Teddy Jenks gave the away side the lead after 25 minutes, before Salisbury turned the game in their
favour through goals from Noah Coppin and Tommy Willard. A well-taken lob by Razzaq Coleman De-Graft got Worthing back level before the end of the first half, however Salisbury continued to unlock a makeshift Reds backline after the interval.

The two sides traded blows in a frantic 20 minute period in the second half, with Coppin and Josh Keeya’s efforts cancelled out by Jack Spong and Brad Dolaghan heading into the final stages. With four minutes of stoppage time to play, Josh Hedges came up with the winner for the hosts, extending the Rebels winless start to 2026.

Adam Hinshelwood was forced into making a couple of defensive changes to start the match; Joe Cook served a one game suspension following his red card against Dorking Wanderers, while Harry Ransom also missed out with a knock.

After a quiet opening ten minutes of play, it was the hosts who produced the first effort of the game in the 11th minute, with on-loan Sutton United wide man Mo Dabre seeing a curling effort tipped behind by Josh Jeffries.

Minutes later, it was then the visitors’ turn to put pressure on the opposition, with Ollie Godziemski denied by the fingertips of Salisbury ‘keeper Will Buse after cutting inside from the left side of the penalty area.

The Rebels soon found themselves in the ascendency, and their pressure was rewarded when Jenks opened the scoring after a failed clearance from inside the Salisbury box fell kindly into the path of the former Forest Green Rovers man, who picked out the bottom corner on his left side from a central position.

Despite Worthing making the most of a period of attacking promise, the hosts got themselves back on level terms less than three minutes later through Coppin, who bundled home after right back Ollie Morgan was able to deliver low across the penalty area from the right side.

Coppin could have had his and the Whites’ second just under ten minutes after drawing level when Hedges was brought down inside the box by Jeffries for a penalty. Up stepped the hosts’ opening goalscorer, who would be denied twice by the Southampton loanee who backed up his initial save by getting his body in front of Coppin’s close-range rebound.

Jeffries’ heroics would be to no avail, however, as Salisbury went on to take the lead shortly after, with Willard scoring against his former side. The Rebels’ failure to properly clear their lines would be punished by the former Red, who fired home across goal from the left side of the box into the far corner.

The visitors’ defensive frailties continued to be exposed after the restart, and it was Coppin who managed to secure his brace to make it 3-2 to the hosts within five minutes of the restart. A direct counter-attack released Hedges beyond the reach of Byron on the left side of defence, with Hedges playing it square to Coppin who lifted the ball past Jeffries from 12 yards.

Four minutes later, Worthing were handed the opportunity to level from the spot when Jenks was hacked down while looking to find space for an effort. Up stepped Spong, who sent Buse the wrong way in front of the travelling fans.

For all of their efforts to get back in the game on several occasions, the Rebels remained the architects of their own downfall, and it was another mistake which led to Salisbury regaining their advantage.

A short corner routine was worked into the box and punched clear by Jeffries, yet only as far as Keeya who took one touch before curling past the stranded goalkeeper and into an empty net.

Once again tasked with finding an equaliser, it was the league’s top scorer who came up with an
answer for the away side in the 73rd minute. Another defence-splitting pass from Packham set Dolaghan away in behind, with the striker beating Buse with a fine strike on his left side to make it four goals apiece.

The remaining quarter of an hour looked poised for either side to find a winner, and it was Worthing who spurned a golden opportunity to find a fifth goal with only minutes remaining of the 90, as substitute Shiloh Remy struck the crossbar from point-blank range after Kwaku Frimpong had worked the ball into the six-yard box.

Wasteful finishing from the visitors would eventually be punished by the hosts in injury time when another Whites break found Hedges with space inside the area, who swept a first-time strike beyond the diving Jeffries to seal a dramatic victory for Brian Dutton’s hosts.