JOHN Barton believes Darren Middleton answered a few critics with his display against Moor Green on Monday night.

It was packed with plenty of forward breaks plus a willingness to chase down and harry opponents, doing what Middleton calls the 'ugly side' of the game.

His performance earned him ringing applause when he was substituted late on and it made a welcome change said Barton who feels the player has taken some unwarranted stick in his time at St George's Lane.

"I'm well aware which players, as well as me, cop stick, and Darren is one of them," said Barton.

"It would be an interesting exercise if those sort of people that adopt terrace boo-boy tactics came and had a chat with the individuals concerned to find out what makes them tick.

"It's only one game and Darren's got to go beyond that but no matter what it looks like on the pitch he's a genuine and honest player that wants to do well for Worcester City - and the dressing room is stacked full of players like that.

"There are not always going to be too many performances like Moor Green and judgement day comes when we are not playing well.

"The help that can come from supporters in that situation is tremendous. When things are not going well that is when support from the sidelines can be doubly or trebly important,

"But in all my years I've never seen anything positive come from being negative.

"When we played Havant their manager Mick Jenkins couldn't believe some of the comments that were coming out such as 'different team, same old rubbish' after just 25 minutes of the game."

"I don't usually make the point about players getting stick because most of our supporters are excellent but it's not 100 per cent.

"However I think we have got a dressing room totally committed to the cause. Whether we are good enough who knows, time will tell, but their application and commitment is unquestioned."

City are set to send a strong reserve side to Bromsgrove Rovers tomorrow night with Shaun Hayes, Pat Lyons, David Holmes, Dan Jones, Dan Parker, Liam McDonald and Carl Heeley all due to play.

Injured Kevin Halliday was due to see a specialist this week about his swollen knee. The left back is hoping it is nothing worse than strained ligaments.