WORCESTER Men’s first XI started the new year with a thumping 4-1 win at Edgbaston for their first victory of the season.

The Midlands Division One game started well with Worcester keeping their shape and discipline in the press.

Then the breakthrough happened as a swift counter-attack saw Ben Cooke smash the ball into the D and Jack Ferman cracked the ball on the reverse stick into the goal.

The game remained 1-0 to Worcester at half-time and the visitors started the second half knowing they had to stay together on the water-based pitch and maintain concentration.

But in a moment of madness goalkeeper Tom Dalton took out an Edgbaston player, resulting in a penalty flick which was converted to make the score 1-1.

In the light of the season’s results so far Worcester could have easily crumbled but were not giving up that easily against second-from-bottom opposition.

A fine move started by Matt Kettley saw Matt Gardner break through and deliver the ball to the back post where Jack Townsend slid in from nowhere and scored on the back post.

More confident, Worcester gained the momentum and continued to push to make the game safe.

Another move, almost identical to the previous, saw Cooke again play the ball across the D with Townsend once again at full stretch scoring at the far post.

The game was finally put to bed when Ollie Ranscombe despatched a missile of a shot into the net with a first-time hit.

A fantastic team effort was a great example of what can be achieved with talented players and everyone pulling together.

Worcester remain bottom of the table but their first win in 11 games is a boost for Saturday's trip to mid-table Warwick.

The thirds also shone with a 7-3 win at Sutton Coldfield in the South West Premier thanks to four goals from Tom Lewis and a hat-trick by Luke Pillinger.

Worcester fourths defeated Harborne fifths 4-0 in South West Two with two goals each for club top scorer Matt Sharratt and Billy Forrester-Walker.

The seconds were unlucky to concede a goal with the last touch of the game to draw 2-2 with Bridgnorth despite dominating for most of the West Midlands Premier match.

Rob Goodman and Ethan McDonald-Smith scored their goals.

The fifths suffered a similar fate conceding late in the South West Two game to lose 2-1 at Harborne fourths with Tom Howard on target.

Worcester sixths lost 6-0 at Stratford fourths in South West Three and the sevenths fell 3-1 to Kings Heath Pickwick thirds with a Jeremy Butterfield strike.

In the youth section, a young Worcester Badgers Potters team took on Kings Heath and dominated from the start, keeping the visitors pressed back into their half for much of the first part of the game.

Despite many valiant efforts in the D the first goal was elusive.

But several minutes into the second half a fine cross from Monty Head saw Jamie Lawrence slap it home for the first goal.

Kings Heath found some momentum shortly after and staged some attacks but the defence led by Bea Morgan held fast.

Soon Worcester were back into attack mode and it wasn’t long before Oscar Rose scored the second.

Worcester remained in control for the rest of the match to seal a 2-0 success.