Racine happy to see Worthing’s play-off push back on track

The Reds won 5-1 away to struggling Havant & Waterlooville on Friday then saw off fellow play-off hopefuls Hampton & Richmond 2-0 in front of 1,735 at Woodside Road on Monday.

That followed a run of our winless games and they’re up to fourth ahead of a week which takes them on Saturday to Yeovil – who can clinch the title with a win – and on Tuesday to Dartford, who are now in the bottom four.

Worthing hit five at Havant – in Mike Gunn’s pictures.

Photos from Worthing 2 Hampton and Richmond 0.

It was 1-1 at the break at Havant after Ollie Pearce’s opener was cancelled out but goals from Tommy Willard, Pearce, Danny Cashman and Fin Chadwick rammed home the Rebels’ superiority after that.

On Monday, academy product Brad Dolaghan staked his claim for a regular spot with a goal in each half.

Racine said after the win at Havant: “The message at half-time was that we weren’t defending well as a team or individually. And when you’re not doing that well it can knock your confidence when you’re trying to keep possession.

"So the message was that if we could defend well and be better on the ball, it would have a knock-on effect. We had to give them confidence to do that and credit to them, they did it very well."

Racine admitted it was important Worthing got their win tally moving again after four games without one. "In the past few games we’d been unlucky and hadn’t got the results," he said.

After the Hampton game – in which Racine sent from the dugout for throwing the ball away when it came his way – the manager felt they’d fully deserved it.

"We had six clear-cut chances but didn’t control the second half as well as we might have. But the way we defended was different class.”

Injuries continue to hit Worthing’s plans. Jack Wadham and Joel Colbran missed the win at Havant with knocks, and Nicky Wheeler rolled his ankle in the win and may be out for another week or so.

Racine expects Yeovil and Dartford to test his players for their own very different reasons but said: “We can’t wait for both games.”