Worcester City Floodlit U18s win the Ray Mercer Trophy beating Rushall Olympic at the Victoria ground last night. After a long season the Floodlit side earned themselves an opportunity to play for the chance to be crowned Supplementary cup champions.

The sun was shining at kick off after the players entered the pitch to a great reception from the crowd which created a super atmosphere for the final. City had kick off and right from the first whistle put pressure on the Rushall backline causing many problems and mistakes.

The first real chance of the game came after a reverse pass from Max Tibbins found the run of Lucas Muckley who’s first time show was saved well from the oncoming keeper.

City were looking dangerous from early set pieces with the pressure finally paying off when Muckley headed home off a delightful Joe Bates free kick putting Worcester 1-0 up. The city players knew the opposition had quality so understood they had to continue to apply pressure. The work rate of the players on both sides was very high meaning the tempo and intensity of the game matched. Worcester took another huge step to the victory when 15 minutes in Ben Lane, who had pealed off to the back post, was at hand to nod another sublime delivery from Bates, past the Rushall Keeper. With the score 2-0 City had started quickly but with 75 minutes remaining the game was far from won.
After dominating the early exchanges Rushall were finally starting to find the foot hold in the game with a larger share in possession. They were always looking to turn the City backline but Andy Liddle and captain Jordan Wilson were firm and looked in total control of proceedings. The only really opportunity for Rushal in the first half was a shot down the city right hand side but the effort was crowded out by goalkeeper Toby Wilcox and defender Miguel Silva.

With the first half coming to a close, City had time to create one more opportunity. As throughout the whole first half Worcester looked threatening from set pieces. When a good ball came in from a corner, the big city centre half Liddle leaped to meet the cross but he couldn’t keep the header down and the ball sailed over the crossbar.
Half time City 2 – 0 up.

Second half commenced with the continued high tempo from both teams. This half City played up the slight slope so were evidently under slightly more pressure. The early exchanges was more end to end with both sides looking threatening, no real chances were created from this period of play.

With the 2- 0 lead Worcester expected Rushall to apply high pressure. After an injection of fresh legs from the bench, in the form of winger Alex Lloyd, City dented the chance of a comeback for Rushall with a third goal. After good determination and persistence from Jaber Ahmed, he passed the ball through to Bates who found himself space 25 yards from goal and unleashed a venomous strike leaving goalkeeper with little chance. Worcester 3-0 to the good.

The remaining 20 minutes was largely in possession of Rushall Olympic. They had large spells of pressure in the form of lots of set plays around the edge of the box. The city defensive line looked strong and assertive and dealt with all that was put into the Worcester penalty area. Even though City didn’t create any more serious chances although they always looked dangerous on counter attack with lots of pace available.

The final whistle was blown and the celebrations began which all the players being deserving winners. City manager Olly Wilcox and his management team were delighted with the win and fully deserved some Silverware for all their efforts this season.

On behalf of Worcester City FC we would like to thank the Management Committee of the Midland Floodlit Youth League for arranging an excellent Supplementary Cup Final – the first for 10 years.
Finally we would like to thank Bromsgrove Sporting FC for hosting the Final along with all their support over the season with our home fixtures.

Report by Mark Wilcox