MIDLAND FOOTBALL LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION: Heanor Town 2 Worcester City 1

TEN-man Worcester City got sunk by a sucker punch in the fifth minute of added time to leave Heanor Town empty handed.

Substitute Cory Bowler turned in Nick Hall’s cross to decide matters in a final flurry after Mark Smith had been sent off having received a second yellow card in a five-minute spell, the latter for questioning the length of time involved in treating Heanor keeper Jordan Pierrepont.

Sam Vickers had fired the hosts in front just past the hour, latching on to a Josh Craddock through ball that had been played after City had cleared.

Captain Brad Birch restored parity with 17 minutes to play, notching on the rebound after Jordan Stoddart’s header from a George Forsyth corner had been cleared in a busy penalty area.

City had much of the play in a first half of few chances which saw Heanor’s Vickers denied by a fingertip save from Nathan Vaughan seven minutes before the interval.

Kyle Hazeldine’s mazy run ended with a shot that skipped past the upright shortly after the restart with Vickers breaking the deadlock soon after.

Two minutes after Birch’s leveller, Hazeldine forced a stop from Vaughan while Smith was frustrated at the other end when his effort was scrambled off the line for a corner.

A share of spoils looked likely until the late drama unfolded.

City: Vaughan, Forsyth, Weir, M Smith, Stoddart, Hayward, Halil, Birch, Hughes (Danks, 81), Reynolds, Tomkinson (Baldwin, 66). Unused subs: Thomas, Gwynne (g/k).

  • Evesham United returned to winning ways with a 3-0 home victory over Slimbridge tonight. 

Carl Brown's crossed effort sailed in after 24 minutes with Adam Mann doubling the lead with a free-kick less than a minute after half-time.

The game was up for the visitors when Jordan Bryan was fouled in the box and Mat Liddiard stepped up to slot away the penalty.