Worthing 2, Lewes 1

Danny Bloor hailed his Worthing players after they shocked Conference south Lewes to reach the Sussex Senior Cup Final.

Mark Knee struck the winning goal against his former club as the Rebels ran out 2-1 winners at Queen Street, Horsham.

Worthing will now finish what has been a season of fighting relegation with a final against Albion Reserves at Priory Lane in May.

Bloor said: "Lewes are a fantastic side. Steve (King) has got a great team there but football is not played on paper.

"Lewes could not be disappointed with the result. We had a couple of other chances and were worthy winners.

"It has been a difficult time for me personally this season but I have dug in and this is nice. I have said all along if we could get to the Senior Cup final and retain our Ryman Premier status, that would be fantastic."

Sam Francis went straight back into the Worthing starting line-up just four days after arriving back from a three-month trip to Australia.

Francis, one of the deadliest strikers in Sussex in recent years, lined up on the right side of a four-man midfield in place of the injured Danny Davis.

The Rooks gave a debut to former Queens Park Rangers left-back Matthew Hislop, but they were missing influential midfielder Gary Holloway.

When Lewes threatened twice in the opening six minutes through Paul Booth and Simon Wormull, underdogs Worthing must have feared the worst.

Chances But the Rebels showed they were not prepared to be over-awed by proceeding to create two great chances to break the deadlock.

On ten minutes Knee's free kick from wide on the right was met by a flicked header from Jamie Lawrence which looped over goalkeeper Steve Williams and came back off the far post.

Midway through the half, Omari Coleman poked an effort wide of the far post after opening up the Lewes defence.

Strangely both sides were wearing changed kits. Lewes looked off-colour at the back but they continued to look dangerous going forward and it needed a tremendous one-handed save from Rikki Banks to prevent Ian Simpemba from opening up the scoring.

That honour instead fell to Worthing's Ben Andrews on the stroke of half time as the former Albion player jumped highest to meet Lawrence's deep free kick.

Within 30 seconds Lewes were level, Craig O'Connor drilling his fifth goal in seven games into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Worthing had certainly raised their game for this contest and they regained the lead on 63 minutes when Knee turned Steve Elliott inside out before beating Williams at his near post with a rifled shot into the roof of the net.

It could have been 3-1 two minutes later when Coleman's super pass released Karly Akehurst but the youngster's shot failed to trouble Williams.

Lewes manager Steven King opted for a bold move to try to change the game, throwing on forward Lee Farrell in place of young defender Elliott.

It was Williams though who had to save again from Coleman following another teasing cross by Knee.

This was Worthing's night. Knee shone along with Coleman and Lawrence but the fact Lewes failed to call Banks into meaningful action in the second half highlighted what an all-round effort it had been.

Lewes: Williams; Elliott (sub Farrell 75), Hislop (sub Legge 60), Kennett, Robinson, Simpemba, Drury, Wormull, O'Connor, Booth (sub Sigere 83), Cade. Unused subs: Diogo, Kadi.

Worthing: Banks; Keehan, Simpson, Lawrence, Axten, Lutwyche, Francis (sub Lawley 46), Akehurst, Coleman, Andrews, Knee. Unused subs: Hunter, Rees, Brotherton, Ekoku.

Referee: Frank Meilack (Ticehurst) Attendance: 359 Man-of-the-match: Mark Knee