AN extraordinary season for Worcester City finished with a quite extraordinary match.

At times the Aggborough encounter saw the best and the worst of the Blue and Whites as some good attacking play yielded three goals.

But a dreadful defensive display, sparked by the eighth-minute dismissal of Anthony Charles for fouling Obi Anoruo as the last man on the edge of the area, saw them ship five for the first time since January 2014.

Despite Charles’ early exit, Carl Heeley’s side took a deserved lead, courtesy of Tristian Dunkley’s fine finish midway through the first-half, but Mike Lea’s tap-in following ‘keeper Jose Veiga’s blunder at a free-kick cancelled it out six minutes later.

The second-half was a free-for-all. City’s defence went awol for the first ten minutes after the break, and Colwyn Bay grabbed three goals – Jacob Rowe heading over Veiga before Tom Buckley struck twice, including one direct from a corner.

Daniel Nti’s penalty, awarded for a foul on substitute Jamie Smith, cut the deficit but Anoruo restored the three-goal cushion after more questionable defending.

But City weren’t done. Nti swept home his 15th goal of the campaign from the edge of the box for the hosts’ third, while Sean Geddes, Mike Symons and sub Joao Sousa all went close to closing the gap further.

Although defeat wasn’t the way Worcester would have wanted to sign off, a ninth-place finish in Conference North is an achievement they should be rightly proud of.

Allied with the club’s best FA Cup run in more than 30 years, it is a campaign that will go down in City folklore, made more remarkable by the fact they remain in exile.

They have been led by skipper Ellis Deeney, who swept the board at Saturday’s presentation night by being named the supporters’, players’ and sponsors’ player of the year.

Geddes, the 17-goal top-scorer, finished second in the fans’ vote, while Dunkley was crowned young player of the season.

City assistant boss Matt Gardiner said of the match: “It’s not an ideal way to end the season but overall I think we’re pleased with where we’ve ended up and how the campaign’s panned out.

“It’s probably one of the best City have had and Carl has had one of the best seasons as a manager. We’ve progressed from 2013/14 so you’ve got to look at that and say it’s been outstanding.

“You’ve got to remember we went down to ten men early on Saturday and scored three goals. Four out of the five we conceded were just not good enough.”

Colwyn Bay finished in the relegation places, joining demoted Leamington and Hyde, but could still escape the drop.

There are doubts over the future of up-for-sale FA Trophy winners North Ferriby United in the division after one of their players claimed they were facing voluntary relegation.