GOALKEEPER Shaun Hayes faces surgery to clear up a niggling knee injury that scuppered his chances of replacing Danny McDonnell in today's crunch clash with Crawley Town.

City boss John Barton admitted he was not prepared to risk Hayes and has instead opted to play veteran stopper Chris Taylor instead with Hayes starting on the bench.

Hayes, who made his competitive debut as a substitute at Marine in the FA Trophy in which he saved a penalty, will go under the knife when McDonnell returns from his one match suspension.

It's a blow for the 19-year-old who acquitted himself well in difficult conditions in Liverpool and who would have undoubtedly been excited at making his full debut in the Dr Martens Premier Division.

Barton though was uneasy about the fact that Hayes' knee has been prone to locking up, prompting him to air on the side of caution and plump for the experienced Taylor.

"Shaun has a problem with his knee which has given away on a couple of occasions in recent weeks," said Barton.

"While it might not go, if it did in the middle of a match the disruption to the structure of the team would be mammoth.

"We've started the procedure to get him operated on and hopefully it will go smoothly.

"We don't know how long he will be out because until the surgeon has had a look you can't determine the degree of the injury."

If Hayes is out for any length of time Barton may have to consider trying to extend former Evesham and Bromsgrove 'keeper Taylor's stay at St George's Lane.

Meanwhile Barton is hoping to exact revenge on today's visitors Crawley for their 4-0 thumping earlier in the season.

That defeat was Worcester's first of the season and left its mark, according to City's boss.

"Crawley gave us our biggest hiding of the season which we haven't forgotten but it's also a chance to take points from a side above us in the table," said Barton.

"We're still smarting from that defeat and the memories of that have not been erased yet.

"They are the best side we've played to date and despite having a few hiccups in recent weeks are still formidable opposition.

"We've had a few better results of late, even if the performances haven't quite matched them, and we want to continue that run which has given us six points out of six."

While City's first team are in action Geoff Ashby's reserves travel to Chasetown in the ICIS Midland Combination Reserve Division fresh from their success at the same venue in last Saturday's League Cup match.

For Ashby it will be another opportunity to take a look at ex-Kidderminster Harriers U19 midfielder Stuart Stanbra who has been on trial at the club.

"He did OK last week in difficult conditions and we'll be taking another look at him over the next few games to see how he gets on," said Ashby.

"I'll reserve judgement until then but he looks quite a good player and if I think he's worth pursuing I'll tell John."