RYAN Rowe chalked up his first goal for Worcester City in Friday’s 2-2 draw with a Birmingham City under-21s side and joint boss Carl Heeley is delighted the 27-year-old striker is finally off the mark.

The former Kidderminster and Stourbridge frontman steered the ball beyond young Blues goalkeeper Connal Trueman midway through the first half and then, boosted by the goal, continued to terrorise the visitors for the remainder of the game.

He was brought down for a penalty which ultimately led to a late equaliser from Sean Geddes.

“Ryan Rowe is a goalscorer and he’s a great lad who tries hard,” Heeley said.

“It’s not quite gone for him in the early part of pre-season. It doesn’t really matter but it’s nice to see him off the mark with a good goal.

“He looked a threat and played a major part in the penalty so I’m delighted.

“When you are a goalscorer, you’re there to score goals and if you’re not doing that then it doesn’t feel right.

“People like Ryan Rowe don’t all of sudden stop scoring goals though, you sometimes have to be a little bit patient and not get on his back. He wants to do well and he will do well.

“It will take time to gel. We want to hit the ground running next week but it’s a long old season with lots of ups and downs.”

The joint manager said there were areas that they would be working on ahead of the Vanarama National League North opener at Gainsborough Trinity on Saturday.

Heeley added: “I thought we played really well in the first 45 minutes but I thought we just went a little bit sloppy before half-time when we conceded a poor goal. That continued into the second half and I thought we were second-best when Birmingham City were a real threat with plenty of pace and energy.

“Defensively, we have to do better because we were the architects of our own downfall a little bit – we kept doing silly things when sometimes you have to just put your foot through the ball and get it away from danger.

“The one characteristic that I like is that we keep coming back and getting ourselves back in it – we finished the game the stronger side.”