WORCESTERSHIRE were left hanging on for a point in a 3-3 draw in their opening Midland Counties Youth Championship game against Nottinghamshire at Pershore Town FC, having twice squandered a two-goal lead.

A thrilling move from the kick-off almost brought the hosts a first-minute goal, but Dan Holloway saw his shot deflected off the goal-line for a corner.

However, Holloway was not to be denied and, five minutes later, he put the home side ahead when he netted after George Coley’s shot was only parried by goalkeeper Jake Want.

It took Nottinghamshire a quarter-of-an-hour to create a chance of note when skipper Josh Stevenson headed narrowly wide following a floated free-kick.

Worcestershire dominated the first-half with some slick passing and continued to create chances against a hard-pressed defence.

Stephen Price saw his shot blocked by the keeper, Mason Mansfield had a fierce goal-bound effort deflected off Stevenson’s back for a corner and Joe Hull headed narrowly wide from a right-wing corner all in the space of 10 minutes. The home county finally doubled their lead on 43 minutes when another good move saw Coley turn smartly to hit a firm low shot wide of Want. Coley then missed a glorious chance to put Worcestershire 3-0 up in the opening minute of the second-half, lobbing the ball wide of the post when well placed following Holloway’s cross.

Nottinghamshire’s two interval substitutions, Myles Bossman and Callum Parchment, had an immediate effect as the visitors began to seriously test the Worcestershire defence.

On 50 minutes, Parchment broke free of the defence and shot narrowly wide of Lewis Gall’s right-hand post but, two minutes later, Nottinghamshire did reduce the arrears when a fine move split the centre of the home defence and Liam Dirs shot low into the corner of the net.

Worcestershire regained a two-goal lead when skipper Hull’s powerful header from Mansfield’s free-kick found the net via the underside of the crossbar. Disappointingly, rather than regain control of the game by playing the high-tempo ground football that had served them well in the opening half, Worcestershire’s passing became loose, resulting in the defence coming under increasing pressure and Nottinghamshire again reduced the arrears on 75 minutes when substitute Parchment hit a scorching shot past Gall.

Worcestershire were hanging on and it came as no surprise when Nottinghamshire grabbed an equaliser five minutes from time. A quickly-taken corner saw Dirs’ shot take a deflection off a defender on its way to nestling in the back of the net to secure the visitors a share of the points, which looked most unlikely at half-time.

Worcestershire: Lewis Gall; Jamie Adams, Ryan Clarke (Luke Pearce 62), Gavin Flower, Joe Hull, Mason Mansfield, Stephen Price (Matt Holloway 68), Louis Loader, Ben Smith, George Coley, Dan Holloway.