MANAGER Carl Heeley praised the determination of his Worcester City players after their 2-1 triumph over Gainsborough Trinity.

Trailing to Ryan Kendall’s first-half strike, City hit back after the break to claim a vital victory in their Blue Square Bet North play-off push through Mike Symons and Greg Mills.

Heeley, however, felt his side were the dominant force in the St George’s Lane contest and never doubted their will to win.

He said: “There was a determination that has been evident for a few weeks now and they weren’t going to lie down or get beaten. I felt from after five or 10 minutes there was only one team going to win the game.”

It was another high-quality performance from the hosts and the three points were secured by fine strikes from Symons, his 16th of the campaign, and Mills’ first for the club.

The City boss said: “It was a great strike from Mike. He’s probably been beating himself up because he’s gone a few games without a goal but it’s about the bigger picture with him and what he gives to the side with his work-rate and hold-up play.

“He’s a very good foil for the pace of Michael Taylor and Greg Mills. I wasn’t bothered if he didn’t score another goal for the rest of the season, we just wanted him to keep doing what we ask of him because there’s more to his game than goals.”

He added: “Millsy has got two good feet but once he cut in off the touchline and hit it I was off celebrating because it was only going to go into the top corner.”

City also felt they got a rough ride from Staffordshire referee Ollie Yates, who came in for stinging criticism from the home crowd for some of his decisions.

Yates, however, did show Kevin O’Connor his 10th yellow card of the season and the skipper will now miss the trips to Boston United and Harrogate Town later this month.

Heeley said: “In our opinion, he missed a number of fouls but it’s a tough job and screaming abuse at him isn’t really going to help. We tried to keep our discipline but more things went of rus in the second-half which was good.”