CHRIS Smith's goal after just three minutes was enough to give Worcester City a 1-0 Blue Square North victory over Vauxhall Motors in a one-sided match at St George's Lane.

The skipper was left unmarked for the simplest of headers from George Clegg's cross to provide the perfect tonic after Saturday's 3-1 reverse at Hyde.

However, Richard Dryden's men made life uncomfortable for themselves as they dominated from start to finish but were unable to add to their tally despite a host of chances in front of a crowd of 574 - City's lowest league gate of the season.

Worcester forced no less than 11 corners as they ran Vauxhall ragged all night and could quite easily have racked up a cricket score.

Apart from Smith's goal, the superb Matt Dinsmore, who was full of running all night, forced two first-half saves from visiting keeper Andrew Murphy, while Clegg and Jon Munday were denied by the Vauxhall custodian late on, and Craig Wilding struck a post in the closing stages.

Vauxhall offered virtually nothing but might have embarrassed City had Cameron Belford not been alert to Paul Taylor's attempted lob nine minutes from time.

Despite Vauxhall showing why they are fighting relegation, City produced one of their best first halves under Dryden. They took the game to their visitors, won the majority of challenges and made the most of the running with Dinsmore, Ryan Clarke, Troy Wood and Graham Ward particularly effective.

Smith gave City the lead from their first of many attacks. Clarke played the ball back out to Clegg after Vauxhall had cleared the latter's corner and the midfielder swung in a cross from which an unmarked Smith had acres of space to plant his header past Murphy from close range.

The hosts continued to dominate after the interval and came close to scoring several times late on.

City: Belford 7, Clarke 8, Gill 8, Smith 8, Munday 7, Wood (Colley 84) 7, Ward 8, Nwadike (Walker 77) 6, Dinsmore 9*, Wilding 8, Clegg 8. Subs not used: Brown, Price, Burtoft.

Attendance: 574.