A DOUBLE from full-back Luke English could not prevent Worcester City slipping to a 3-2 defeat at Highgate United on Saturday.

English lofted a cushioned first-time effort over keeper Brad Catlow from a cross-field pass to break the deadlock 57 minutes in at The Coppice.

That audacious effort was equalled within a minute when Lei Brown guided over city stopper Dan Jezeph in similar circumstances.

Hesitation at the back and Jezeph’s rash dash off his line allowed Romario Martin to knock the ball to the left of the box and guide into an empty net with 20 minutes to play.

Ex-City striker Marco Adaggio drove inside and dinked in the third via Jezeph’s glove to seal victory late on despite English's cool finish under the exposed Catlow with three minutes remaining.

Sports reporter Andy Mitchell analyses where the battle was lost.

YOU RARELY OUT-HIGHGATE HIGHGATE

Sporadic flashes, little fluency and no spells of sustained pressure either way – the pattern of play suited the hosts down to the ground.

With many older and wiser players at their disposal, Highgate forced more potentially-decisive moments across the 90 while City laboured in trying to overwhelm with swift exuberance.

ROUGH AND TUMBLE

The stop-start nature was influenced by some robust challenges that went unpunished, particularly the alleged off-the-ball stamp by McCauley Manning that spelled the end of Jamie Smith’s afternoon before half-time.

Smith was adamant it had been deliberate and at least one home official felt a red card should have been brandished.

With the game at 0-0, City will understandably ponder what might have been.

MARGIN FOR ERROR

Visiting places such as Highgate halfway through November is always likely to be more of a test of the basics over skill.

In the heat of a scrappy battle, points invariably get collected by the team that makes the fewest mistakes and that was undoubtedly the case here.

JEEPERS KEEPERS

While the errors were not solely down to Dan Jezeph – far from it – his reactions to what unfolded played their part.

You could consider him unfortunate with an unexpected first but despite play opening up for Martin, the dual-registered custodian need not have come flying out for a ball he was never likely to win.

His positioning for the third goal meant Adaggio did not need to think twice. It was certainly a day to forget for one of City’s better performers in recent weeks.

REACTING TO SETBACKS

While no one could accuse City of waving the white flag, they did look brittle when things took a turn for the worse.

Decision making in every department was not quite right and got worse when the game had to be chased. Cool heads could, perhaps would have turned the tide against solid-but-unspectacular opposition.

MATCH FACTS

Highgate United 3 (L Brown 58, Martin 70, Adaggio 84) City 2 (English 57, 87)

Highgate: Catlow 6, Barkers 5.5, Pulisciano 5, Edwards 5.5, Oji 6, A Brown 6.5, Currithers 5.5 (Martin, 61, 6.5), Goddard 5.5 (T Smith, 36, 5.5), Adaggio 7, L Brown 6.5, Manning 5.5 (Stokes, 85, 6)

City: Jezeph 5, ENGLISH 7.5*, J Smith 6 (Keasey, 28, 6), Forsyth 6, Stoddart 6, Caines 5.5, Birley 5.5, Withington 5 (Evans, 74, 5.5), Turton 5, Lockett 5, Baldwin 5.5 (Willis, 64, 6). Unused subs: Birch, Gilder (g/k).

Referee: Simon Lane, 6.

Attendance: 131.

Match rating: 6.