Fisher Athletic 0 Worcester City 1 (From Worcester News)

Fisher Athletic 0 Worcester City 1

6:04pm Sunday 22nd February 2009

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By Steve Carley »

THE record books will show a win for Worcester City, but that won’t tell the whole story.

On paper, Richard Dryden’s side would have expected to succeed against a side who had lost their previous 12 matches.

In reality, City made hard work of seeing off the south London strugglers to register their eighth away win of the season and back-to-back 1-0 victories.

Captain Craig Wilding settled the issue in the 68th minute with his first goal since he struck against St Albans more than two months ago.

There was also the welcome sight of Graham Ward and Jon Richardson returning from injury, the former replacing an ill John Curtis, while Dave Bampton appeared as a late substitute.

But, overall, City will just be glad to have won as they will face a much tougher examination of their abilities when they visit AFC Wimbledon tomorrow night.

Saturday’s trip to Dulwich Hamlet, where Fisher ground-share, could not be in starker contrast to what will await them when they return to the capital.

Although the official attendance was a paltry 147 — the vast majority of those from Worcester — it appeared a lot less and the atmosphere was more akin to a training ground.

At AFC Wimbledon, Dryden’s men can expect somewhere in the region of 2,000 when they pit their wits against the Blue Square South leaders.

The pitch should also be better at Kingsmeadow as the surface on Saturday resembled a soggy beach and it cut up badly as this disappointing contest, played in glorious sunshine, progressed.

That said, Fisher still managed to play some decent football on it, particularly in the first-half through Seb Schoburgh, Carl Gibbs and John Raus, despite fielding a team that featured at least four new players from last Wednesday’s defeat by Eastleigh.

They were also the better side before the break and City, playing 4-3-3, struggled to get their game going. The visitors, though, did have the best chances and Marco Adaggio was guilty of wasting two of them.

City’s top-scorer had an effort blocked on the line after eight minutes and he volleyed over shortly after when accepting a neat through ball from Gary Walker.

It was a similar tale of squandered opportunities in the second-half but Worcester gradually stamped their authority on the game.

However, they rode their luck as Fisher captain Cedric Abraham, cousin of Arsenal’s William Gallas, headed Alex Bentley’s cross beyond Danny McDonnell on 59 minutes only for the off-side flag to come to City’s rescue.

Wilding then spurned a wonderful opening to put his side ahead.

With just Jones to beat from point-blank range, the skipper managed to put the ball over the bar and leave City’s travelling support to wonder if Fisher’s bid for a first win in 13 was going to be unluckly for the visitors.

However, any fears proved unfounded as, just 60 seconds later, Wilding was on hand to turn substitute Matt Dodd’s cross home to put Dryden’s men in front.

From there it should have been a case of seeing the game out as Fisher faltered, but the hosts still provided some nervy moments, not least when an unmarked Gibbs had his header saved by McDonnell from Schoburgh’s corner.

Referee Lee Collins did not endear himself to fans and rarely looked in control of some unsavoury incidents as the game wore on.

On one such occasion, City manager Dryden had to drag Ollie Barnes away from Schoburgh after the pair clashed.

Amid claims Barnes had been bitten by the striker, both players were shown a yellow card for their trouble.

A dispute over another Collins decision late on also saw Fisher players arguing among themselves before order was finally restored.

Worcester City: McDonnell, Ward, Khan, Richardson, Barnes, Kemp, Fitzpatrick (Dodd 57), Walker, Wilding (c), Adaggio (Bampton 89), Davies. Subs not used: Brown, Bridges, Heeley.