Off-form Worksop Town slip to back-to-back games

Ben Grist against Bamber Bridge - Photo by Ruth Hornby

Worksop Town suffered successive defeats after losing 1-0 to Bamber Bridge at the Windsor Foodservice Stadium.

It left manager Craig Parry disappointed with his side’s performance.

“A lot of players were doing what we didn’t want them to do: taking too many touches, not tracking runners, not running hard, the basics of it weren’t there.

“That second-half is not acceptable for me, and I will be in on Tuesday addressing it, working hard to put it right.

“I can’t say I was pleased with that performance whatsoever; there was a lot of things in that performance that I didn’t like and that’s the truth.”

Worksop Town started the brighter of the two teams, creating the first real threat through Liam Hughes. He rose to meet a pinpoint cross from Mason O’Malley but saw his header drift just wide of the post.

The Tigers continued to apply pressure, particularly from set pieces. Aaron Martin came close on two occasions but couldn’t make clean contact from Joe Leesley’s well-delivered corners.

The breakthrough nearly came via an own goal when Bamber Bridge defender Simon Grand’s attempted clearance from a Leesley cross looped dangerously toward his own goal, only to land just over the bar.

Shortly after the restart, Worksop thought they had taken the lead. O’Malley found Hughes once again, and this time the striker drilled the ball low into the net. However, celebrations were cut short as the linesman raised his flag for offside.

Just five minutes later, the deadlock was broken—but not by the hosts. A needless foul by Sam Wedgbury handed Bamber Bridge a free-kick in a dangerous position. Jack Baxter stepped up and bent a brilliant shot into the top left corner, giving the visitors a 1-0 advantage.

Worksop nearly hit back just four minutes later. Regan Hutchinson fired a low drive toward the bottom right corner, but Bamber Bridge keeper Casper was quick to react and made a strong save.

The away side had a chance to double their lead late on when Cleary charged into the box following a surging run, but his shot drifted wide of the post.

Up next for the Tigers is a busy weekend with two games in three days as they travel to Matlock Town on Saturday before welcoming the already-relegated Basford United to the Windsor Foodservice Stadium.