RAW talents Liam Lockett and Josh Willis gained the plaudits of assistant manager Ashley Vincent after Worcester City's 4-1 victory over Highgate United.

The duo, who stepped up from City's under-21 set-up over the summer, played 90 minutes as City fought back from a half-time deficit in Wednesday's Midland Football League Cup round two tie.

"It was a really bright performance," said Vincent.

"More than anything else, I was really pleased with how competitive and switched on we were on the back of a not-so-great showing at the weekend (Sunday's 2-0 FA Vase defeat to Desborough Town).

"We were not interested so much in the quality because we know that is there, we wanted to get back on track in terms of mental sharpness and putting themselves on the line a little bit more and we did that. When that happens, the quality comes through naturally most of the time.

"Liam and Josh were the obvious standout performers for me, they were brilliant.

"They played against a seasoned, experienced Highgate side that is very physical but the lads let their quality show. They were not fazed by the physicality and the things that go with players that have competed at this level for a long time."

City had given as good as they got in the first half but Vincent acknowledged the team's shape had invited pressure that a tweak at the interval relieved.

"We felt we had been better with a 3-5-2 in past weeks but Highgate's full-backs were getting out and with two wingers playing high and wide, we couldn't look after both areas," he added.

"We decided to go for 4-3-3 which meant our wide players stopped their full-backs and in turn, we nullified their threat and our quality came through."