Worthing mistakes 'need to be addressed quickly' after FA Cup replay defeat to St Albans City

Three first half goals from National League South side St Albans City did the damage and, while Jalen Jones added a late consolation goal, he couldn’t prevent the Mackerels from falling to a 3-1 home defeat against their league-above opponents.

Hinshelwood said: “We played well, had better chances, but it’s a recurring theme that we need to address quickly. As a manager, if you’re not acting on that, how long can you give the players? It was a good endeavour, but exactly the same as Saturday, where we gifted them a goal or two.”

St Albans took the lead on 27 minutes with their first guilt-edged chance of the evening when Matt Noble zipped a free-kick past both the wall and Roco Rees to open the scoring.

After a flurry of chances, the hosts appeared to have their tails up, but the Mackerels fell further behind on 39 minutes. Iaciofano, a scorer in Saturday’s draw, leapt on a mistake from a Worthing defender and slotted the ball in at the near post.

The visitors added a third before half-time when Solomon Nwabuokei magnificently made space for himself in the area before arrowing a shot home.

Worthing reduced the deficit in second half stoppage time when Jones hit a sweet half-volley from the edge of the box but it was too little, too late for the Mackerels.

Worthing are next at home to Kingstonian this Saturday (September 28) and, although they’re looking to press on in the league, Hinshelwood admitted a promotion push may be difficult.

He said: “It’s a tough ask for where we are. We want improvement but it doesn’t look like we’ve cracked it so far.”

Worthing: Rees, Colbran, Jones, Barker, Armstrong (Parsons 28’), Tennent, Dawes (Ayoola 48’), Aguiar, Pearce (Pattenden 82’), Meekums, Starkey. Unused: Long, Doughty, Edwards, Mendoza.