Worthing share spoils at Taunton – then two red cards shown in full-time flashpoint

The Rebels returned to the West Country looking to build on a win in midweek as they faced Taunton Town, who were winless in their last six in all competitions.

Adam Hinshelwood made one forced change to his starting XI that beat Farnborough 3-0 in midweek, with the injured Nicky Wheeler making way for Joan Luque.

Similarly to the Rebels’ encounter with Farnborough on Tuesday night, there was nothing to choose between the sides before half-time, as it remained goalless in a low-key first half.

It took some 25 minutes for the first real chance for either side and it came for the hosts through Zac Smith. The midfielder found space on the left of the box and fired towards the back post but it deflected off the heel of Joe Felix and out for a corner. The resulting corner led to another chance for the home side. Roco Rees’ punch only went as far as Joe Guest on the edge of the area, who volleyed wide.

In a flurry of chances for the Peacocks, Nat Jarvis had the opportunity to put them in front a minute later after latching onto a poor ball from Rees, luckily for Worthing, Felix got himself in the way of the forward’s effort.

The Rebels’ only shot in anger of the half came around half an hour in, when Felix’s cross from the right evaded Ollie Pearce in the area and found Joan Luque at the far post but his effort was a poor one, and went well wide.

Ricky Aguiar tried his luck with an audacious effort late in the half where he tried to lob in into the top left corner, but it landed on the top of the net and it remained level into the interval.

The low-key affair continued into the second half as temperatures dropped in Somerset. Worthing created half chances through a header from Joe Rye and an effort from Luque but nothing to trouble Dan Lavercombe in the Taunton goal before Hinshelwood made his first substitutions. Cameron Tutt and Danny Cashman came on for Odei Martin Sorondo and Luque.

Worthing were probing away and on 70 minutes, Kane Wills’ low cross found Pearce in the area but his shot took a deflection and went wide of the near post for a corner. Wills delivered again with the corner kick and his cross to the near post found Luer whose flicked header looped in at the far post to give the Rebels the lead.

At the other end, now holding on to an advantage, Pearce made a goal-saving header to clear away off the line! It was Nick McCootie’s header which had beaten Rees and looked destined for the back of the net, but for Pearce’s header.

The Rebels made their final change soon after as Jesse Starkey was replaced by Michael Klass. Aguiar went close to doubling the Rebels’ advantage from a free kick which bounced on its way through and went narrowly wide of the upright.

But, Worthing couldn’t hold on and in the 88th minute, there was pure inspiration from Morgan whose shot from distance sailed into the top right corner and it meant that the points were shared in Somerset.

There were ugly scenes after the full-time whistle which resulted in a red card for both sides. It was hard to make out what exactly was going on with so many bodies involved, but Klass received red for Worthing before the players left the field, while it was Jarvis who was red carded for the home side.

After all of that, it’s fair to say that neither side can complain about the result, with neither doing enough to warrant going home with all three points.

Next up for the Rebels is a return to Sussex Transport Senior Cup action as they welcome Littlehampton to the Sussex Transport Community Stadium on Tuesday evening.