JOINT-boss John Snape insisted he had no long-term worries over Worcester City’s wasteful finishing against South Normanton – but struggled to make the same case for his defence.

City bossed proceedings with 11 and 10 men against struggling Athletic but got held to a 1-1 draw having failed to add to Alex Tomkinson’s 11-minute opener on Saturday.

Snape acknowledged his side, the Midland League Premier Division’s top scorers, had been profligate in front of goal but remained upbeat over the quantity of openings created.

Strike duo Dave Reynolds and Mark Danks already have 21 goals between them in all competitions, leaving Snape keen to focus on matters at the other end.

“I still look at it and see that Reyno and Danksy have scored a lot of goals this season,” he said.

“Josh Sarmento always looks a threat and Alex Tomkinson has three in four games so we have goals in the side.

“Our disappointment was over getting caught with a sucker punch. It was not a good goal from our point of view, their lad had too much time in the box when we had enough bodies in there.

“After that, we still showed resolve. We did not go under and were guilty of missing two or three more chances.

“There was disappointment, we dropped two points but we had a good reaction to the Shawbury defeat and looked accomplished.

“We were probably guilty of missing a few chances in the first half that could have put the game to bed and not delivering that final ball in the last third at times when we had got in. We did not deliver and missed some great chances.

“We were absolutely gutted to only score one at home but we still created in a game that we dominated.

“It went against us and I felt we were unlucky. We have to stop the goals going in but it was a much-improved performance.

“There were some really positive displays out there from the likes of Brad Birch, Nathan Hayward and Alex Tomkinson.”

Meanwhile, Snape refused to point the finger at returning defender Wayne Thomas who was sent off in the 44th minute for raising his hands to an opponent while waiting to defend a corner.

“Goals change games and so do red cards but if you walked into the ground during the second half you would not have known we were down to 10 men,” said Snape.

“Wayne is one of the most honest guys I know. He is a top footballer and we are lucky to have him at the club.

“How long he wants to stay, we will discuss over the week but he looked fantastic up to the red card. I hope he stays.”