WORCESTER Raiders booked their place in the Worcestershire FA Saturday Junior Cup final after pulling off an “amazing” comeback to beat Droitwich Spa 4-3 at King George’s Playing Fields.

The Saltmen, who beat their opponents 3-2 in the cup final last season with a late penalty, appeared to be cruising to victory when a brace from James Lemon and a goal by Luke Molloy put them 3-0 in front.

But, after Martin Newman got one back just before the break, Raiders produced a stirring second-half fightback.

Captain Joel Hobbs and Newman netted to level the scores before Matt Tyler fired in a dramatic late winner.

Raiders now face Montpellier, who beat Bewdley Town Reserves 2-0, in the final on April 1 but club secretary George MacPherson admitted the manner of their semi-final victory felt like they had already won the cup.

“You very rarely come back from 3-0 down to win,” he said.

“We would have definitely taken penalties at 3-1 down but, once we got that momentum in the second half, there was only going to be one winner.

“It was an amazing result. It was like winning a cup final.

“We wanted to win beforehand but to actually come back like we did meant so much to the backroom staff and the players.

“It was a great advert for local football.”

Droitwich started off brightly and could have scored within the opening minute as Nick Seaborne fired narrowly wide.

There were further chances at both ends as the visitors got into their stride before former Worcester City striker Lemon broke the deadlock on 25 minutes.

A through-ball from Aston Gunter sent the in-form striker away and, with Raiders’ keeper stranded, Lemon’s deft chip gave Spa the lead.

With Gunter and Molloy causing problems, Droitwich soon made it 2-0.

A cross from Jamie Smith found Seabourne, who teed up Lemon to smash home from close range.

A third goal soon followed as Lemon fed Molloy and he finished well from eight yards to put the hosts firmly in control.

However, after an injury to Richard Tomkins allowed Raiders to regroup, they got off the mark when Newman slotted home through a crowd of players.

The second half was then a different story as Worcester started to control proceedings and closed the gap further on the hour mark when Hobbs scored with a bullet header from a corner.

All the momentum was with Raiders now as a great move orchestrated down the right wing by Anthony Smith resulted in Newman netting with a volley.

Apart from some free-kicks, Spa’s only chance of note was a shot from Lemon which Dan Stephens saved well.

With five minutes to go, Tyler sent the away fans into raptures when his shot from the edge of the area hit the back of the net.

Despite throwing away a three-goal lead, Spa’s joint-manager Wayne Oliver insisted he had “no complaints” with the result.

“We were absolutely battered in the second half,” he said.

“It would have been unfair if we had won because from 40 minutes through until the end we didn’t really get to grips with anything.

“They were by far the better side.”