The Rebels came into the fixture after they secured their place in the Sussex Senior Cup Quarter Final away at Lancing of the Isthmian South East Division with a 4-0 win on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Eastbourne Borough suffered a 2-0 defeat in the league away to Bath City in their last run-out, after their scheduled Sussex Senior Cup match on Tuesday away to Bognor Regis town was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Boss Adam Hinshelwood made a whole host of changes to the side that won in midweek but the most notable inclusion to today’s squad was a Worthing debut for Portsmouth loanee Liam Vincent.

It was the hosts who had the first chance of the match, fashioned by Leon Gravata whose fierce effort struck the bar in the opening stages.

Borough continued to have the better of the opening minutes but couldn’t break the deadlock when Kai Innocent crossed to Charlie Walker, in acres of space, as the striker couldn’t get a clean connection on the shot.

The balance of play remained in Eastbourne’s favour for the first half hour as they continued to pose a threat down both flanks, looking to make their low, near-post crosses connect. On the other hand, Hinshelwood’s men were failing to make anything stick up top.

It took 38 minutes for the Rebels to find inspiration going forward. Nice, intricate play down the right-hand side saw Vincent play inside to Joel Colbran to break the midfield line. As he advanced forward, looking for options, he decided to take the shot on himself, forcing a brilliant save from Lee Worgan.

A routine straight from the training ground followed from the resulting corner to open the scoring. Kane Wills’ corner was played low into Ollie Pearce who flicked the ball behind him into the path of the advancing Vincent who struck home on debut.

Now in the ascendancy, the Rebels looked to double their lead before the break. First, Pearce’s header from Reuben Livesy Austin’s cross was denied by another fantastic save from Worgan.

On the brink of half time, Lewis White took on and beat his man down the left before crossing to Davide Rodari. The striker’s sliced shot almost fell into the path of Vincent to double his tally, but he couldn’t quite reach it at full stretch.

After a concerning half hour, no doubt Hinshelwood was delighted with the fight his team showed to be in front at the interval.

Worthing started the second half much like they ended the first. A fluid counter-attacking move ended with Pearce crossing to Colbran who looked destined to find the back of the net but he couldn’t keep his effort on target.

Hinshelwood made his first change on the hour mark, replacing the goal-scorer, Vincent with Josh Chambers who extended his loan deal in the week.

Minutes later, Eastbourne threatened to level the scoring but Joe Rye was there to block Walker’s shot, putting his body on the line.

With some 20 minutes left on the clock, Pearce charged into the area but he fired into the side-netting.

Pearce got his goal just five minutes later. Another well-worked corner from the Rebels saw the ball trickle across the face of goal and Pearce flicked it home.

On 80 minutes, Worthing made their final couple of changes as Callum Kealy and Ibby Akanbi replaced White and Rodari.

Chambers worked himself a couple of opportunities in the dying embers but both, very similar efforts, missed just wide of the bar.

The hosts couldn’t trouble Male in the Worthing goal any further and the Rebels took all three points in East Sussex and moved to 4th in the National League South table.

Next up for Hinshelwood’s men is a trip to Chippenham Town next Saturday.