WATCHING Worcester City this season, few would argue that they are a team making progress.

Some of the performances have been impressive with last Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Chorley, which included a fine goal from captain Ellis Deeney, the pick of the bunch.

City have gleaned 13 points from their first 10 games in Vanarama Conference North, which is practically a quarter of the season, and are five points better off compared to this time last year.

If they repeated that return between now and the end of the campaign they would be on 52 points with two games left.

It would see them surpass the 50 points they have finished with in each of the last two seasons, including their final one at St George’s Lane.

Such form would put them in with a shout of breaking into the top 10, which would represent a fine achievement given their exile at Aggborough and having been firmly in the relegation mix for a lot of last season.

But they would still be comfortably shy of the play-offs, which is evidently what City crave given some of the post-match comments so far.

Last month, manager Carl Heeley claimed his side could have been top of the table but for their profligacy in front of goal.

While that view might be slightly optimistic, it is easy to see the frustrations of the Blue and Whites’ boss.

With the exception of the Barrow defeat, City have created chances in every game and played some very good football.

It is a sign of Worcester’s improvement over the past 12 months that they feel 11th place, three points adrift of the play-off zone, is not a fair reflection of their efforts.

“When I said we could be top of the league I wasn’t joking,” Heeley said after Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Stockport County.

“We’ve played well enough, defended well enough and had enough good situations but the goals for column is the reason we’re not in the position we should be.

“That said, we are moving in the right direction and if we compare to this time last season then there’s a massive transformation but I want to compare to our last game and we didn’t do as well on Tuesday and we did on Saturday.”

He continued: “I want us to score goals because, as well as you defend and pass the ball, we won’t win anything unless we stick the ball in the net.

“We’ve got some good footballers. They can pass the ball in our defensive area and in the middle third but why can’t we punish teams?”

That is the million dollar question and one Worcester need to answer in order to continue their progression.