AS the old saying goes -- you wait a long, long time for a bus and then two come along.

The same clich could be applied to Worcester City and clean sheets.

Having gone four months yearning for a shut out, City are now proving masterful rather than miserable in achieving them.

With two on the bounce against Alfreton and Vauxhall Motors, a tightening up at the back has provided the perfect tonic as Worcester fight back from a desperate run of form.

Not that the defence is impersonating Fort Knox mind, a lapse in concentration after five minutes on Saturday gifting Motors midfield Phil Brazier a sitter from close range, which he blazed over the bar to the relief of the majority at St George's Lane.

However, signs are looking more and more promising that Messrs Preece and Morrison have knocked City's back-four --or more precisely, back-five -- into a ship-shape unit.

Worcester could not buy a clean sheet in Nationwide North through the autumn and winter periods and the issue became a major bug-bear for former boss John Barton.

It not only frustrated Barton but the lads at the back too. For Danny McDonnell, Carl Heeley, Colin Hoyle and Barry Woolley, a clean sheet is the goalkeeper and defender's equivalent of scoring a goal at the other end.

Now under the club's new management team, there is evidence that opponents are getting far less of a look-in on City's goal.

"The defence has been a lot more solid," said Preece after the Motors win. "From general play, I don't think that teams look like scoring against us.

"There's been one or two ricochets where we've tried to clear it and it's hit someone and dropped, but I haven't seen any team really create any chances in the last two games."

So how have things changed so quickly in the space of two or three weeks? Firstly, once the ink dried on his contract, Preece made it his top priority to stop his side shipping goals, emphasising the need to build from the back.

Secondly, the added input from assistant manager Andy Morri-son is key. With years of Football League experience at Manches-ter City, Blackpool and Hudders-field, centre-half Morrison is undoubtedly Preece's 'defensive arm' with plenty of ideas to organise the rearguard.

Finally, there is little denying that the 5-3-2 system works. When City opt for just two central defenders, opponents enjoy far more success. Worcester lack pacy defenders, teenager Shabir Khan aside, so teams with lightning quick strikers have profited from the ball over the top in the 4-4-2 formation.

With three in the centre and two genuine wing-backs in Rob Warner and Les Hines, teams are finding it difficult to penetrate.

The defenders look to be enjoying it too. Hoyle and Heeley have been supremely dominant, while Woolley is growing in authority on the right of the three.