Pagham condemned struggling Worthing United to a damaging defeat as Gary Block’s men carried on where they left off last week against St Francis, even down to fielding an unchanged first eleven. The visitors must have known it wasn’t going to be their day as the first thing they had to do was change their shirts, deemed too similar to those of Pagham.The Lions could have scored as early as the second minute when Lee Bradshaw’s shot went just wide of Tony Bernard’s goal.Worthing came back with Gavin Jones unfortunate to be judged offside when he was allowed space to strike on goal. Worthing United were looking a reasonable side at this stage, with Jones and Gavin Geddes getting forward on numerous occasions. The opening goal was worth the twenty minute wait for. A superb right sided strike from Rob Wimble gave Pagham a lead which would allow them something to build on. It didn’t take long for Worthing to get a goal back however. Eastbourne referee Mr Colwell saw some pushing in the Pagham area, and had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Peter Brackley hit home for Worthing, and Pagham were rocked back a little. Tom Poole was having a tremendous match, and almost capped this with a goal on 28 minutes. A long-range shot almost beat Bernard as the Lions showed their teeth. Rob Wimble put Dan Martin through, but the latter’s shot went over the bar. Gavin Jones tried to score at the other end, but found Jamie Angell in the way, as another opening for Worthing was firmly closed off. Gavin Geddes hit the ball wide before a defining moment in the match. Danny Smith’s dissent saw him shown a straight red card to leave the visitors a man down with over half the match still to play. Just to add insult to injury, Pagham went in at half time 2-1 up. Dan Martin climbed above his marker to head in the ball from a corner to leave Worthing wobbling.

Tom Poole was again involved as the second half began. A good ball in from the right was only just nodded wide by Jamie Angell. Dan Martin tried to go one better, but his shot also went wide. With only five minutes gone since the restart, Gavin Jones showed them how it should be done by taking the ball in his stride to restore parity. This lasted all of a minute as Tom Poole got the goal his play deserved when smashing home a superb third for Pagham. Luke Huggett’s frenzied clearance on the hour showed that Worthing really were starting to buckle. Without the good understanding between Huggett and Paul Curtis, the goal tally for Pagham could have been much higher. The lead was increased on seventy minutes with a contender for goal of the season from Rob Wimble. Working his way through the Worthing defence, he then took his time to smack the ball past a bemused Bernard. Unselfishly denying himself a hat-trick not long after, Wimble put Michael Frangou through only to see his strike partner shoot over. It didn’t take long for Frangou to get one himself though. Taking advantage of a rebound from a Dan Martin shot, he was able to score Pagham’s fifth. Even Keiron Urquhart tried his luck, with a long range effort on the right that Bernard had to stretch to tip over the bar. Triple substitutions for Pagham as Aaron Knight, Ryan Cox and Matt Wood replaced Jamie Angell, Dan Martin and Michael Frangou. Aaron Knight made an immediate impact as his cross was headed just wide by Rob Wimble. The last action of note saw Ryan Cox’s low shot just skew across Worthing’s goal area.

Pagham; W.Hallett, K.Uruquhart, A.Hunter, C.Heller, L.Bradshaw, J.Angell, T.Poole, D.Peach, R.Wimble, M.Frangou, D.Martin; M.Wood, R.Cox, A.Knight
Worthing United; T.Bernard, P.Brackley, L.Huggett, P.Curtis, P.Montgomery, R.Hayman, S.Blake, D.Smith, G.Geddes, G.Jones, J.Stokes; A.Preddy, R.Branson, J.Baxter, C.Etherington