Alan Pook today accused senior Worthing players of letting the club, fans and themselves down as his team suffered FA Cup shellshock.

Pook insists his players have only been turning it on for 30 minutes a game.

And he reckons they will not gel as a team until they have played at least 20 matches together.

That might sound like harsh criticism for a side suffering their first defeat since the opening game of the season.

But any manager or player involved in a riches-to-rags tale along the lines of this third qualifying round would have every right to feel a bit put out.

With 73 minutes gone, Rebels were 2-1 up and a third or fourth goal looked far more likely than any response from their Conference south opponents.

Fast forward five minutes and Basingstoke's colourful band of supporters were celebrating a 4-2 lead and a place in the next round.

No wonder Pook, his managerial partner Danny Bloor and many of the players were still looking dazed out on the pitch some while after the final whistle.

Pook admitted: "Unfortunately, a few experienced players have let the club down in my opinion.

"They have let themselves and the supporters down.

"We lost the game because we didn't kill them off when we could have done.

"All season I've said it. We've only played for half-an-hour in every game.

"We've got new players coming in and players who are not as fit as I would like them.

"It will take them 20 games to bed in and become an effective unit and that was evident.

"On what I've seen I wouldn't bet against Basingstoke going into the first round proper, seeing the luck they have had."

It was not all luck, Basingstoke had some wily front men and their finishing was of the highest order.

The header by Martin Whiddett which put them 1-0 up, the edge of the box free-kick by Lewis Cook which dragged them level again and the curling chip by substitute Mark Peters a minute later to make it 3-2 were high class.

Peters hit the fourth from Cook's low cross on a counter raid.

But their comeback also hinged on a seemingly innocuous moment 16 minutes from time when Marc Pullan and Whiddett chased a loose ball just outside the Rebels box.

Whiddett went down very easily and the free-kick which turned the game was awarded.

Cook, who had already bounced a shot off the top of the bar and extended Mark Ormerod with a clever set-piece, chipped the free-kick over the wall to equalise.

Rebels defender Marc Cable, whose goal put the hosts 2-1 up, felt Whiddett "just fell over" and, while Pook agreed with that, he was not letting his players use it as an excuse.

He said: "The decision was a farce but the ball should never have got there.

"Our goalkeeper should have gathered the ball on the edge of the box but he was asleep and we had to make a challenge.

"Everyone in the ground knew where the free-kick was going to go and it still went in."

Worthing were a joy to watch going forward, with Richard Pacquette a handful and Stafford Browne, Sam Francis and Liam Collins inter-changing positions around him.

Browne started on the left but struck from a central position, guiding a 25-yard shot just inside the post from Pacquette's lay-off to bring Rebels level at 1-1.

With Francis switching from centre forward to the right flank, the hosts created a series of second-half chances.

Cable, not known for his goalscoring exploits, got his third in four weeks after Collins' steepling cross had been laid back by Danny Davis.

Then the chances piled up. Pacquette failed to connect with a close-range header, Davis turned a cross over the bar, Francis and Pacquette were denied by goalkeeper Rob Bullivant in a scramble and Cable saw a firm header saved.

As the skipper admitted, the misses hardly seemed to matter at that stage.

He said: "We had at least twice as many chances as them. I thought we looked good. I couldn't even see them them getting out of their own half at one stage."