10:05pm Monday 22nd February 2010
By Steve Carley
SHABIR Khan was sent off for the second time against Newport County this season as Worcester City were thrashed at St George's Lane.
The left-back was given his marching orders four minutes before half-time for a reckless challenge on Ker-ry Morgan, the same player he fouled to earn a red card at Spytty Park on New Year’s Day. By that time City were already 4-0 down, courtesy of two goals from Chris Todd and one each for Craig Reid and Sam Foley, all from set-pieces.
Newport eased off after the break but the 10 men of City toiled in front of a crowd of 1,017, which included a sizeable contingent from Wales, and grabbed a consolation through Matt Dinsmore in the 89th minute.
However, the runaway Blue Square South leaders were far superior to Carl Heeley’s men as they continued their march towards the league title.
For City, they somehow need to pick themselves up ahead of Sat-urday’s trip to fellow strugglers Lewes.
Heeley’s team were always going to be in for a tough test against a side beaten just once in Blue Square South all season and they had to do it without assistant player-manager Mark Clyde and Alfie Carter, both missing from the squad.
With captain Tom Kemp still out injured, Rob Elvins was called into the centre of defence alongside Wayne Daniel, while Craig Wilding and Marco Adaggio were restored to the team up front.
City were behind after just eight minutes as Paul Cochlin’s header from a deep free-kick was spilled by Jake Meredith and Reid had the simplest of tap-ins.
The second arrived on 22 minutes as Worcester once again failed to deal with a free-kick. Morgan delivered a delightful cross from the left and Todd arrived at the far post to head home.
Following yellow cards for both Jack Durrant and Gary Walker, things got worse for City on 39 minutes as County captain Danny Rose sent over a free-kick from the right and Todd flicked the ball home.
Just 60 seconds later it was four when Foley chased down a long ball and lofted it neatly over the advancing Meredith.
As if City weren’t struggling enough, Shabir then lunged at Morgan and was shown a straight red card by referee Simon Knapp.
Newport boss Dean Holdsworth made a double change after the break butthey rarely looked like adding to their tally.
By contrast, City gave their fans something to cheer when sub Rob Davies played in Dinsmore and he slid the ball past Glyn Thompson.
City: Meredith 3, Ward (c) 6, Shabir 3, Durrant 5, Daniel 5, Elvins 6, Emery 5, Walker 6 (Davies 54, 6), Wilding 6, Adaggio 5 (Farrell 68), Dinsmore 7*. Subs: McGregor, Bridges, Heeley. Attendance: 1,017.
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