WORCESTER City will be keen to banish memories of last weekend's penalty shootout FA Vase defeat at Whittlesey Athletic when they head back into Midland Football League action this afternoon against Shifnal Town.

City were beaten 7-6 on penalties at Step 6 side Whittlesey last Saturday having won six games in a row in all competitions prior to it.

But manager Tim Harris knows there is no reason to panic.

"The big thing for us as a club is to not get too high when we win and not get too down when we lose," he said.

"We have a good group of lads and they have performed really well of late.

"But I said right from the start of the season, the aim for us is to win football matches and recently we have been on a good run and we only lost on penalties last week so we didn't lose the game.

"But we just have to move on from it and take it on the chin and deal with it professionally, starting this week against Shifnal."

Their league form remains strong, however and a win today would potentially see them move into second in the MFL Premier Division.

But they will likely face a stern test from Shifnal, who are just four points behind City and are unbeaten in their last five league fixtures

Shifnal have won four of those five and have won three on the bounce, including putting eight goals past Bewdley Town earlier this month.

Worcester's league form in recent weeks shows they are clinical in front of goal but more importantly, they are keeping the goals out.

City have not conceded in the league in their last four, whilst scoring 14.

One of the reasons for some of that form was the influence of centre-half Fortune Maphosa, who has, as of Thursday, left AFC Telford United.

Maphosa joined the National League North outfit just a couple of weeks ago on a dual registration agreement.

But no sooner did he arrive at Telford, the club confirmed he had departed.

He is still on the books of City as Telford are at a higher level than Worcester and rules state he can return.

But it remains to be seen whether he will return to Claines Lane.

Today's game kicks off the final block of league fixtures before Christmas when City will play four sides in the top half of the league in their remaining games, including Lichfield City and Tividale.