Worthing FC boss: We’re either very, very good or very, very average

They conceded a late equaliser in their National League South visit to Taunton on Saturday – then went out of the Sussex Senior Cup in a penalty shootout at home to Littlehampton Town on Tuesday night. See the match in 23 pictures by Mike Gunn here.

Hinshelwood said they needed to find middle ground between games in which they were ‘very, very good’ or ‘very, very average’ – and said they’d not had the rub of the green in a number of recent games.

But he pointed to how far they’d come as a club – and how much fans’ expectations had grown.

And they go into their next two National South games – at home to Chippenham on Saturday and away to Weston next Tuesday – in eighth place and with games in hand over some teams above them.

At Taunton, Greg Luer put Worthing ahead 20 minutes from time but Dylan Morgan levelled three minutes from time.

Against Littlehampton, as Worthing looked to continue their defence of a trophy they won last season, Matt Astle and Jordan Layton put the Golds 1-0 and 2-1 up and Ricky Aguiar and Ollie Pearce twice equalised, but the visitors won the shootout 5-4.

Hinshelwood said: “It seems at the moment we’re either very, very good or very, very average and we need to find more consistency. We’ve had a roygh patch but we’re not playing badly. Things are going against.

"Littlehampton came with a plan and made it difficult for us, but we should have been good enough to get through. It’s disappointing to go out.

"It’s been fine margins in the knockout competitions. We could easily have got through in our FA Cup and FA Trophy games too.

"There were some disgruntled fans on Tuesday night but we do need to take stock of how far we’ve come. And we’re in good position in the league.”

Injuries to key players have been a headache but Hinshelwood said they were’nt in a position to add to the squad. But he revealed a big trio – Glen Rae, Nicky Wheeler and Jake Robinson – could all be fit by the time they host St Albans on December 9.