Worthing FC players told: You have to live with pressure – and enjoy it

A 3-1 home defeat to Weymouth on Tuesday left the Reds having won just three of their 12 home games to date in their debut National South campaign.

That’s in contrast to having won six out of ten on the road – and Hinshelwood believes some of his players may be feeling the pressure of playing at home and being expected to win matches. They have a break from home action – and from National South fixtures – in the coming week, heading to National premier side Maidstone on Saturday in the FA Trophy and to Lancing on Tuesday in the Sussex Senior Cup.

Worthing v Weymouth in pictures.

Hinshelwood hopes those ties will give his team a chance to rediscover their form after successive home defeats.

He said: “There wasn’t much between us and Weymouth but I read a comment afterwards from one of our fans saying Weymouth showed more heart to win the game, and that hurt. I don’t want fans to be going away thinking that.

"We were missing some key players – like Aarran Racine, Lewis White and Mo Dabre – and maybe players getting the opportunity to come in are finding it hard being expected to win games, as we have done in recent seasons.

"Maybe there is a lot of pressure on them but that comes from expectation and it’s something you have to embrace and enjoy.

"But we need to be better. We need to show more passion in defending our box.

"There was more endeavour after the previous week’s heavy defeat to Ebbsfleet, and if Weymouth hadn’t been awarded a very harsh penalty for handball for their equaliser, it could have been different.”

Last Saturday Worthing were upset to get to Dover and find the match called off because the pitch was frozen – having been told before they’d travelled there was no need for an inspection.

"It meant hours of travelling for players and fans when common sense could have avoided that, and we could have had a good training session,” Hinshelwood said.

"Now we look forward to two cup games. We want to get through in both but Maidstone will give us a huge physical test and Lancing can’t be taken lightly.”