Carshalton defeat shows Worthing how far they have to go

The 2-1 defeat came 48 hours after a hat-trick of penalties by Ollie Pearce hurt Horsham in a 3-1 Worthing win at Woodside Road.

It was a long weekend of highs and lows for Hinshelwood and his team that he said showed there was a lot of hard work ahead as they tried to protect their seven-point lead at the top of the table.

Hinshelwood had no complaints about the result at Carshalton. “I felt we were a bit flat in the warm-up but we started well without getting into our flow,” he said.

“We conceded a soft goal from a corner – they only got into our box three times in the first half yet led 1-0 at the break.

“We need to work on defending set-pieces and be more aggressive in defending them. Too often we are conceding too easily in those situations. Again it meant we were chasing a game and you can’t keep doing that and expect to win every time.”

Callum Kealy’s goal came too late to give Worthing time to nab a point.

Hinshelwood felt his side were good value for their derby win over Horsham in front of a home New Year’s Day crowd of 2,143.

He said: “The first penalty was possibly a bit soft but the other two weren’t and we could have had one or two others as well.

“Ollie has missed a few in his time but he is in confident form at the moment so it was nice to see him step up for them.

“In the first half we hadn’t really got going and were disappointed to give a goal away.

“But we were on the front foot from the start of the second half after a tweak to the formation and we had a lot of play in their half.”

The victory took Worthing to the 50-point mark and they’ll look to add to that with a visit to second-from-bottom East Thurrock on Saturday.

But does 23rd v 1st mean extra pressure? No, says Hinshelwood: “With what the players have achieved over the past couple of years there is expectation on us in every game, and it’s no greater for a game like this. But it will be a tough game.”