DISAPPOINTED boss John Snape made no excuses for his Worcester City side’s poor performance in Wednesday night’s 4-3 defeat to Coventry Sphinx.

City were 2-0 down at half-time and fell 4-1 behind on 64 minutes before Tyler Weir got one back and James Lemon struck in added-time.

But it was too little too late for Worcester who have now lost seven of their past 10 games in the Midland League Premier Division and remain in 12th position.

Snape held his hands up after their latest defeat and admitted sixth-placed Sphinx “wanted it more than us”.

“I have got no excuses for myself and for the players as I put them out there,” Snape said.

“They huffed and puffed in the wrong areas and we have been outworked.

“They wanted it more than us. Work-rate was one of my trademarks as a player and manager so that’s definitely disappointing especially at home.

“For every good passage of play we had it was counteracted as we lost runners too easily.

“You can’t get beat at home and concede four goals. That’s a simple rule.

“We still had 65 per cent of the play but we didn’t know how to break them down and when to break them down.

“That’s down to me so we must kick on again.”

Snape made five changes to the side that defeated Studley to win the Worcestershire FA Senior Urn last week with Dave Reynolds and Callum McFarlane unavailable and Jordan Harrison, James Baldwin and Levi Andoh dropped to the bench.

However the hosts lacked cohesion, were sloppy with and without the ball and Sphinx capitalised.

The visitors took the lead on 21 minutes when Josh O’Grady’s fiercely-stuck free-kick was headed in by Charlie Faulkner.

Aside from a surging run from deep by Nyeko Sinclair and a header by Lemon that drew a simple save from keeper Tom Cross City offered very little in attack.

The Coventry side made it 2-0 on 38 minutes when keeper Sam Gilder failed to stop Alex Pearson’s 25-yarder finding the bottom corner.

In need of some spark Snape brought on Baldwin and Harrison – and the double substitute had the desired effect.

On 51 minutes, Sinclair strode forward once again before finding Baldwin who kept his composure to tuck the ball away.

Baldwin was a real livewire for City as his pace and trickery caused Sphinx problems.

But the visitors increased their lead on 58 minutes when Liam Kay headed in Callum Woodward’s corner before O’Grady curled the ball into the top corner.

Sphinx could have scored more as Ryan Harkin had a shot blocked and then saved by Gilder from close range before O’Grady fired over with the goal at his mercy.

But Weir cut back the deficit on 75 minutes when he played a one-two with Attoumani before coolly slotting the ball home.

And in the fourth minute of added-time Luke English drilled the ball across the goal for Lemon to simply apply a finishing touch.

Snape said: “I made some changes at half-time which had an instant impact but then we stopped getting the ball out to James and we got caught with a third goal.

“We were undone by two retaken set-plays, a ball that bobbled in front of Sam for the second one and although the lad has hit it quite well for the last goal we gave him too much room on the edge of the box to get the strike in.”

Worcester City 3 (Baldwin 51, Weir 75, Lemon 90+4), Coventry Sphinx 4 (Faulkner 21, Pearson 38, Kay 58, O'Grady 64).

WORCESTER CITY: Gilder 4.5; English 6, Sinclair 5, Roberts 5, Stoddart 5 (Bates 64, 5.5), Weir 5; Caines 4, Lockett 4.5 (BALDWIN* 41, 7), Attoumani 4.5; Lemon 5, Moran 4 (Harrison 41, 6). Not used: Hall, Andoh.

COVENTRY SPHINX: Cross 5; Lower 5.5 (Mack 57, 6), Hudson 6.5, Blyth 6.5, Kay 7, Stringfellow 7, Faulkner 8 (Kelly 81), Woodward 7, Harkin 6.5, O'Grady 7.5, Pearson 7.5 (Rock 81). Not used: Bull.

Attendance: 184.

Referee: C Clifton.