The personal touch from boss Rob Smith helped AFC Telford United to keep their FA Cup flame burning bright for another round.

Smith contacted every single one of his players over the weekend to tell them they simply had to beat Worcester.

The result? A classy opening half hour that garnered a merited goal and a defiant second half that, while certainly not flawless, at least oozed the sort of resilient character we have come to expect from a Smith team.

“I was in contact with every one of those players over the weekend, I spoke to them all one by one,” the Bucks boss revealed.

“I said there was no way we were going to lose this Cup tie and we haven’t. We’ve gone through and that shows some character.

“I wasn’t going to lose to Worcester, there was no way, because I knew we were better than them.

“Look at the squad we’ve got, look at the bench we’ve got. It’s strong and we’ve got to take some heart out of that.

“Now we’ve got a massive game against Blyth or Salford in the next round and that’s something to look forward to. We’re one off the first round proper, and who knows who we might get there.”

If only they could repeat the first half hour of this game over 90 minutes then they need fear no-one should they get that far.

There was some delightful stuff on display by the visitors in that opening spell, as they knocked the ball about with confidence and no little skill.

Jon Adams was the driving force in the midfield, while Steve Torpey and Phil Trainer offered great options on either flank.

It was no surprise when they took the lead on 23 minutes, Trainer on hand to head home after a flowing passing move involving Adams and Torpey.

Winger Torpey might even have made it two soon after as his speculative 40-yard piledriver forced Ben Hinchliffe into a flying save.

Still, it was Worcester who ended the half strongly and the whistle to signal the interval appeared to have come at the right time for Telford. In fact, Worcester stepped on the gas from the re-start while the visitors seemed to drop deeper into their shells.

Keeper Ryan Young had to make two saves within three minutes of the re-start. The first was a routine effort to deny Matty Dinsmore but the second was something special to keep out a Craig Wilding effort which was heading for the top corner.

From that point it was always Worcester who looked the more likely, even though the Bucks had their moments on the break.

City sub Rob Davies fired one effort straight at Young, while Marco Adaggio saw a snap shot crawl inches wide with the keeper this time looking beaten.

The closing minutes were frantic as chances came and went at both ends. For Telford, Gavin Cowan hit the post from a Sean Newton corner while sub Steve Thompson followed suit after rounding the keeper from Tom Field’s long ball.

But Worcester made it a painful period of injury-time as they probed the Bucks box.

Memories of the last minute against Droylsden 10 days ago came flooding back as the hosts won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area when Lee Vaughan brought down Adaggio.

This time though, the defence did their job to clear and, at long last, the whistle sounded soon after.

“It’s a tough place to come on a Monday night when we’ve barely had 24 hours rest from the first tie,” said a delighted Young.

“I made a couple of saves but it’s like the gaffer says – it’s my job. I work hard and try to keep myself in tip-top shape for days like this. Hopefully I have more nights like this than I do bad ones.

“It was good for the gaffer because we haven’t been great this season. Maybe this can kick-start us,” he added.

By Chris Hudson