Worthing Red 1 Hurst Pretenders 2
Historically speaking, we’ve never fared well against Worthing Red, indeed our inaugural fixture resulted in an 11-1 defeat. Whilst in recent years we have got considerably closer than that, victory had alluded us. Until today, when this outstanding squad went to Woodside Road and emerged victorious by 2 goals to 1.
On a bright sunny morning, against an ever impressive Worthing Red side, the Pretenders, somewhat unusually it has to be said, sprung out of the traps immediately and dominated matters for much of the half: very organised and disciplined without the ball, and patient but incisive with it – creating a series of chances, one of which was clinically dispatched by Jason after turning his man and bearing down on goal. With a number of decent opportunities carved out, we could have scored one or two more before half time. That being said, Worthing came back at us strongly as the half wore on and Gary was forced into a couple of very sharp saves to keep us in front.
The second half was a little bit end to end at times, with Worthing pushing and pressing more, keenly seeking their equaliser, while Hurst sought the right balance between sensible game management and hitting them on the break when the chance arose. Worthing created a series of half chances, which we defended very well on the whole, and while Gary made another couple of excellent saves, he was not as busy as he could have been as Worthing’s shooting became a little hopeful. Nevertheless, half way through the half, Worthing got their leveller from a free kick: a touch back to the dangerous number 7 for a stinging shot, which whizzed past our wall and inside the far post, giving Gary zero chance.
This goal visibly lifted Worthing tails for the next few minutes, and Hurst resolutely defended this period of pressure to keep them out. In seasons gone by we may well have allowed Worthing Reds to grab all three points from us, and they are adept at turning games around, but not today.
The last few minutes were pretty even, and end to end, as both teams tried to grab the win. Until… with a couple of minutes left on the clock… Mark Noakes found Jason in the left channel and – following a *fantastic advantage played by the referee (*his description) – Jason bore down goal again, and just as in the first half he clinically finished hard and low under the keeper to snatch back the lead.
And that was pretty much that, as we kept our lead with no dramas in the remaining couple of minutes. The game was played in excellent spirit and was outstandingly refereed, as ever, by our own Steve Tomlin, who very much allowed the game to flow throughout.
We play Shoreham Red on Monday evening, so we have very little time to rest and enjoy our win!
*The action photos are courtesy of our number one (and generally only) supporter Jason Wetherfield.