WORCESTER City's hopes of an FA Cup run were left in tatters as they conceded late to suffer a frustrating exit at the hands of Dudley Town. 

City failed to build on Zac Guinan’s early opener and were punished by the Robins who drew level through Brad Mansell’s volley, before substitute Abdul Bashiru grabbed a dramatic injury-time winner. 

It marked Chris Cornes’ side first defeat of the season and while the Blue and Whites were well short of their best, City will kick themselves for not making the most of the chances that came their way. 

Things had started promisingly for Worcester with Calvin Dinsley’s low strike from the edge of the box clattering the inside of the post.  

The visitors were also posing questions of Worcester’s defence and Town captain Alex Perry wastefully curled an effort straight into the arms of keeper Joe Stockton.  

The chances kept coming for City though and forward Kyle Belmonte saw his dipping 20-yard shot tipped over by Robins keeper Alex Graham. It was a brief reprieve for Dudley as from the resulting corner, Guinan arrived at the back post to powerfully side-foot in the opener.  

Town almost mustered an immediate response but Mansell was denied by a brilliant last-ditch tackle from Charlie Wise.

Guinan could have grabbed a second ten minutes before the break after collecting Liam Lockett’s pass, but the forward was unable to force the ball past Graham from an acute angle. The pair combined again soon after but Guinan’s driven effort from 12 yards was beaten away by Graham.  

Dudley continued to look dangerous on the counterattack and keeper Joe Stockton showed sharp reflexes to palm away Jordan Davies’ deflected effort.  

City tried to raise the tempo after the break but it was the visitors that drew level just after the hour. A long ball into City’s box was headed into the path of Mansell to emphatically volley the Robins level. 

The home side cranked up the pressure as they sought a late winner but instead it was the Robins who landed the knock-out blow three minutes into injury time. A blocked shot fell invitingly into the path of substitute Bashiru to coolly slot past Stockton from 12 yards.