Worthing 3

St Leonards 1

WORTHING are through to their second successive Senior Cup semi-final after seeing off 10-man St Leonards.

But they had to wait until the last seven minutes before finally getting past stand-in Saints goalkeeper Tony Burt.

The visitors were forced into emergency action when Barry Gartell handled outside his box on 34 minutes to deny the goalbound Ben Carrington.

But the 10 men resisted admirably until the 83rd minute, when Simon Funnell's far-post corner was headed home from close range by Mark Burt.

Marc Rice raced on to a Tony Holden flick three minutes later to finally clinch a semi-final place against Crawley Town.

As a spectacle, this tie was a mundane affair, and referee Ray Upton was a central figure in several of the incidents of note.

Worthing were furious on 21 minutes when Phil Reid missed a cross under heavy pressure from Adam Flanagan, who then tapped in the loose ball.

Reid chased Mr Upton all the way to the halfway line claiming he was fouled.

But, four minutes later, it was Gartell who was arguing as Rebels drew level.

Lee Wood's sliding tackle on Carrington looked clean, but the referee thought otherwise and Rice converted a penalty.

There were no arguments about Gartell's dismissal soon after.

But, for all Worthing's possession, stand-in Burt was only really tested by a Rice 20-yarder before Rebels produced their late double.

Worthing: Reid; Smith, Knee, Burt, Webber, Robinson (sub. Holden 79), Funnell, Cox, Rice, Weston, Carrington. Unused subs: Simmons, Troak.

St Leonards: Gartell; Ruddy, Willard, Burt, Wood, Flanagan, Baker, Barham (sub. Ferguson 88), Fox, Miles, Norman. Unused subs: Taylor, Bourne.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.