CONNOR Gater was singled out for praise by joint-manager Carl Heeley after he helped Worcester City keep a clean sheet against high-flying Harrogate Town.

The midfielder was asked to play at left-back after Wayne Thomas’ back injury meant Alex Gudger remained at centre-back alongside the returning Tom Sharpe.

Despite struggling to contain winger Joe Colbeck at times and badly misplacing a back-pass in the second half, Heeley hailed Gater’s performance as “outstanding” as City saw out a 0-0 draw at Aggborough.

“Sam (Minihan) is a solid performer and Sharpe and Gudger have been the mainstay of our back four,” Heeley said.

“But probably the only one that deserves a special mention is Connor.

“We have asked him to go and do a job at left-back and I thought he was outstanding.

“He is a ball-playing central midfield player, so he is going to have moments where he switches off and picks the wrong pass.

“But, apart from that one occasion (with the back pass), I can’t think of many other times where he looked out of position.

“He has done a great job for us and he is part of a back four which has kept a clean sheet, so overall it was a good solid defensive performance and another hard-earned point.”

Heeley felt City should have been awarded a penalty in the closing stages when Dean Waldron appeared to have been hauled down in the box.

But he admitted his side did not do enough to win as they had to settle for a fifth draw in seven games in Vanarama National League North.

“We want to win games of football but, if you can’t get three points, take one and don’t get beaten in the last minute,” Heeley said.

“I am not trying to heap pressure (on Harrogate) but they have got huge resources and you can see that with the amount of quality they have got on the pitch and coming off the bench.

“In comparison, we have got a lot of young lads who have competed extremely well and haven’t been beaten.

“We conceded three poor goals the previous weekend and we didn’t concede any on Saturday, so there is a big positive.

“The only thing we did wrong was give away too many cheap free-kicks and we invited pressure onto ourselves, so it is a testament to how well we defended that we kept a clean sheet.”

Heeley was also pleased to give Ireland under-18 international Leo Donnellan, the younger brother of Shaun Donnellan, his debut after joining from QPR on a work experience loan.

“It was a gamble to throw him in there but he has played on a decent stage,” Heeley said.

“He is only 17, so we don’t expect too much from him but he is another player for us during a congested period.”