It was one of those nights. On a milder night on the Sussex coast, the sort of night that just exudes football, Farnborough didn’t so much swamp Worthing as frustrate at every conceivable opportunity. A masterclass in how to beat a Chris Agutter side.

Danny Cashman was a rare absentee from the line-up here after showing signs of discomfort on Saturday. That was a superb showing. This was off the pace, a rare night where things just didn’t come off, where the intensity wasn’t quite there. Sound familiar? It was almost a carbon copy of the reverse fixture.

Farnborough are a young and hungry side who fight for every ball, every minute. On their travels they are one of the division’s worst – two wins both in the form of 2-1s. But with recent draws at Truro and then Dorking, this is clearly a side who are channeling a similar energy that led them to early season success. Here, in the first half at least, they were superb. Worthing were quite the opposite.

The recent arrival of Jonny Stuttle has helped galvanise a previously faltering forward line. He’d slam home the second after Worthing failed to clear, after Ollie Robinson had caressed them ahead with an easy action nine minutes earlier. Farnborough were as ferocious as Worthing were woozy. Robinson couldn’t believe how much time he had at the back post to poke the ball over the line.

Stuttle, too, will have been mightily chuffed to see the ball drop perfectly onto his sweet right foot after Worthing’s attempts of getting rid of the football ended in a comedy sketch. The finish was arrowed, but how avoidable it all was.

Sandwiched in between all of this was a Worthing goal. Over the course of the opening half they probably deserved to ruin Jack Turner’s hopes of a second clean sheet on the road this season. Mo Faal was a standout performer for the Reds in a torrid opening period, and it was his finish on 13 minutes that helped ease the pain. It wouldn’t last long.

Worthing had a few good moments in the half but this was the most delicately crafted, and it spawned Faal’s 18th on the campaign. Ruben Carvalho was the genesis of this leveller, breezing beyond Luciano D’Auria-Henry before placing a pinpoint pass into the feet of Faal. It was the composure that sealed this one, ghosting into space and placing his shot the wrong-side of Turner.

It could have been 3-1 moments after Farnborough restored their lead. Joe Cook might not be the speediest of centre-halves but his positioning was exceptional. He cleared one off the line and, minus Lucas Covolan, was one reason why this one wasn’t over at the half-time whistle. Worthing finished the half the strongest — Tommy Willard denied by a few last-ditch blocks and Faal whistling one past the post — yet this was a half governed and commandeered by those in yellow. There were groans when Morgan Conn blew his whistle for the break.

Sure, it hadn’t been the finest Worthing performance in recent times. Not only has every game been played at full-throttle, gasping-for-every-breath sort of affair. But things are rarely straightforward for this side. Defeat is never written, but. It was here.

It took some time for Worthing to get going in the second half. There were a few scares: Covolan dribbling through the Farnborough frontline was perhaps the pick of the bunch. But soon enough they began to hit their stride, move through the gears.

Willard was lively in Cashman’s absence, so too was Jack Spong. Nash came within a strand of hair of connecting to a superb Willard cross, and then within a lick of white paint as he crashed an effort against the outside of the post. They’re the ones you just want another bite at.

Time passed. Farnborough continued to frustrate and squeeze every Worthing player on the pitch. The decibels began to drop. It needed a spark. Temi Babalola was on for Carvalho, hoping to provide the answer on a night that just slipped further away from their grasp. Faal continued to be the spark, inflicting further fear into Turner’s mind but the ‘keeper dealt with the shots from distance with relative comfort.

Farnborough did just about everything to achieve an impressive league double over Worthing – the first team to do this all season. In the end the small pocket of travelling supporters are overwhelmed with joy. This is their best result in an otherwise underwhelming season. Make no mistake, though. They are very well-drilled outfit.

And so here we are again, casually checking the table with one hand over the eyes. Teams around collect points as the cycle presses on. Still the Reds are in the mix, still it’s within their palms. No one really knows what’s going to happen come the end of April. But with each fleeting week, we inch closer to an answer.