WANDS BRING REBELS RUN TO STROPPY END
CRAY ended table-topping Worthing’s 19 match unbeaten run, coming from behind to win an ill-tempered affair which the hosts finished with ten men.
Reece Myles-Meekums gave Worthing a first-half lead with a brilliant solo goal, but the league’s top scorer Joe Taylor capitalised on Aarran Racine’s error to equalise.
Rebels midfielder Jesse Starkey was sent-off for the second game running after a two-footed lunge, on 84 minutes.
With tempers fraying as both sides pushed for a winner, Taylor play in Joel Rollinson, who slotted in off the post to snatch the three points at the death.
And an ill-tempered from the start ended in a mass melee involving both sets of players, officials and stewards as unsavoury scenes followed the final whistle.
Worthing manager Adam Hinshelwood said he felt his side had enough opportunities to win the game before the equaliser.
“You’ve got to take your chances in these games,” he told The NLP. “Chance after chance went begging. It was the same on Tuesday night against Bishop’s Stortford. In these top games if you don’t take them you get punished.”
In the ninth minute Alex Parsons linked up with Myles-Meekums, whose shot across goal was pushed away by Wands keeper Lewis Carey.
And on 24 minutes, the Rebels led when Myles-Meekums left Tom Carlse and Bradley Pritchard in his wake and placed his left-footed shot into the bottom corner.
Carey then produced a great save to keep out Ricky Aguiar’s shot.
The visitors should have levelled just after the hour but Taylor blazed over the bar from six yards under pressure from Racine.
Worthing top scorer Ollie Pearce came off the bench on 66 minutes and immediately struck the post from close range.
But three minutes later, Cray were level when Racine’s misplaced header let Taylor in and he made amends for his earlier miss, rounding Rebel keeper Carl Rushworth to slot home.
Starkey’s straight red card gave Wands the momentum and the Rebels, were caught out contesting the throw in which led to Rollinson’s winner.
As the ten men pressed desperately, Rushworth, up for a corner, headed wide before the unsavoury postmatch scenes.
STAR MAN: Bradley Pritchard (Cray Wanderers) ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★