‘Basics at both ends’ – Worthing FC boss issues warning after 4-0 defeat at Maidstone

The manager likes what he sees from his team between the penalty areas but said they would lose more games at this level if they carried on showing lapses in concentration at the back and a failure to take good chances at the other end.

Hinshelwood had warned his team about some of their shortcomings after they got away with them in the 1-0 FA Cup win at Eastbourne Borough last week – but there was no such good fortune at the weekend as the Stones put four past the Rebels without reply.

Mike Gunn’s Maidstone v Rocks match gallery.

The boss is considering team changes for Saturday’s FA Cup third qualifying round tie at home to Whitehawk, in which he says he wants to see evidence the players are learning from their mistakes.

Worthing had the majority of the possession at Maidstone but let in two in each half and had Odei Sorondo sent off on the hour for two yellow cards for dissent.

Frustrated Hinshelwood said: “We had a lot of possession, as many shots as Maidstone and more crosses and we’ve lost 4-0.

"We played some good stuff in the first but two lapses in concentration cost us goals. They’ve come from two long kicks upfield – it’s fairly basic stuff letting us down.

"And when we were getting into the final third some of our decisions were quite poor, so we have things to address at both ends.

"We’ll be working hard this week analysing what went wrong and learning from it because we know we have a squad which is good enough to do well at this level. But it’s an unforgiving league and you have to be at it every game.”

Despite the defeat, it’s still been a good start to the season. Worthing have won six of their first ten league games and are fifth, two points behind leaders Bath City.

Hinshelwood said they didn’t need to rip things up and start again but they needed to be harder to score against – and defend against.

Attention turns to the Cup this week and the winners of Saturday’s Sussex derby will be one win from the first round proper.

Hinshelwood said: “Whitehawk will be right up for it and we’ll have to be at our best to go through.”