WORCESTER City enter tomorrow's FA Vase battle against familiar foes Highgate United (Saturday, 3pm) without midfield enforcer Chris Withington.

The 23-year-old was ruled out of Sunday’s league trip to Selston through injury and now misses the second qualifying round clash due to a pre-planned holiday despite having fully recovered.

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Withington’s energy and no-nonsense style is likely to be missed against robust opponents with a good record against City, winning four of six meetings over the past two seasons including an FA Vase tie at the Victoria Ground in November 2017.

Defender Nyeko Sinclair remains a doubt but Tyreece Ruddock is in line to return with manager Ashley Vincent content with his options.

“We are in the same place as we were which is very strong,” said Vincent.

“Chris has a holiday planned that we knew about in pre-season. He was missing last week due to injury, that has now cleared up but he won’t be available for this one.

“Nyeko was left out last week with a strain and could possibly miss out again. He will be checked to make sure.

“Tyreece was taken ill on Sunday morning but will be back in having missed out on being on the bench at Selston.”

With a smattering of high-profile names such as Marco Adaggio and Sam Oji, both of whom represented City three levels above their current station, this draw has been viewed by many as unkind.

Vincent, however, sees it differently.

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“It doesn’t really matter what you get, you can always sit there and feel you might have got a kinder draw but the time you tell is on the Saturday,” he added.

“With it being Highgate the players will have no excuses, they know exactly what kind of challenge is in front of them.

“They know it will be tough, competitive and that they will have to be right on it to get into the draw for the next round.

“From my point of view I prefer it that way. Tougher games leave nothing to chance, there is little prospect of any players suffering from complacency.”

The winners will receive £725 and a place in the first round proper, the stage that sees 35 clubs that finished in the top four without gaining promotion from the 14 leagues at City’s level last season.

The 26 teams that reached last season’s fourth round – the last 32 – and remain at an eligible level begin their quests in the second round proper.