THE good, the bad and the ugly played out at Boston United as 10-man Worcester City claimed a share of the spoils from a 1-1 draw.

It would be nice to focus on the good points as City once again refused to get turned over by one of the sides gunning for promotion.

However, there were two incidents in the second half which marred the Vanarama National League North encounter.

City showed their bad side when Amadou Bakayoko picked up the club’s 10th red card of the season after kicking out at Liam Marrs on 88 minutes.

But while the 20-year-old’s act of petulance could be put down to inexperience, nothing could condone the ugly scenes which are believed to have taken place during the match.

An investigation has begun at Boston after City defender Wayne Thomas claimed he was racially abused by a spectator.

If that was the case, then it is a stark reminder that football clubs and the sport’s governing body still have work to do to kick racism out of the game.

In the end, the allegations of racist abuse overshadowed what was another positive result for Worcester.

The draw means they have now taken eight points from what may have been seen as daunting clashes against promotion-chasers AFC Fylde, North Ferriby United, Nuneaton Town and Boston in 2016.

Joint-managers Carl Heeley and Matt Gardiner also picked an unchanged side for the first time since September after trouncing Stalybridge Celtic 5-0 in midweek.

Dan Nti was the star of the show that day but, with Boston keeping a tight rein on City’s number seven, Jordan Murphy was the visitors’ main threat going forward as he linked up well with Bakayoko.

With Boston’s strike duo John Sands and Dayle Southwell also probing, Worcester’s defence had to be alert but they were caught napping on 36 minutes.

After defending a City corner, the ball was launched up field to Jay Rollins, who showed great strength to hold off Connor Gater before firing his effort through Nathan Vaughan’s legs.

Worcester got a fortuitous equaliser against Nuneaton and they were handed a large slice of luck at the Jakemans Stadium.

With seconds left of the first half, Bakayoko’s 20-yard strike flicked off Murphy’s boot and wrong-footed keeper Fabian Spiess.

Boston upped the ante after the break but City remained resilient with Alex Gudger having another excellent game at left-back and Vaughan making a couple of fine saves to deny Sands and Grant Roberts.

At the other end, Bakayoko, who was given the nod ahead of Lee Hughes, was working hard to hold the ball up.

But the striker’s afternoon ended in disappointing fashion as he was given his marching orders by referee Robert Massey-Ellis.

Despite being down to 10 men, City almost won it at the death as Spiess tipped Shaun Donnellan’s free-kick onto the crossbar before saving Hughes’ follow-up.