SUPERSPY Jed Hallam had Worcester City’s FA Vase victory dedicated to him after spending sustained spells behind enemy lines.

City beat East Midlands Counties League high-fliers Dunkirk 3-1 in Wednesday’s rearranged second round tie to reach the last 64 and move to within five wins of a Wembley final.

READ MORE | Report, ratings and as it happened - City 3 Dunkirk 1

Manager Ashley Vincent revealed Liincolnshire-based kitman Hallam had ran the rule over the Boatmen, who fielded just two of the players that faced City in the Midland Football League as recently as April, no fewer than three times in the build up.

“It is not just me, Marlon (Walters, assistant manager) and Gaz (Rogers, coach), a lot of the preparation for this game came from our kitman Jed who does a lot of work for us,” said Vincent.

“He has been to see Dunkirk play three times. Something important cropped up at work on the one day I was going to meet him there and even though he works his tail off all week he still went.

“It paid off because everything he said they would bring was spot on, this is a team effort here at Worcester City and we are grateful to everyone for what they do.

“Without Jed seeing those games we would have started the first 15 minutes unsure of what they would bring. That came from someone who some people might see as just a kit man but that’s not the case, to us he is a member of staff and I would like to thank him a lot for that.”

Vincent hailed what was a strong team display but simply could not avoid praising the effervescent Liam Lockett for his trio of assists in a majestic display.

“Liam is a special, special footballer,” said Vincent.

“I said it last season when John (Snape) was manager, I thought he would be something special and John agreed, gave him his chance and we have since been working with him on bits of tactical play.

“He is just a footballer, he always wants to be on the ball and sometimes the off-the-ball stuff needs improvement but we are doing that.

“It was his off-the-ball play that really impressed me in this one. He worked, put his foot in and got himself into holes that he would have vacated last season that the opponent might have passed through.”

On the match, Vincent added: “Dunkirk are among the leaders in their league for a reason, they are a dangerous side that scores goals.

“We had to show mettle and compete, I hoped our quality would show from there and it did and with all due respect I think 3-1 flattered them a little bit.

“I got a bit of everything from that performance, a fantastic save at 0-0 from my goalkeeper which boosted the confidence of the boys, the back three got to grips with the game and were really up for it and a midfield that was competitive, full of energy and passed the ball really well.

“When we got the ball into good areas we played some great stuff at times, creating some good chances we couldn’t finish off. It didn’t matter in the end because we got our goals but I thought we warranted another goal or two.

“At 2-1 they had a really good go and you start to think of recent results, one or two younger boys start to sit back another two or three yards but I thought we managed the game really well.

“The captain put the game to bed with five minutes to go so we didn’t have to cling to our seats in the final few minutes.

“I have a young squad who desperately try and will get better. I am happy they have found a performance that had every element to it, that shows them what they can do.

“You could see the confidence coming back into them, Liam Lockett looked like he had been playing like that all season. Results and performances like that breed confidence and I am really happy for every one of them.”