MANAGER Carl Heeley said he felt “mugged” after Tamworth’s Jack Lane struck late to leave Worcester City empty handed.

The centre-back popped up with nine minutes to go to smash the ball home from 10 yards out and snatch a 1-0 victory on Tuesday night.

Heeley believed the defeat was “undeserved” having had more of the ball in the second period and had opportunities to secure all three points.

“I feel a little bit mugged to be honest,” said Heeley, whose side conceded at the death to draw 2-2 against Harrogate Town on Saturday.

“The least we should have come away with was a 0-0 draw and a cleansheet.

“It was one of those games which was on a knife edge and could have gone either way, but unfortunately we were on the end of a 1-0 result.

“We didn’t deserve to get beat.”

Match-winner Lane also should not have been on the pitch, according to Heeley having brought down the lively Chekaine Steele while on a yellow card.

“We haven’t had the rub of the green as Lane got booked and then pulled Chekaine down in a dangerous position three minutes later,” Heeley said.

“How he stayed on the pitch is beyond me because that was a booking, he should have gone and they should have gone down to 10 men with 20 minutes to go.”

Despite the result, Heeley was upbeat about his side’s performance at the Lamb Ground, but he reckoned they missed the best chances to score.

Most notably, Ebby Nelson-Addy was sent clean through before failing to find a finish, while goalkeeper James Belshaw denied Lee Hughes from point blank range.

“I thought we were very good,” Heeley said.

“In the first 20 minutes we were a little bit edgy and our passing went astray.

“But then I thought we grew into the game and got better and better.

“I thought we were the better side in the second half and looked more likely (to score) to be honest.

“But we gave away a free-kick and to be fair (to Lane) it was a great strike into the top corner.

“We did (have chances) and I thought we had the best situation (to score) when Ebby picked the ball up in behind their full back, but the final ball was slack. That should have been a goal.”