Plucky underdogs seen off by City (From Worcester News)

Plucky underdogs seen off by City

4:34pm Monday 24th September 2012 in Sport By Steve Carley, @stevecarleyWN

IN the end, Worcester City eased themselves into the hat for the next round of the FA Cup — but it wasn’t without a few scares along the way.

A 4-0 victory against a Gornal Athletic side three rungs down the non-league ladder looks routine enough, and City were more than good value for it, yet it doesn’t tell the whole story.

On the biggest day in their history — the kick-off had to be delayed by 15 minutes to get the 400 fans through one turnstile — Gornal played the role of underdogs to perfection.

The hosts were, by and large, the better side in the first-half but had the stuffing knocked out of them by Michael Taylor’s goal on the stroke of half-time and struggled to contain Carl Heeley’s side after the break.

Mike Symons, Jacob Rowe and sub Charlie Reece all got on the scoresheet as City side-stepped the dreaded banana skin and banked £4,500 for their efforts.

Yet, for long periods of the first period, a repeat of last season’s Godalming disaster was not out of the question.

The Midland Alliance side, having ridden a brief early onslaught, had chances to break the deadlock and Marvin Nisbett will be having nightmares after firing wide of Glyn Thompson’s goal from 12 yards after the defence had parted in front of him.

But Gornal’s fairytale was effectively ended when Danny Glover set Taylor scampering into the box for the striker to ping a first-time shot beyond James Pemberton.

That was the minnows’ chance gone in a flash and from then on the outcome was never really in doubt. Not that Ian Rowe’s men threw in the towel, but they were visibly deflated with no time to respond before half-time.

City were much more convincing in the second-half and, by the time Gornal threatened again, the visitors were comfortably clear.

Symons doubled the lead with a 58th-minute header and Jacob Rowe, enjoying a rich vein of form, was afforded the freedom of the Garden Walk Stadium to head the third 18 minutes later.

Reece, on as a replacement for Taylor as the visitors reverted from 4-3-3 to a more familiar 4-4-2, heaped further misery on the Peacocks with a last-minute surge forward and tidy finish for his first goal for the club.

Any more goals would have been harsh on Gornal as Worcester eventually cruised through with their first away win of the season and fourth clean sheet to boot.