Worthing inflict rare home defeat on City

City suffered a first home defeat since August this afternoon, going down by two goals to nil to Worthing at a rain lashed Twerton Park. The scoreline was a repeat of the FA Cup meeting between the sides two week ago but unlike that game, where the Rebels were deserved winners, City could feel unfortunate not to have got at least a point from the match.

Twice in the opening minutes Luke Russe came close to opening his account for the Romans, seeing one shot deflected onto the bar then flashing another long range effort narrowly wide. After these early escapes the visitors began to dominate the ball but it was largely possession for it’s own sake with little in the way of a threat up front. Just past half hour mark City were denied a clear penalty when Scott Wilson was hauled to the ground by Rea then three minutes later keeper Rees spilled Jordan Thomas’ shot but recovered brilliantly to deny Wilson from the rebound. On 45 minutes Danny Greenslade unleashed a stunning strike from 35 yards that Rees turned around the post at full stretch. So, it was very much against the run of play when, in the final minute of stoppage time, a diagonal ball picked out Agular to fire past Will Buse and put Worthing in front.

After a quiet opening to the second half City began to once again gain the upper hand with Ewan Clark and Thomas looking dangerous down both flanks. However, the final pass or cross was too often lacking and on 71 minutes the Rebels doubled their lead when Joe Raynes could only divert a Smith cross into his own net under pressure from Robinson. City continued to search for a way back into the game with Rees doing well to hold Ewan Clark’s 83rd minute shot then four minutes later touching a Greenslade cross-shot over that looked destined for the top corner. So, in the end a disappointing result that their overall performance did not deserve,