As the clock hit the 80th minute, Danny Cashman delivered a gorgeous, deft thing into the box. Through a forest of bodies Joe Cook emerges, wrestling his way in to connect. It trickles beyond Harvey Wiles-Richards, and ends up in the netting. Then Harrison Smith curled one home seconds before the final whistle. There’s the game. Two nil. Three points. Thanks for coming.

But was this as comfortable as the scoreline suggests? No, not really. You likely couldn’t have picked a winner until Cook bundled the ball home. It was slow, sloppy in parts, yet as the night ends and the towering floodlights are switched off, the points are heading back to Sussex.

Saturday’s exhausting victory would have knocked the wind out of some of them, and those signs of fatigue were felt, primarily in the forward lines. Chris Agutter opted for two changes from the weekend, as the suspended Glen Rea dropped out for Jack Wadham, whilst Alfie Young made way for Ollie Black.

Defensively, Worthing were excellent. A clean sheet, with a centre-half scoring? A win for the backline, and for Chris Haigh between the posts who thoroughly deserved his clean sheet – the second he has earned in the league this season. Solid at the rear, and good enough in attack. That’s enough to sweep aside a Bath City side in poor form, anxiously looking behind them.

Let’s delve deeper. With just over 15 minutes played, Worthing had their first touch in the opponent’s half. It had taken some time, some battling and some patience, but soon enough the Reds were progressing high up the field, pushing the Romans back into their own territory. There’s a film in that somewhere, but the opening half really didn’t conjure up much action.

Bath were hunting for their first home win since the early days of September. They started the strongest – Scott Wilson testing Chris Haigh from range – yet as the half drifted towards the pause, Worthing began to move through the gears. And it took a defensive error for the imperious Danny Cashman to pick up the ball. Driving, twisting at the defence before laying it off to Mo Faal, who smacked his sweet strike off the foot of the post before bouncing away to safety.

Spong had a spate of free-kicks – one was collected, the other sent wide – as the waves of Red started to surge higher up the glistening Twerton Park pitch. Though as the 45th minute approached, the ball was with Bath. Haigh was a commander in his box, soaring high to collect here and there, and he helped preserve the scoreline as the half-time whistle sounded around the ground.

The second serving, and one with a similar taste to the one that preceded it: Worthing patient, but were they probing? Again, the home side looked more dangerous. Kieran Parselle placed his pass into the path of Dan Greenslade to perfection, but it took a fine Cook block to beat away the danger,

Over in the engine room, Kane Wills and Wadham were ticking along nicely. Sam Beard continued his solid stint back in the side, and all seemed settled again. Then the pendulum swung in the host’s favour once more: Scott Wilson narrowly sliding over a tricky cross, before the ever-present Joe Raynes tested Haigh’s reactions with a long-range fizzer that was caught with ease.

Next, the crucial change. Something had to happen – a spark, a moment of magic. Tommy Willard slapped the hands of Jack Spong, and the former joined the fray. From that moment, he’d be instantly involved, earning a corner and helping his team hold onto the ball in the opposition half – something of a novelty in the opening hour.

And then, the moment. Cashman finds Cook, and the red shapes surge and spin in delight. Those behind the goal are jubilant, those in the field are enthralled, and those in the dugout are delighted. Bath, on the other hand, are perplexed. They’d had chances, and they’d wasted chances. And it’s that, right there, that sees them where they are.

A few more changes. Temi Babalola and Harrison Smith, whilst Ollie Black joined a little later. Smith would seal the night, bending around a line of bodies from 10 yards into the corner. A game won, and a night ticked off. Onto the next…

…and that is a talking point. The Reds have not progressed to the FA Cup Second Round since 1982, and on Saturday they have that opportunity. League Two Morecambe stand in the way. A tough test, but there’s plenty of magic in this team to cause some major headlines in just a few days’ time. And what an occasion it will be.