Worthing FC boss: Team can learn from defeat – and so can I

The Rebels slipped to only their sixth league loss of 2022-23, and their first since December, when they went down 2-1 at Tonbridge on Saturday.

Kane Wills gave them a first-half lead, but goals on 59 and 79 minutes earned the Angels the points and left Worthing down a place to fifth – but still in the thick of the play-off race.

Tonbridge v Worthing picture special by Mike Gunn.

Hinshelwood had few complaints about the result, though said it could easily have ended 2-1 to his team. And he said the important thing was that they continued to learn lessons about what was needed at this higher level of the non-league game.

"We weren’t at the level we have been recently. In the first half we were okay and went 1-0 up but even then we weren’t at our best,” he said.

"In the second half Tonbridge changed their shape – and something I need to look at is how I get the players to respond to a team doing that.

"It’s easy enough to tell them that sort of thing at half-time but how can I be better at doing it during a half if that’s when it happens?

"I’ve been too reliant on the players working it out for themselves and I need to help them more in that situation. I think we’re all learning a lot this season but you particularly learn new things when you lose.

"For their first goal Harrison Male was unlucky to punch a ball clear that fell straight to a Tonbridge player; for their second we just put ourselves under pressure.

"Ollie Pearce had had a good one-on-one chance to score when it was 1-1 so on another day the result could have been different.”

St Albans arrive at Woodside Road on Saturday just one place and four points behind the Rebels. Hinshelwood watched them play Hungerford on Tuesday night and said: “They have a new manager since we played them and play a more expansive type of game.”

Next Tuesday Worthing host Crowborough in the last eight of the Sussex Senior Cup. The boss added: “Our aim is to get back to the Amex for the final and give our fans a better display than we did in last year’s final.”