United 2
(Mussa 51′, Foulston 72′)
Worthing 1
(Spong 36′)
United celebrated their return to Plainmoor in style as they came from behind to beat Worthing on Tuesday evening.
Worthing’s Jack Spong fired his side into a first-half lead, however that was promptly cancelled out early in the second period through Omar Mussa’s first goal for the club. Jay Foulston followed that up by opening up his own goalscoring account to turn the game on its head, and that was enough to seal the deal for United.
Having picked up a point on their travels at Eastbourne on Saturday, manager Paul Wotton opted to make two changes to the starting line-up, with Brad Ash and Lirak Hasani following up their substitute appearances in East Sussex in place of Ben Seymour and Will Jenkins Davies, who both dropped down to the bench.
The first opening fell the way of the away side on three minutes, as Sam Dreyer was robbed by Worthing’s Mo Faal 20 yards from goal. However, with The Rebels striker opting to take his shot early, James Hamon was well-placed to get down to his left promptly to make a relatively straightforward gather.
In the main, it was the home side that were in the ascendancy thereafter, although the final ball wasn’t quite precise enough to allow United’s forwards much chance of opening the scoring.
That nearly changed on 17 minutes, as an excellent run and cross down the right from Jordan Dyer prompted Matt Carson to meet the back-post delivery with a well-placed header, forcing Worthing goalkeeper Chris Haigh to dive full-length and palm the ball around his left-hand post.
The visitors thought they had broken the deadlock ten minutes later, but as Mo Faal ended a pacy sprint from the halfway line by poking the ball past Hamon, a delayed flag by the Assistant Referee brought his celebrations to a swift conclusion.
There was to be no reprieve though on 36 minutes.
After picking up possession on the right of the Worthing attack, Spong made the most of the space afforded to him by firing a thunderous strike into the roof of the net from 22 yards out to make it 1-0 to The Rebels.
A goalmouth scramble from a Gulls corner in the final minute of normal time nearly saw parity restored, however it was Wotton’s side that had all the work to do at the change of ends.
The Gulls boss decided he had had enough, and his brave double-substitution almost immediately paid dividends.
With Oscar Threlkeld and Matt Carson replaced by Will Jenkins Davies and Mussa, it was the latter player who levelled things up six minutes into the second period.
Having already served notice of the commitment to attack following the restart, Worthing’s defence made the mistake of choosing to back off as United’s No.10 as he made steady progress towards the penalty area. As soon as a sight of goal came into view, the Burundi international delivered in style, by curling a low right-footer past Haigh from the edge of the box to make it all-square.
Proceedings certainly opened up thereafter, and it took a combination of Sam Dreyer and Hamon to prevent Spong grabbing his second after a swift counter-attack just short of the hour mark.
A crunching – but legal – last-gasp tackle from Dyer prevented Faal from getting his shot away moments later, before Spong was gifted a glorious chance to restore the advantage 30 seconds later. Thankfully the Worthing man fluffed his lines on that occasion, but when Danny Cashman’s 64th minute 18-yard effort almost spilled out of Hamon’s reach, Torquay looked like they were beginning to ride their luck.
Foulston – up into attack – then worked enough room for a shot at the other end, before Dyer headed a Hasani cross inches wide of the far post on 67 minutes, as The Gulls reimposed themselves in the contest.
After winning a string of corners, the Yellow Army would have been hoping that one of those set-pieces would eventually pay off, and with 18 minutes left, it duly did.
With an inswinging corner calling on only the bravest to apply, it was Foulston who threw himself into the six yard box to power home a header and make it 2-1.
Worthing, with nothing to lose, responded by backing United up against their own goal, with the men in yellow and blue hoops forced to soak up plenty of pressure within the final ten minutes.
Wotton’s men defended their lead stoutly though, so much so that Hamon was only really called into one real save of note – a decent smothering save from sub Temi Babalola.
When the imposing Faal rose highest in the 95th minute, only to send his header from a corner narrowly wide, you knew that Worthing’s chance of a point had gone.
Back home, and with a big three points to celebrate!
Onwards we march to Hornchurch on Saturday…
UNITED: 1. James Hamon, 2. Finley Craske, 3. Jay Foulston, 4. Jordan Dyer, 5. Sam Dreyer, 7. Lirak Hasani (21. Dean Moxey, 84′), 11. Brad Ash (17. Finn Tonks, 90′), 14. Matt Carson (10. Omar Mussa, HT), 18. Oscar Threlkeld (c) (22. Will Jenkins Davies, HT), 19. Cody Cooke, 20. Dan Hayfield.
SUBS NOT USED: 9. Ben Seymour.
Yellow Card: Hamon 90+3′, Cooke 90+4′
WORTHING: 1. Chris Haigh, 2. Joel Colbran (c), 4. Kan Wills, 8. Jack Spong, 9. Mo Faal, 10. Danny Cashman, 11. Nicky Wheeler (3. Sam Beard 76′), 15. Glen Rea, 16. Alfie Young (7. Tommy Willard, 77′), 18. Ollie Black, 21. Sam Packham (14. Temi Babalola, 89′).
SUBS NOT USED: 17. Harrison Smith, 22. Jack Bates.
Attendance: 3,701 (24 away)