Worthing FC boss: Loss to Bognor may turn out to be ‘best’ result of pre-season

He was disappointed the Rebels were ‘nowhere near’ as good against the Rocks as they had been in a closed-doors win over Brighton’s under-21s eight days earlier.

And he said that as he tweaked things ahead of the National League South kick-off on August 5, he could take far more from the Bognor loss than from the Brighton win.

40 pictures from Worthing v Bognor.

Hinshelwood said last week he would have been happy to kick off the campaign with the players he had at his disposal. But Saturday’s efforts against Bognor have perhaps made him think again.

Worthing have five more friendlies to play – against Hashtag United, Gosport, Horsham, Littlehampton and – in the Sussex Community Shield – Broadbridge Heath, a match that will be played at Lancing on Wednesday, August 2.

"We gave 22 players 45 minutes each against Bognor after a tough week of training,” said Hinshelwood.

"The result wasn’t the best – you don’t want to be losing to your local rivals – and it showed that maybe we don’t have as many players ready to be in the squad as we thought.

"We’d been so good against Brighton the week before it was maybe misleading and didn’t leave enough to analyse. But against Bognor we performed at nowhere near the same level.”

Hinshelwood and his staff are still assessing some trialists before making final decisions on them.

And he has not ruled out one or more signings before the National South opener at home to Tonbridge Angels on August 5.

The Bognor game brought a debut for new striker Greg Luer following his move from Eastbourne Borough.

Fans saw Luer, Ollie Pearce and Nicky Wheeler play together in the second half, an attacking trio who may link up in the starting XI when the campaign begins.

Hinshelwood said: “It was brilliant for Greg to get 45 minutes under his belt. He has a lot of quality.”

The club continue to nurse striker Jake Robinson and attacking midfielder Juan Luque back to fitness.