Having confidently seen off Keynsham Town at the Sussex Transport Community Stadium seven days ago, manager Jesus Cordon stuck with the same line-up; Laura Huish the only one missing from the sub’s bench, compared to last week.

Portishead Town had left their base near Bristol at 8am but it was they who made the brighter start, when captain Shannon Holloway blocked an attempted clearance by Tilly Jones and broke clear. Only to fire fractionally wide upon arrival in the penalty area.

Not long after that though, the Rebels got their first sight of goal thanks to the persistence of Laila Malcolm getting the better of two white shirts and laying the ball off to Lauren Amerena.

Top scorer ‘Loz’ then slipped in Amber Hazlewood who engineered space for a shot which she skewed past the post, from inside the ‘D’.

Kelly Jones was played through the middle, as the action switched back to the other end and she burst into the box but couldn’t keep her attempt down, under pressure from Ella Newman.

A stray pass by Chelsea Heal led to Amerena taking advantage and skipping past Emily Lindsay, to find herself in acres of space on the right. Digging out a cross into the heart of the six-yard area, Nicole Mackay held her head in her hands as a rare opportunity went begging.

However, Amerena made no mistake when she turned sharply on a ball by Sophia Wickenden before letting fly at least 25 yards out to put the hosts in front, just after the half-hour mark.

Unfortunately, the lead proved to be short-lived. Jones was found free on the left to bend a defence-splitting pass that caught out the Reds’ rearguard and Holloway didn’t need a second invitation to slot coolly past Ella Hunkin.

The home side were stunned moments later courtesy of Alanna Torrington’s deep right wing free-kick that wasn’t dealt with, leaving Holloway to sweep home at the back stick for her and her team’s second of the afternoon to complete a rapid turnaround.

Despite facing a first-half deficit, it was the Possets who kept up the pressure and practically put the game to bed in the opening stages of the second period.

Once more a flag-kick caused all the problems, as a half-cleared one fell perfectly at the feet of Torrington to emphatically dispatch into the bottom corner, from the edge of the box.

Worthing simply had no answer to the power of Portishead and it wasn’t long after that that Jones didn’t miss by much, at the conclusion of some more questionable home defending.

Newman then cut inside the (latest) goalscorer to fire Wickenden’s cross-field ball over the top,
18 yards out, with a shell-shocked Worthing desperately trying to search for a way back into a contest that was slowly slipping away from them.

Typically though, Town responded via Torrington forcing a scrambling stop out of Hunkin from a well-struck effort which she hit from a position nearer to the centre circle than the penalty area.

If that acted as a warning sign that the visitors still weren’t happy with their lot, it sadly wasn’t heeded.

Torrington’s knockdown resulted in Holloway picking out the recently introduced Amy Clark, who capitalised on a vulnerable Red rearguard to squeeze in a match-defining fourth from close-range.

Woodside Road was rocking but not to the sound that the majority inside it had come to experience.

Holloway was having no trouble in finding pockets of space and the side-netting felt the full force of her latest attempt at increasing the advantage, as she cut in off the right.

A high backline was then cruelly exposed to leave Mia Blazey with a clear sight of goal a long way out, only for her to lob wide of the target with teammate Clark equally unmarked to her left.

Amerena weaved her magic to flash a delivery across the face of goal which eluded lady-in-waiting Jasmine Smith, who had only just been sent on as part of a double change alongside Erin Sherwood, with time gradually ticking away.

In offering a vague crumb of comfort, it would be the homester’s main source of goals who would end up having the final say, on a bitterly disappointing afternoon.

Lucy Jellett, an early second-half introduction herself, made hay on the right prior to delivering a short pass inside to Amerena, where ‘Loz’ felt the full force of the hand of another sub, Tianna Allen, in her back to go down in the top corner of the penalty box for a fairly soft-looking spot-kick.

There was no doubting the quality of the finish though, as a ninth goal in fourteen appearances this season proved to be the last kick of a day to forget for Worthing.