Mavericks held at home by Crawley Down

Fourth-bottom Mavericks wasted several good openings, as well as having a Callum Healy effort ruled out for offside, leaving them to settle for a 0-0 home stalemate.

After picking up a point, United could drop into the relegation places as place-below Arundel’s home encounter with basement boys Hailsham Town was postponed owing to boiler issues.

Should Mullets take all three points from their game in hand, Mavericks will drop into the bottom three.

Despite being in a concerning position, Funnell is hopeful his side can remain safe this season.

He said: “We’ve still got Arundel to play, so it is in our own hands. It was just really frustrating not to take all three points on Saturday. I felt we were the better team throughout but just failed to take our chances.

“In the build-up, I would probably have taken a point but after the game it feels like two points extra we could have had.

“We need every point we can get at the minute, who knows this could result could well mean we stay in this division come the end of the season.”

Paul Elliott twice wasted one-on-one openings in the first 45 minutes.

Mavericks continued to push in the second with Healy netting on the hour. His strike was ruled out for offside, though, as it ended 0-0.

After a trip to seventh-placed Broadbridge Heath on Saturday, United have a critical four-game run.

They face AFC Uckfield Town, Hassocks, Arundel and Littlehampton - all teams currently in the bottom eight - in succession.

Funnell believes results in those games could well determine what division his team are in next season.

He added: “We seem to have performed well against teams at the top this season, so we’ll got to Broadbridge and give it a go. After that we’ve got a massive run of matches, which could well decide whether we stay in this league, so we need a positive heading into that.”

WORTHING UNITED: Stroomberg; Fuller, Betancourt, Gregory; Rose, Hards, Callaghan, Stideford, Deacon; Elliott, Healy. Subs: Robinson (Rose), Pomeroy (Deacon), Foster, Funnell, Patching.

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