WORCESTER City might be the walking wounded at the moment but their patched up side was still too good for Gainsborough Trinity.

With an ever-growing injury list, the Blue and Whites’ squad is being pushed to the limit following a hectic few weeks.

Centre-half Wayne Thomas, right-back Kyle Haynes and striker Mike Symons joined the casualties prior to this Conference North fixture, giving Carl Heeley little room for manoeuvre.

Such is the lack of fit personnel in the Aggborough dressing room, the City boss was forced to name academy duo James Lemon and Joao Sousa on the bench.

But, despite the continued upheaval, City went on to record their first victory in four games and stretch their unbeaten run to three.

Tristian Dunkley’s third-minute strike, his third goal in as many games, and substitute Micah Evans’ goal three minutes into second-half stoppage time proved decisive.

In between, both sides huffed and puffed in the face of a strong breeze on an uneven surface, but quality lacked. The better chances fell Worcester’s way and man-of-the-moment Dunkley might have had a hat-trick.

Twice the speedy forward had efforts cleared off the line, firstly by Jake Picton, moments after Dunkley had opened the scoring, and then by Trinity skipper Dominic Roma after the break.

Gainsborough saw their fair share of the ball but were seldom a threat, with substitute Hamish Watson’s flashing drive across goal five minutes from time the closest they came. Otherwise, keeper Ryan Boot was untroubled as he defied the elements to handle assuredly and kick with aplomb.

Indeed, on one occasion in the second-half, the on-loan Port Vale keeper almost lobbed opposite number Rory Watson when a particularly powerful goal kick caught the wind and bounced up in the box, forcing the Trinity number one to claim the ball by his crossbar.

In front of Boot, a new-look back four, which included new signing Anthony Charles alongside Aaron Brown at centre-half and Jacob Rowe at right-back, helped keep City’s 12th league clean sheet of the season.

The absence of Symons up front saw Daniel Nti restored to the starting line-up and he combined with fellow forward Dunkley to good effect.

Dunkley, who scored twice at Chorley, kept his cool after Charles’ free-kick had dropped to him in the box to fire the opener in-off Watson’s left-hand post.

He then played a major part in the second.

A run down the left took him to the byline and he played the ball across for Nti, whose shot was parried by Rory Watson into the path of Evans to convert.

That put the seal on a deserved victory.