Harrogate Town 1 Worcester City 0 

WITH a team crammed full of youth and exuberance, this could have been a Halloween horror waiting to happen – a trip to promotion hopefuls Harrogate who were looking to make it three league wins on the bounce.

And to add to the enormity of the task, City’s ranks included an 18-year-old keeper on his debut and a teenage striker who hadn’t even met his teammates prior to the game.

But far from being a horror show, Worcester’s youngsters matched their high-flying hosts for much of the game and, had a first half penalty found the net, they could have been heading home with at least a share of the points.

The City side showed five changes to the team that saw off Gateshead in last week’s FA Cup thriller and those who made the cut boasted just three goals between them in the 11 games since the start of September.

But the absence of suspended keeper Nathan Vaughan and striker Lee Hughes gave a chance to on loan keeper Ethan Ross and the experienced Shaun Harrad – and the pair put in impressive displays.

Ross didn’t have long to wait before showing his quality, brilliantly keeping out a fourth minute header from Liam Shiels as the foot of hie left-hand post.

But after an initial onslaught that also saw City defender Tom Sharpe forced off with a foot injury, Harrogate found themselves on the backfoot for the remainder of the half.

Harrad pounced when a free-kick fell to him inside the box but was denied by a smart save from keeper Peter Crook. Dan Nti then put another free-kick wide before the visitors were given the perfect opportunity to open the scoring seven minutes before the break.

Sam Minihan was brought down inside the area by Andy McWilliams, earning a booking for the defender and a penalty for City. Sean Geddes took the kick only for Crook to dive the right way and push the kick aside.

Any hopes that Worcester’s young guns could continue to shade the proceedings after the break were shattered inside 90 seconds of the restart. Brendan Daniels cut in off the right flank and, with too much time on his hands, unleashed a thundering 25-yard drive that soared into the roof of the net past Ross.

If the first half penalty had been a potential turning point, there was a second just short of the hour when McWilliams picked up a second yellow to leave the home side to see out the final half-hour with ten men.

But City again failed to take advantage and it was Harrogate who created the better of the chances in the closing stages.

Dominic Knowles had an effort cleared off the line midway through the second half after the City keeper had pushed away a cross from Jack Colbeck who had been terrorising Jamie Smith down the right wing.

And ten minutes from time Colbeck was denied by another excellent save from Ross who pushed his fierce shot around the post.

The visitors sent on on-loan striker Andre Brown but there was little the Crewe youngster could do to break down a resolute home defence and it was Tristian Dunkley who went closest to grabbing an equaliser in injury time with a shot that flew wide of Crook’s goal.