcester Derby of the season, which was already rearranged from Boxing Day, where a waterlogged Claines failed a pitch inspection.

City's ground - home of the Worcestershire FA headquarters - has long had issues with the rain and coupled with City's success this season, the first team are now faced with a serious backlog of fixtures following a number of cancelled matches.

Worcester have had to move three games away from home in 2023/24, which has hugely impacted the club's finances, both in the costs to play elsewhere and the lost revenue of a matchday in front of big crowds.

"It’s farcical at times, this pitch," said Cornes on Tuesday to WCTV. "I don’t think much work has been done on it since the Brimscombe game (February 20) and water has collected in the foot holes and you just expect a little bit better.

"We pay rent here and we have lost so many games. The club has already paid out to get games on at different venues and I just think this was one too many to do that again.

"The amount of revenue we have lost this season, in what has been such a good start and middle, we are now at the business end and this is where the club should be cashing in.

"You want the club to earn money, you don’t want to go elsewhere. I backed the club and it was partly my decision to not move the game (Tuesday). We won't lose it, it'll be moved down the line and it will be another one at the back end of the season to fill in.

"But the pressure is on us now with the games building up. But I believe fully in my squad. I have 22 players who would walk into any team in this league and play week in week out and they will be able to rise to the occasion."

Worcester have taken a game to Sixways and two to Malvern Town's HDAnywhere Community Stadium, which, as already mentioned, has dented the club's pockets significantly.

"It's lost us revenue to go elsewhere," added Cornes. "At the end of the day, the club has to come first. Without the club, nothing happens. So we get to a point where it's got to make sense to move games but it didn’t make sense this time around.

"It isn't an ideal situation but we are talking massive figures to lose and that’s not good enough for the club. Everyone at this club deserves a huge amount of credit. There are so many people that work so hard, that people don’t always see or hear about.

"It’s a ground that needs a lot of work. Because if things go how we want this season, we will have a lot of games now at the end of this campaign and then next season, we will have the same issue.

"Something needs to give and with the money we spend to be here, you would expect some of that money to be spent on draining, upping the facilities a little bit."

City were set to welcome 1400 supporters on Tuesday and will be hoping to host the same again on Saturday for the sell-out FA Vase quarter-final tie with Emley. 

There are doubts, naturally, given Tuesday's decision and more rain forecast on Thursday (March 7) but Cornes is hoping for the best.

"We have to prepare now for Saturday and hopefully there will be some work done and the groundsman and the Worcestershire FA will do some work," he added.

"It doesn’t look like much has been done, hopefully we can play some football on Saturday in front of a sell out crowd and the club can pocket a big payday.

Overall, the main issue at play in this situation is that, simply, City have been so successful. Their league form and wins in the three other cup competitions means their final two months or so were going to be packed full, regardless of postponements.

But life could have certainly been a little easier.

"At the end of the day, we have this fixture back log because we have been really, really good," said Cornes. "We're in a two-legged final of one League Cup, the semi final of another, the quarter final of the Vase and top of the league with four games in hand.

"On the pitch, we're brilliant, but it’s the pitch that's the issue. We play a good style of football and it's hard to do that on a pitch like that so hopefully we can get some dry weather now."