Why Worthing boss takes blame for FA Trophy exit at hands of Gosport

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Worthing boss Chris Agutter says he and his staff take much of the blame for their FA Trophy loss to Gosport – after over-working the players last week.

The manager says they can learn from a match in which more than half the team looked ‘out on their feet’ in the final 20 minutes. It was at the end of a week in which they’d played two intensive National South and trained – a little too hard – on Thursday.

Agutter also said the game should have been out of sight before those tiring final stages after Worthing missed a number of quality chances but only carved out a 1-0 lead.

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It was a grey day at Worthing - and for Worthing | Picture: Kyle HemsleyIt was a grey day at Worthing - and for Worthing | Picture: Kyle Hemsley
It was a grey day at Worthing - and for Worthing | Picture: Kyle Hemsley

The 1-1 draw and subsequent 3-2 loss on penalties to the division-lower Southern League side cost Worthing a place in the last 32 of the Trophy and leaves them with just their promotion bid and the Sussex Senior Cup to focus on.

Agutter said of the Trophy loss: “We didn’t help ourselves. The game should have been done but we looked physically and mentally exhausted and drained towards the end.

"We’d looked at the GPS data after Thursday’s training and there was a bit of concern. We’d had hard games on Saturday and Tuesday – on Tuesday we ran 140km as a team – so we didn’t give them the best platform to perform.

"We can learn from it but we’re very disappointed to go out of the Trophy.

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"The league is what we’ll be judged on and this can focus us on the league campaign.”

The Rebels remain in an excellent position in the league – they’re fifth, three points behind leaders Truro, ahead of another two Saturday home games, which are against relegation zone dwellers St Albans this weekend and Enfield a week later.

A Boxing Day clash at Dorking ends the 2024 fixture list.

Agutter has a number of injury worries with Nicky Wheeler, Joe Cook, Mo Faal and Tommy Willard all doubts for Saturday.

But he said: “We won’t cry over it – that’s why you have a squad and academy. It’s a chance for others to come in and show they deserve to play.

"We’re in a good position but St Albans are one of the sides in the division on a bit of a new manager bounce, so we’ll have to be ready.”

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