A late goal from Town striker Sean McKeon with minutes left on the clock capped off a poor showing from the Raiders, who will be ruing numerous missed chances throughout the game.

In what many believed would be a dream opening game for Raiders, who dismantled Moreton Rangers last time out before Christmas, their first game of 2022 turned into a new-year nightmare as the visitors completed a memorable smash and grab to steal all three points.

The pre-match optimism for the home side was carried into the first half, as Isaac Cooper, who looked dangerous all night, whipped in a beautiful corner to find the head of Jordan Stoddart. His cushioned header found Rich Smith, allowing him to nod home for 1-0 after just nine-minutes.

Eight minutes later, Cooper was at the heart of things once more, this time cruising past his marker down the right-hand side to set-up Jordan Murphy, who guided his header past keeper Louis Evans to double Raiders’ lead.

From this moment onward, however, Worcester’s comfortable lead came to a crushing end.

In the 28th minute, the once celebratory crowd was brought into an eerie silence, as the Cirencester attack rose highest to direct the ball past Ryan Young to bring one back for the away side.

The net was still rippling by the time goal number two came, as Zac Skinner went completely off-script to successfully take on early assister Jordan Stoddart, allowing him to slot the ball past Young to level the scores.

After the equaliser, Worcester looked for a quick fix, and for a few moments, the whole stadium thought they had got it, as goalscorer Murphy was played in behind the Cirencester defence, only for goalkeeper Evans to wipe out the striker when attempting to clear the ball.

It seemed that the only debate about the collision was whether Evans should have received a yellow or a red card, yet the referee decided to throw up some different controversy; by not awarding a foul at all, much to the bemusement of the Raiders bench, staff, and fans.

The half-time break gave Raiders a great chance to recover and come out stronger, a point that was clearly demonstrated by Cooper, who in the 54th minute produced another great corner kick, only for Kai Mahon’s free header to fly over the crossbar.

As the second half progressed, it looked for all the world that the boys in red were going to reclaim their advantage on the tie, as numerous clean-cut chances fell to the Worcester players, but as the minutes rolled by, it looked like David was going to hold Goliath to a 2-2 draw.

However, with five minutes left, Mahon was played through and found himself one-on-one with Evans, but his placed shot was denied by the near-side woodwork; a chance that Raiders would come to regret by full-time as with just one minute left on the clock, Cirencester’s McKeon found himself in open space with just Young to beat, which he did successfully to bang home the winner and pull off a shock yet superb comeback for the visitors.

The win for Cirencester Development pulls them off the bottom of the league table on eleven points, with just Bourton Rovers one point behind them. On the contrary Raiders will be looking over their shoulders for the next few games, as their gap at the top remains just three points.

The chasing pack is headed by Studley, who sit in second place and crucially two games in hand on the league leaders, creating some drama heading into the final third of the season.

Worcester Raiders | Young, L. Stoddart, White, Carey, J. Stoddart, Stratford, Cooper, Ahmed, Murphy, Smith, Mahon

Subs | Deards, Thompson, Yates, Mountjoy