MATCH THREAD: Worthing Vs Farnborough

All I can say about that is wow!!!

6 points out of Bath & Worthing away is outrageous. I’d have happily taken 2 before a ball was kicked and if you include Welling at home, 9 out of 9 makes for even better reading!!!

It was a frantic match so details are a bit more sparse in my mind than Saturday but overall, despite Worthing hitting the woodwork 4 times, we were still good value for the points. We dominated large chunks of the match and I only felt particularly nervous after they had made it 2-3, which they only managed to do because of a rare error by JT who failed to hold what looked a simple catch by his own very high standards. We hit the woodwork as well, had a stonewall penalty turned down after some quick and very impressive footwork from Joe Haigh resulted in him being brought down in the box after he had danced through a couple of Worthing challenges, as well as a couple of other good chances, most notably Reggie going clean through in injury time but hitting his effort straight at the keeper.

The first goal was turned home by Haigh from about 2 yards out after a goal mouth scramble from a free kick from near the corner flag on the left, after Matthews-Lewis had intelligently played for and won the foul when cornered by two Worthing players. Worthing fans weren’t happy as it looked a bit soft, but for me it was just smart play and he made the most of the contact he had anticipated when totally isolated and short of options.

We showed great character to go back in front 2 minutes after Worthing had equalised, courtesy of a brilliant effort by Taylor Clark from just outside the box, dispatched clinically across the keeper and in to the bottom left corner.

The third goal is a bit of a blur but I recall a cross from the left from JNW, quick feet again from Joe Haigh in the box, before he smashed it past the keeper from about 12 yards after a rapid Boro counter attack.

Worthings bench were adamant that Hollis should have seen red after a tackle which resulted in one of their players limping off, it looked a strong challenge from my vantage point but I didn’t think at the time it was even a yellow but Spencer says it was a bad tackle, so perhaps they did have reason to be aggrieved. The ref gave Hollis a soft second yellow with about a minute to go so perhaps he felt he’d made a mistake.

Final thoughts:

Sign Joe Haigh up now!

This squad exactly as it is has huge potential and promise!

Are we playing so well now because the pressure is off?

Why could we not have got to this level of performance earlier in the season?

We are so much better when we get the ball down and play.

Was I hasty in writing us off and are the play offs still possible!?

A lot of food for thought…..

Bring on Saturday, Boro are on fire!!!