TEN-man Worcester City spurned a glut of chances before being hit with a sucker punch against struggling South Normanton.

Returning defender Wayne Thomas was given a straight red card a minute before half-time for raising an arm to Tommy Leighton while waiting for a corner.

City had taken an 11th-minute lead when Alex Tomkinson side-footed back across goal from a low Lee Hughes centre.

Either side of the dismissal, Worcester carved open the Shiners at will but were wasteful in front of goal with Sam Kellogg guiding in the leveller 10 minutes from the end.

City made four changes from last week’s defeat at Shawbury United with Thomas drafted in for Tom Fishwick at centre-half.

The suspended Mark Danks was replaced by Dave Reynolds up top, captain Brad Birch came back in for the head injury victim Mat Birley and Aaron Griffiths returned at left-back in favour of Jamie Smith.

Hughes was incensed when his fourth-minute penalty appeal was waved away having chopped inside Athletic left-back Sam Groves and hit the deck. 

South Normanton carried an early threat but City took the lead when Josh Sarmento played Hughes down the right and his low cross saw Tomkinson shrug off his marker to coolly notch his third goal in four matches.

The crosses kept coming from Groves’s side with a Reynolds shot well held by Darren Keeling before the ex-Malvern Town man set up Hughes’s wild lash high and wide with a delightful curved ball from the edge of the box.

But City did not find it easy to deal with a series of corners before half-time and the prelude to the third ended in Thomas’s dismissal for trying to see off the attentions of Leighton.

Rather than sit back, joint-boss John Snape matched the 3-4-2 formation implemented at Shawbury the previous week and it worked well again as Worcester stayed on the front foot.

Sarmento rippled the side netting within 12 seconds of the restart before Hughes overhit a right-wing cross for the waiting Reynolds after a slip from South Normanton defender Marc Strzyzweski.

Tomkinson had a close-range effort charged down by Kane Jellyman, Sarmento side footed over from six yards a Hughes delivery and Reynolds uncharacteristically seemed to step on the ball having rounded Keeling with Strzyzweski sliding in to guard the empty net.

The warning signs were there when Jellyman brushed narrowly wide a free-kick 14 minutes from the end with Luke Crosby seeing his own credible claim for a spot-kick turned down despite a coming together as he turned Mark Smith. 

But Crosby was not done and waltzed in from the left all too easily, picking out Kellogg to tap in.

City kept plugging away but despite having all of the territory late on, failed to create a meaningful opening.

City: Palmer, Albert, Griffiths, M Smith, Thomas, Hayward, Sarmento (Mole, 88), Birch (Baldwin, 81), Hughes, Reynolds, Tomkinson (J Smith, 77). Unused subs: Fishwick, Gwynne (g/k).

South Normanton Athletic: Keeling, Jellyman, Groves, Roberts, Strzyzweski, Leigh, Leighton (Abou, 77), O Brien, Hemagou, Crosby, S Kellogg. Unused subs: Clark, McEvoy, T Kellogg.

Attendance: 335.