City stars earn praise for their performances (From Worcester News)

City stars earn praise for their performances

11:07am Tuesday 9th October 2012 in Sport By Steve Carley - Midlands Sports Journalist of the Year 2013, @stevecarleyWN

MANAGER Carl Heeley felt there were some outstanding individual performances from his players as Worcester City advanced in the FA Cup.

A seventh goal of the season from Mike Symons five minutes into the second-half was enough to beat Weston-super-Mare in last night’s third qualifying round replay and book a date with Bromley.

Heeley was impressed with his side’s efforts, particularly those of centre-half Lee Ayres, who filled in for Stuart Whitehead with the captain unavailable through his job as a fireman.

The City boss said: “I think collectively as a unit we didn’t keep the ball as well as we possibly can and I think Weston took the shackles off a bit, thinking the pressure was all on us.

“But I thought individually we had some outstanding performers on the pitch. It’s difficult to single them out because they’ve all done their bit but it would be remiss of me to not mention Lee Ayres.

“It was his first start of the season after 20 minutes against Bradford and the second-half against Solihull. He didn’t put a foot wrong and he showed his experience and it’s great to have a player of that calibre in the squad.”

Heeley added: “We’ve had two super games against Weston and it’s a shame there has to be a loser, they’ve been gallant opponents and I thought it was always going to by one goal on the evening. Fortunately, for us, we’ve nicked that goal and defensively as a unit I thought we were outstanding.

“I see how the players work in training and I think everybody in the crowd could see what a shift they put in against a decent Weston side.

“It was a super win for us, for the city and the club because it’s long overdue.”