ALL good things must come to an end.

And so it was that Worcester City's 100 per cent record away from St George's Lane came to an end at Ellesmere Port on Saturday with a 2-0 defeat at Vauxhall Motors.

It was a defeat that eventually had to come but one which manager Andy Preece believes could have been avoided.

The game was there for the taking until City plotted their own downfall with Mark Danks' penalty miss and Adam Burley's sending-off.

"The sending-off obviously changes it, but I have seen Vauxhall this season and we have come and made them look ordinary in the first-half," Preece said.

"We were much the better side and lost the game and got no points for it.

"We have missed a penalty and a number of other opportunities and were totally in control of the game."

But that game has now gone and City have still only lost three times on the road since January 21 which, in the scheme of things, only registers as a momentary blip.

However, with that run temporarily halted, the focus switches back to the problem of winning at home.

City are yet to get this monkey off their back after five attempts, most recently taking just one point from the visits of Farsley Celtic and Redditch United.

Yet all concerned need to find a remedy. And fast. For, with the FA Cup draw now out, City face three home games in a row.

Barring a replay against Romulus, surely unthinkable regardless of the Midland Alliance side's record, Preece's men do not have another away fixture in Nationwide North until a trip to Hucknall Town on October 21.

Before that, they host current league leaders Blyth Spartans and Harrogate Town either side of the Romulus clash and could have another FA Cup date as well.

So City's home form needs to yield results or, come mid-October, their good start could be somewhat tarnished.

At the start of the season, manager Preece would have taken sixth place in September but he openly admits one point from a possible nine is a concern, not least because performances have improved of late.

He said: "Our performances have stepped up and our points tally has gone down.

"We haven't been playing that well but we played on Saturday and we played well against Redditch but we are just not getting the points.

"We've just got to sort our discipline out and sort out a bit of quality - that's all that's missing."

With that in mind, Preece knows his side cannot afford a repeat of recent home results when Blyth Spartans roll into town at the weekend.

"It's too early in the season to say we must win it," he said.

"We want to win it but it's not a must-win game, it's a game that we need to get something from and hopefully it will be a win."