Lawrence took over as Worthing manager in the summer and had won her opening two games before the narrow defeat at Crawley in the Combined Counties League Cup tie.

Wasps got the only goal after just six minutes but Worthing otherwise limited the chances of a Crawley side who fielded a mixture of first-team and reserve players.

At the other end, Worthing failed to create many openings but Lawrence was pleased with how her side performed: “I said before the game that it would be a measure of how far we’ve come and it was”.

The tempo and press of Crawley was quicker than anything Worthing had faced to date but the team enjoyed some good passages of play themselves and actually finished the stronger of the two sides but failed to carve out a clear opening.

Lawrence added, “it was a mark of respect that Crawley fielded such a strong team [their first team compete in the National League and are unbeaten this season, and the reserve team finished 25 points clear of Worthing last season]; to lose by a single goal and to limit them to so few chances was pleasing but we need to continue to work on our offensive play. Defensively we were good but we failed to build on that and lacked quality in the final third.”

Tammy Waine again led by example at the back and said after the match, “on the balance of play we didn’t deserve to win but the team competed and made it hard for Crawley. All the while the game remained 1-0 nil, you hope for that one chance but unfortunately it didn’t come but we can be proud of our performance.”

Worthing have a chance to avenge the result as they face Crawley’s Development Squad in the League on Sunday at Woodside Road. Entry is free and the game kicks-off at 2pm.