On the back of a comfortable 3-0 victory at Hereford Pegasus last weekend, the Raiders were keen to embrace another challenge awaiting them as they welcomed their second biggest rivals in WR3.

Raiders began the first half brightly, with Manny Olaloko wriggling inside before finally cutting in to whip an effort towards the far post. The Raiders midfielder broke out quickly again, only for Plums goalkeeper Joe Cunneen to block his effort out for a corner.

The hosts continued to threaten as Jake Donnelly rose the highest from George Baker’s corner, but was tipped onto the bar and back out. Kiyan Baler-Mackay then took a low driven effort through the Pershore defence, only for it to be narrowly wide of the far post.

Penalty shouts emerged after Manny was brought down into the box, but referee Harry Organ could only award a goal kick to the hosts. Izak Reid thought he had broken the deadlock when he flicked the ball around Cunneen from Dan Noke’s touch, but his celebrations were cut short after the flag had already been raised, leaving it all to play for at halftime.

Reid would later make up for his misfortune by cutting inside the box that finally gave his side the lead they had been pushing for. Jordan Stoddart then whipped in a great ball from deep and Taylor Eades was able to head it in to increase Raiders’ lead further.

Lucas Colley pulled a goal back for the visitors after a scramble inside the Raiders box was blasted into the net past Charlie Emery. But the hosts responded immediately
when Noke found himself with space at the back post to rattle in a strike against the bar over the line.

Whilst the ball did come back out, the goal was eventually awarded, which all but secured a vital three points for Jordan Lewis’ side against their Worcestershire rivals.

“It’s a great victory” described Lewis. “We played okay during the first half, and showed plenty of promising signs from the chances we created. We just need to be more clinical when these opportunities come towards us”.

“There was a huge improvement during the second half and we were the much better side. The lads knew we had to step up for such a big occasion as they know what it means to play in a local derby”.

“It’s also been a perfect run of results lately. We’ve now won 3 games in the last 7 days, having scored 9 and only conceded once. Although we didn’t play our best today, there is more confidence around the squad so hopefully we’ll continue this form leading up to Christmas”.

Club captain Jordan Murphy was also delighted, and felt it was a huge boost around the dressing room.

“A fantastic result on what has been a really good week for us” described Murphy. “After the performance last weekend, it was clear that we needed to take another big step further as we know what a local derby means to our fans”.

“We were disappointed to have not taken our chances during the first half, and our visitors definitely came to make us work hard, but there was a lot of determination and character throughout the second half that helped to seal the victory”.

“We weren’t at our best today, but showed we can still grind out results even in the not so prettiest of displays. The lads are delighted though and hopefully we’ll carry this form in the run up towards Christmas to stay within touching distance of the race for promotion”.

Worcester Raiders: Emery, Eades, Donnelly, Jakeways (Monteith), Stoddart, Noke, Baker-Mackay, Baker (Sanogo), Reid (Fuller), Murphy (Hamilton), Olaloko (Taylor)

Pershore Town: Cunneen, Sheehan (Colley), Griffin, King (Clayton), Sumnall, Neal, Harper, Wheeler, Henry, Day, Griffiths-Perry (Hunt)

Substitutes not used: Joel Hill

Match attendance - 328
Written by Dan Whitehouse