DROITWICH SPA got their pre-season off to a slow start as they slumped to a 5-1 defeat to Midland League Division One side Racing Club Warwick at the King George Playing Fields.
Goals from Jamie Smith, Jake Brown, Terence Morton, Jordan McKenzie and Martin Slevin secured the win for a Warwick side who showed the difference in class between Step 6 and Step 7 football.
On a cloudy but humid day, Spa got off to a good start as they dominated the possession early on before Warwick’s Chris Hayden had a half-hearted penalty shout waved away by the referee in the fifth minute.
James Ward came within a whisker of putting the Saltmen in front eight minutes later but his rasping left-footed drive was pushed on to the crossbar by Warwick keeper Eddie Cox.
Despite their good start, it was Spa who fell behind in the 24th minute when Smith capitalised on a poor defensive clearance in the area to volley past a motionless Matthew Oliver.
Spa regained their composure and levelled four minutes later when Seabourne rose like the proverbial salmon to nod home from Hadyn Morris’ corner.
This was as good as it got for the Saltmen as two quick-fire goals in the space of a minute raced Warwick into a 3-1 half-time lead.
Warwick’s second coming when Brown danced past several Spa defenders with ease followed by a calm finish into the bottom corner before Morton raced through the Spa defence and rounded Oliver to slot home.
After the interval it took all of two minutes for Warwick to add their fourth as Brown once again caused the problems before his cross into the area was poked home by McKenzie.
The gulf in class began to show as Warwick utilised the gaping space in the centre of the park and if it wasn’t for the lacklustre finishing from Slevin and McKenzie, it could have been a much bigger scoreline.
Spa’s afternoon turned from bad to worse in the 78th minute when Joshua Seikora-Warmington gave a penalty away for a rash foul in the box and up stepped Slevin to smash the ball home to make it 5-1.
Brown should have made it 6-1 eight minutes from time but after being played through, a lack of composure saw the striker stab the ball well wide with the goal at his mercy.
Seabourne almost added a consolation in the 86th minute but after some good work down the right, he could only fire a shot agonisingly wide of the far post.
The Saltmen will be hoping for better things next Saturday when they welcome local rivals Bromsgrove Sporting who won 10-0 at FC Stratford in their first friendly of pre-season.
