Back then, Barry Lloyd's Rebels side were one of the, if not the, best football teams in Sussex after the Albion, themselves then playing in what is now the Premiership.

Having knocked out Dartford at Woodside Road, Worthing travelled to the Manor Ground with more than an outside chance of a cup upset.

And who knows what might have been. The Rebels had a cast-iron penalty turned down when the game was goalless.

Fitness played a big part, with the full-time professionals eventually running out 4-0 winners, but Bazza's boys certainly didn't disgrace themselves.

Many of that day's Worthing team, Dovey, Cox, Flood, Raynsford, Aitken, Lelliott, Gill, Dove, Foreman, Edmonds, Cornwell and Barnard would find themselves in many peoples' all-time Rebels XIs.

A fair Worthing contingent made their way up to the City of learning that day.

I myself, a fresh faced 18-year-old, travelled with my mate Neil Luker, on a coach jointly run by regulars at the Montague and Clifton public houses, including the legendary Nigel "Bushfire" Erskine, and that was the day his nickname was born.

Forget any university Oxford had to offer, our day was truly "educational", providing memories which are as vivid now as they were in the early 1980s.

The old adage of what happens on tour stays on tour must be adhered to, but it was certainly an enjoyable day.

Now 25 years on, Littlehampton lad Lee Farrell will get his chance to go one better than Worthing as he lines up for Horsham on Friday night against League One high-flyers Swansea City.

It is a Queen Street sell-out, and is being beamed live on Sky Sports.

Good luck to Lee and everyone at Horsham.

They have certainly done Sussex non-league football proud.

But will they have as much fun as we did all those years ago?

Tired of England

I CAN'T say I wasn't disappointed at first when England failed at the final hurdle last Wednesday.

Not so much by not making it to Austria and Switzerland.

But more by the manner of the gutless performance and the selection of Scott Carson, which will have footballing conspiracy theorists speculating for years.

If you're going to drop your first choice goalkeeper for a vital game, call me old fashioned, but you would usually pick the second choice rather than the untried third?

By Friday I was sick of hearing or reading about England's failure to make it.

McClaren was a mistake from day one. He should never have got the job in the first place.

But while the FA should shoulder a lot of the blame, the tabloid press also must take responsibility.

Felipe Scolari was shoo-in for the job before he was frightened off when sections of our press virtually stalked him.

If they had backed off, he might still have taken the job, and we would almost certainly still be in the competition with a realistic chance of winning it.

But however many "years of hurt" we have to endure, England will actually win something — long before our tabloid press admit their own errors.

Youth sides

I HAVE received a large amount of feedback, from youth football managers and coaches, after my reference in the last couple of columns to some parents not helping as much as they perhaps should.

Refreshingly, given some of the feedback, it appears my jottings struck a chord and help has been offered by parents at a number of clubs.

Unfortunately it's not the case everywhere. One manager, from the Littlehampton Gazette area, rang me to say he thinks the continued lack of activity from the club's parents will probably result in the team folding next summer, perhaps even before.

Well they can't say they haven't been warned.