St Albans City 0 Worcester City 2 (Matthew Dinsmore 55, Craig Wilding 62) James Ronayne at Clarence Park TWO goals in seven second-half minutes condemned St Albans to their second straight league defeat and their first defeat at Clarence Park since Sept

St Albans City 0

Worcester City 2 (Matthew Dinsmore 55, Craig Wilding 62)

James Ronayne at Clarence Park

TWO goals in seven second-half minutes condemned St Albans to their second straight league defeat and their first defeat at Clarence Park since September.

St Albans had been looking to bounce back from last Saturday's defeat at Braintree but poor finishing cost them dear as Worcester won on their first ever visit to St Albans.

Steve Castle welcomed back Paul Hakim and Scott Cousins to the starting line up, with new signing Rob Nicholls and youth-team player Inih Effiong on the bench.

The Saints started the brighter, nearly taking the lead in the 16th minute when Hakim's clever header found Gary Cohen who turned his marker and shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area.

The first half was frantic with neither midfield dominating in the centre of the park. Hassan Sulaiman ran the length of the pitch before crossing for Hakim but his shot was saved by Danny McDonnell in the Worcester goal.

Hakim was proving a real handful for the visiting defence and when his cross was only partially cleared James Quilter had an excellent chance to score but he shot wastefully over the bar.

With six minutes to the interval Hakim delivered another precise cross but Ryan Frater's header landed on the roof of the net.

A long throw into the Saints area was flicked on at the near post and Marco Adaggio's shot flashed wide of Paul Bastock's left-hand post.

St Albans began the second half looking for the breakthrough but were caught out on the counter attack as the visitors opened the scoring. With Ben Martin joining the attack the Saints were caught light at the back and a long ball out of defence from Gary Walker found Matthew Dinsmore who advanced on goal. Bastock began to charge towards the forward but then retreated back towards goal, giving Dinsmore the time to pick his spot and give the visitors the lead.

The goal gave Worcester the momentum and they went looking for a second. Adaggio's shot was saved by Bastock who then denied Craig Wilding before Frater could clear.

If Bastock was partially to blame for the opening goal there was nothing he could do about the second. Brimming with confidence, Worcester advanced down the left flank and a pass inside found their captain Wilding, whose shot from the edge of the area took a wicked deflection that completely wrong footed Bastock and flew into the far corner of the net.

Jonathan Hunt crossed for substitute Jon Munday whose right-foot shot was well saved by McDonnell.

The Saints were enjoying success down the left-hand side from where Scott Cousins delivered a cross to the far post but Quilter shot into the side netting.

Adaggio should have extended Worcester's lead but he headed over after he was left unmarked from a Graham Ward corner.

With 13 minutes remaining Quilter should have reduced the deficit but he fluffed his shot with only the 'keeper to beat.

It was Worcester's first win in four games and gave them a double over the Saints having beaten them in the second game of the season.

It was another disappointing result for City and they will have to find their shooting boots if they are to get anything from their trip to local rivals Stevenage Borough on Saturday.

St Albans City (4-4-2): Bastock, Fisher, B.Martin, Frater (Munday 60), Cousins, Sulaiman (S.Martin 60), Thurlbourne, Quilter, Hunt, Cohen (Effiong 79), Hakim. Subs not used: Nicholls, Hurrell.

Worcester City (3-4-3): McDonnell, Richardson, Barnes, Kemp, Ward, Walker, Bampton (McGrath 68), Khan, Dinsmore (Dodd 80), Wilding, Adaggio (Price 90+2).

Subs not used: Richards, Fitzpatrick.

Ref: Lee Betts (Great Yarmouth)

Att: 424.