Bishop’s Stortford 1-2 Worcester City Match Report

Bishop’s Stortford 1-2 Worcester City Match Report 3/3/26

Pitching In Southern League Premier Central Division

Hamish Arnold

Charlie Lutz scored a late winner as Bishop’s Stortford failed to extend the winning run to four games, as Worcester City came from behind to win 1-2 at Woodside Park on Tuesday. Steve Castle had named an unchanged starting XI form Saturday’s victory over Halesowen Town, and victory for Stourbridge away at Alvechurch saw Barwell drop into the relegation zone, and while the Blues stay 14th in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central Division table, the gap to the dotted line is reduced to 10 points.

Harry Burns’ low shot deflected off Charlie Johnson – who scored a bizarre own goal in the reverse fixture on his Stortford debut – and Toby Atkins dived low to his left to keep the ball out. Matthew Richards arrived on the edge of the box from a half-cleared corner, his low effort was blocked by a flying Dempsy Crace who may have been unsighted as the shot came through a crowd. Joshua Bailey’s inswinging corner from the right nearly drifted into the net at the near post but Atkins kept the ball out with a superb diving save.

HT 0-0

Fabio Virciglio broke the deadlock two minutes into the second half after Crace beat the fullback and crossed from the right, Frank Norris saw his shot hit the post before Virciglio fired in the rebound from close range. City’s top-scorer Dan Sweeney came off the bench and made an instant impact, netting the equaliser as he received a perfectly weighted through ball from the wing into a central position, and he calmly slotted into the bottom right corner. Cole Dasilva picked out Charlie Castle with a through ball, his shot took a deflection which saw it go off target. From the resulting corner, the visitors broke quickly and Lutz pounced on a mix-up between Leon Davies and Atkins to fire into the empty net. Obi Onyeagwara had a chance for an equaliser in injury time, but he was off balance and fired over the bar from outside the box.

FT 1-2

TEAMS

Bishop’s Stortford XI

1 Toby ATKINS

2 Dempsy CRACE (Yellow card 58’)

3 Leon DAVIES

4 Cole DASILVA

5 Jake THOMPSON (c)

9 Frank NORRIS (Assist 47’)

10 Brad RUSSELL

12 Fabio VIRCIGLIO (Goal 47’) (Onyeagwara 79’)

14 Jack SMITH (Castle 73’)

18 Erin AMU

22 Charlie JOHNSON

Subs

6 Mark HAINES

7 Charlie CASTLE

11 Obi ONYEAGWARA

15 Deivi KREKA

20 Zack HOWELL

Worcester City XI

1 Samuel KANE

2 Josh EZEWELE

3 Joshua BAILEY

4 Luke ROWE (Yellow card 66’)

5 Paul DOWNING (c)

6 Charlie WISE

7 Connor STANLEY

8 Matthew RICHARDS (Belmonte 74’)

9 Charlie LUTZ (Goal 87’)

10 Harry BURNS

11 Liam LOCKETT (Sweeney 67’)

Subs

12 Logan STODDART

14 Kyle CLAYTON

15 Tyrese SIBANDA

16 Dan SWEENEY (Goal 69’)

17 Kyle BELMONTE

Attendance 259