MANAGERLESS Worcester City showed “a lot of encouraging signs” in their 1-1 draw with play-off chasing Tamworth, according to captain Danny Jackman.

A stunning strike from Lee Hughes was cancelled out by a Danny Newton penalty as Worcester had to settle for a point from the Vanarama National League North clash.

It also capped off what Jackman described as a “tough” week after Carl Heeley ended his seven-year reign as manager.

But the 34-year-old, who helped assist stand-in boss John Snape, said he was pleased with City’s “response” after their “demoralising” 3-0 defeat at Gloucester City last weekend.

Worcester remain in 18th place but Bradford Park Avenue’s 2-1 win at Curzon Ashton means City are only three points above the relegation zone.

“Compared to the Gloucester game it was quite a big difference in my opinion against a team who are doing quite well,” he said.

“We showed a lot of encouraging signs as we got into some good positions and on another day and on a slightly better pitch we would have perhaps got a win.

“It’s been a tough week so I can’t fault the lads as they have put everything in.

“They have shown a great attitude all week so we are going to need to keep building on that.”

Following the departure of Heeley, Jackman said he teamed up with Snape and Hughes to work on the tactics ahead of the game.

But he admitted it was also important to raise the players’ morale and “improve the whole atmosphere within the changing room”.

“We worked hard this week to try to get the lads organised again, lift their spirits and get them a bit more confident,” he said.

“Last week’s performance and result was demoralising and, with Carl going as well, we needed to try to get the lads back up as we still had a job to do.

“But we did well and got a response from the lads.”

After breaking the deadlock through Hughes on 37 minutes, Newton levelled from the spot just before the break after Graham Hutchison was adjudged to have hauled the Tamworth striker down.

But Jackman said he was happy with the way City performed in the second half despite seeing their winless streak extended to 11 league matches.

“It was difficult to see (the incident with Hutchison) from where we were stood but I think it was a 50/50 as both lads were grappling each other,” he said.

“I don’t think the lad was going to get the ball as it goes out of play but the referee has made that decision and whether we agree with it or not we had to dust ourselves down and we showed a good response after that.

“We weathered a little bit of a storm and towards the end of the game we looked stronger and perhaps could have stolen something.

“We had some clear opportunities and looked more likely to win it as Tyler (Weir) had a great chance in the second half.

“But after the week we have had we are happy with a point.”