The Rebels were the form team in the division as they made the trip to Chesham off the back of three-straight league wins to climb to fifth in the league table. They were taking on a Chesham United side that were in good form themselves, having picked up seven points in their last three outings.

Chris Agutter made two changes to his eleven that defeated Aveley in midweek. Ollie Black came in for Nicky Wheeler who missed out with a slight groin injury, while Glen Rea returned to replace Kane Wills in midfield.

The contest got off to a slow start in terms of chances on a chilly afternoon in Buckinghamshire. Worthing had the hard task in the first half of playing uphill, while the Generals took full advantage in the first period on home turf.

Mitchell Weiss had the first opportunity after quarter of an hour as he was sent in behind the Worthing defence. Chris Haigh came out to meet him and made himself big to make the stop outside of the box. There were claims from the Chesham players that Haigh had used his arm to prevent it, but the referee waved away the appeals.

Worthing’s most threatening moments in the first half were on the counter-attack and Danny Cashman had an opportunity on 23 minutes. It opened up for him on the edge of the box, but his shot was wide of the target.

But, the Generals remained on top and Bradley Clayton should have opened the scoring two minutes later. He was gifted possession on the edge of the area by Glen Rea and with Haigh out of the goal, he had an open goal to aim at. He took a touch to set himself before firing at goal, but his shot struck the upright and bounced out.

The Generals did take advantage of their dominance some five minutes later when Weiss opened the scoring. A well-worked set-piece saw Lewis Rolfe float a cross into Connor Stevens who headed down to Weiss who made no mistake finishing into the far corner.

Looking to get back on level terms, the Rebels worked their best opportunity of the half on 41 minutes. Jack Spong drove forward into space on the edge of the area before slotting Cashman in on the left side of the area. Cashman fired across goal, but his shot was narrowly wide of the far post.

The task was about to get a lot tougher for the Rebels just before half time as Rea was sent off for a foul on Joe Grant. Referee Nathan Oakes wasted no time in reaching for his back pocket after the challenge.

Agutter made a double change at the break as he looked to make a ten-man system work. Mo Faal and Alfie Young were replaced by Tommy Willard and Harrison Smith. But, the home side continued on with the momentum they had built in the first half to remain on top.

Weiss doubled his tally and his side’s advantage on the hour mark after capitalising on a mistake at the back from the Rebels. After a ball over the tp of the defence, Haigh came well out of his area to sweep away the danger and he looked to play it to Jack Wadham to rebuild an attack. But, his pass to the midfielder was fizzed in and Wadham’s touch deflected to Weiss who lofted it over the Worthing defenders and into an empty net for number two.

There was another change on 70 minutes as Wills came on in midfield to replace Wadham.

The Reds crafted their best opportunity of the half with some ten minutes to go as Wills floated in a cross from deep to the head of Spong whose glancing header went just wide of the far post. Spong was taken off a few minutes later as he was replaced by Temi Babalola.

Into injury time, substitute Nathan Minhas had a golden chance to make it three, but after going through one-on-one, he blazed his shot over the bar.

And that was that, a disappointing afternoon for the Rebels who remain just three points off top spot after other results in the division.

They take a break from National League South action next week as focus turns to the Isuzu FA Trophy where they take on Sussex neighbours Chichester City at Oaklands Park.