Ryman League Division One South
Merstham 1 Worthing 2
MERSTHAM were made to pay for their lack of cutting edge in front of goal after Worthing scored a 90th minute header to win Tuesday night's match.
Manager Hayden Bird was furious with his side's below-par performance against Worthing, who leapfrogged the Moatsiders in the Ryman League Division One South table following the win.
Bird said: "To me that is not a team who wins titles, that is not a team who wins promotions, that's a team where the senior players have not done good enough job on the football pitch to guide the youngsters through a period in the game where they needed to focus."
In a fast-paced game, both sides struggled for clear-cut chances in front of goal with keepers Brannon Daly and Simon Lehkyj largely spectators.
Striker Tommy Hutchings saw a shot-cum-cross flying wide of Lehkyj's right hand post from a tight angle, and after a speedy run by Sam Tucknott, Lee Newman set Hutchings up. The former Leatherhead man's header was strong but so was the save from Lehkyj to deny him.
Worthing began to get into the game after the half hour mark and Merstham were relieved to see the offside flag raised after a goal-mouth scramble.
The pacy Kieran Pamment evades the Merstham defence before setting up Mark Knee for a shot, but Daly kept the ball out.
But on 40 minutes, Knee had another attempt at Daly's goal and this time he make no mistake to give Worthing a 1-0 half-time lead.
Newman had two early chances in the second half but the Merstham skipper let the ball get away from him for the first and struck the second straight at Lehkyj.
On 57 minutes, Lehkyj once again denied Hutchings, and soon after substitute Taurean Roberts was guilty of a wasted chances after he failed to connect with a cross yards from goal.
However, on 78 minutes, Merstham finally found the back of the net when Hutchings set Newman up and the striker slotted the ball over the diving Lehkyj.
Roberts had a chance to win it for Merstham but, with Lehkyj down injured, the winger his the post.
And Worthing made Merstham pay on the stroke of full-time when, from a free-kick, Paul Kennett headed home.
"We equalised and were so much the better team," Bird said. "But then the team got caught up in the emotion of the game.
"I told them at half-time 'no needless free-kicks' and they conceded needless free-kicks, and we have lost the game from one of those free-kicks."
