WORCESTER City’s torrid run of form continued at Altrincham as, despite a good first-half showing, Carl Heeley’s side slipped to their eighth straight defeat.

On a day where plummeting temperatures saw almost the whole of the Blue Square Bet North programme wiped out, City’s strikers were again frozen out and saw their goalless run stretch to more than 500 minutes.

Danny Edwards’ consolation goal at Harrogate on the February 16 was the last time a Worcester player found the net, and the gulf between the two sides was illustrated by the fact that Altrincham’s Damien Reeves has now scored eight times in the same period.

The striker struck his 33rd goal of a remarkable season to seal the points for the hosts at Moss Lane after Nicky Clee had broken the deadlock early in the second period.

City battled well in the first-half and, after Tom Thorley tested Stuart Coburn inside the opening two minutes, they really should have taken the lead.

Edwards drifted in a corner towards the back post where Ethan Moore was lurking. The striker brought the ball down before firing a shot on the turn. Coburn’s parry fell at the feet of Shabir Khan six yards from goal, but he could not find the net.

That was as close as the visitors came as the play-off chasing Robins moved up a gear towards the end of the first-half.

Former City midfielder Simon Richman fired straight at Matt Sargeant from the edge of the area before Reeves served notice of the threat he poses with a header against the post.

Despite Reeves’ goalscoring exploits, it is strike partner Duncan Watmore who has been impressing with his pace and trickery throughout the campaign.

Centre-back Rob Elvins was repeatedly caught out of position by the lively Watmore and he was one of a number of defenders who was left for dead when the playmaker jinked his way into the Worcester area.

His deflected shot was cleared off the line by Tyler Weir and the former Hereford defender was back in the action three minutes later as he blocked Richman’s effort under his own crossbar.

This time Clee was on hand to turn the rebound into an empty net and the points were all but sealed before the hour mark when Reeves turned Scott Leather’s header into the roof of the net.

Moore and substitute Mike Symons both fired wide as City looked for a way back into the match.

However, Danny Boshell almost heaped more embarrassment on the away side when he struck the woodwork late on.