A GROOM-TO-BE and Worcester City fanatic achieved his lifelong dream when he made a "surreal" cameo appearance for his boyhood club.

City agreed to join in with Ian Pardoe’s stag party celebrations by allowing the 41-year-old to feature in Saturday’s pre-season friendly against Worcestershire rivals Bromsgrove Sporting.

After being selected on the bench among four trialists Pardoe, who usually plays five-a-side football with his mates, replaced striker Demetri Brown with less than a minute to go in the 3-2 defeat.

Pardoe failed to get a touch of the ball during his 34 seconds on the field but it was an experience the Worcester supporter said he would never forget.

“It was absolutely amazing,” said Pardoe who also got to warm up with the City side and walk out with both sets of players.

“I have been a City fan all my life and I wanted to play for them as a kid.

“My face must have been a picture!”

The stag was organised by his best man Nick Scott along with the support of City chairman Steve Goode and manager Ashley Vincent.

Pardoe, who is set to marry Anita Holyoak, admitted he arrived at the Victoria Ground expecting to be club mascot Georgie Dragon for the afternoon.

“I had no idea I was going to play until Ash shook my hand and said ‘we will get you a kit and get you on’,” Pardoe said.

“It was surreal.

“As the game went on and we were losing 3-2, I thought there was no chance I would get on now.

“But all of a sudden Ash said ‘Right, you are on’. I said ‘What? Are you sure?’ “My heart rate was going absolutely crazy.

“My dad was there as well which made it even better as he is a City fan too."

Any hopes of Pardoe netting a dramatic last-gasp equaliser were dashed when the linesman’s flag went up.

“There was a ball over the top but Tyreece (Ruddock) was offside,” Pardoe added.

“If he hadn’t been offside he could have passed the ball across to me and I could have scored!

“I don’t know what would have happened if I had done that.”

Scott, who works with Pardoe at corporate hotel booking agency arrangeMY, praised City for giving his best mate a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It was Ian’s dream come true,” Scott said.

“He could not have been happier.

“There was a real community feel about it. It was nice that they allowed one of their fans to do that and make his day so special.

“He didn’t get to kick the ball but that didn’t matter as he got to wear the kit and has now got the shortest playing career ever. I think it was 34 seconds.”

City are gearing up for the upcoming Midland League Premier Division campaign but Goode insisted Vincent was more than happy to give Pardoe a run-out.

“I spoke to Ash before the game saying that if we were 1-0 up or drawing 1-1 it would be awkward to bring him on because if we did concede a late goal we would have received abuse from some people,” Goode said.

“But Ash said he would do all he could to get him on.

“The game had almost finished so it was nice for him to come on.

“It was an ambition he never thought he would achieve.

“If anyone wants to have a moan about it they can have a word with me as I have no qualms at all.”