Worthing United fall to promotion chasing AFC Varndeanians

Mavericks boss Danny Wood admitted that his side were 'poor' in their 3-1 defeat to AFC Varndeanians on Saturday. Picture by Derek Martin

Craig Nagle scored the only goal for the visitors late on as they fell to the Division One promotion contenders.

Oliver Blackman opened the scoring for the hosts after 15 minutes with a neat finish.

The Withdean outfit doubled their lead nine minutes later when Matt Waterman bagged his seventh goal in four matches.

Varndeanians made it 3-0 on 76 minutes when Luke Manley slotted home.

Craig Nagle scored in the dying embers to pull a goal back for the Mavericks put it proved to be just a consolation as United fell to defeat.

After the match the Mavericks boss admitted that many of his side did play up to his expectations,

He said: “Varndeanians deserved the three points as we were very rusty after not playing for three weeks.

“With a few players missing (James) Thurgar started his first game of the season after his transfer to us.

“The home side used all their experience and too many of our players were having a poor game.

"That made it easy for second in the league to dictate the game.

Wood also believes that a contentious decision also played its part in the loss.

He added: “We conceded two poor goals from not marking and defending properly and the third was clearly offside after a scuffed shot fell to there player in the six yard box.”

Worthing United host Oakwood on Saturday and Wood is hoping that hard work and preparation will allow his side to bounce back with a win.

He said: “Next week we are home to Oakwood for our Football vs Homophobia game but will need a good training session this week if we are wanting anything from the game."