Defender Jahmahl King is confident we can progress in the FA Cup after a disappointing end to our first qualifying round tie at Worthing, writes James Barrett.
Despite going a goal down against our higher league opposition on Saturday, we stormed into a 3-1 lead through Mickel Miller, Tommy Bradford and an own goal with half an hour to go.
And our resolute display, after losing midfielder Sekou Kaba to two soft bookings and conceding a second on 78 minutes, appeared to have been enough to secure victory until extremely late drama struck.
“We were told by the officials there was four minutes of added time and their penalty was scored in the 96thminute,” said King, reliving the moment Worthing striker Omar Bugiel was given the chance to complete a hat-trick from the spot.
“We don’t know where that extra time came from, both the sending off and the penalty decision were harsh too, and it felt like we’d lost the game in the dressing room afterwards.”
The two clubs go again in the world’s most famous football cup competition tonight (Monday 5th September) and King believes he and his teammates have the character to shrug off that late disappointment.
“They are a decent side but I wouldn’t swap any of our players for there’s,” he added.
“We showed a lot of character to come from a goal down away from home and then lead for so long, so I’m confident we can give them another good game and we’ll be looking to progress.”
Our FA Cup replay against Worthing kicks-off at 7.45pm tonight at Colston Avenue.