Worthing end City’s FA Cup hopes

City’s hopes of reaching the FA Cup 1st Round proper were ended this afternoon in a 2-0 defeat to Worthing. They could have few complaints as they failed to land a glove on the impressive home side, who fully deserved to end their 24-year wait to progress beyond the qualifying rounds.

The tone of the game was set early on as Worthing won a series of corners. Although City’s defence stood up well to this pressure they showed little as an attacking force. Their cause was not helped when Jordan Dyer limped off after 20 minutes but the game still reached the interval goalless.

Hopes of an improvement after the break were dashed as the Reds struck twice within eight minutes of the restart. On 49 minutes a free-kick was knocked down for Cashman to fire home then four minutes later the same player’s neat half-volley made it 2-0. City still were struggling to impose themselves on the game and it was the hosts who continued to look more likely to add to the scoring. City did earn a couple of free-kicks in dangerous positions during the tie’s closing stages but Dan Hayfield and Ewan Clark failed to trouble keeper Rees and with it any hopes of an unlikely late comeback.