Worthy: We were not good enough

Captain Matt Worthington apologised to supporters after a poor performance saw Yeovil Town’s unbeaten home record ended by a 1-0 defeat to Welling United at Huish Park.

The midfielder admitted the side never got going following the loss of influential full-back Michael Smith after just 16 minutes.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Tom Seymour after the game, he said: “We are really disappointed. We were not good enough today. We did not click and did not look like scoring, I think we had a couple of chances in the first half, but in the last few games we have not taken those chances when they have come.

“If we are not playing great, you have to take those chances to get anything out of the game. I think it is just not going our way, we are working hard on it in training. We will look to work on the training ground and turn it around and look to create the chances we missed and score them in the next game.”

Smith was replaced by Jay Foulston with the Glovers initially switching to a back five before reverting back to a back four just a few minutes later with the left-footed Foulston playing at right-back.

After the defeat, manager Mark Cooper confirmed the Northern Irishman, who has been suffering with a hamstring injury since the 1-1 draw at St Albans City at the end of January, was a doubt for the visit of Chippenham Town to Huish Park on Tuesday night.

On the loss of Smith, Worthington added: “He is such a big personality and such a good player for us. Obviously Jay (Foulston) had to come in and he is left footed, playing on the right, so it was going to be difficult for him. It took us too long to get to grips with it, so it is a disappointing day but we have a chance to put it right on Tuesday.”

With third-placed Worthing going down to a shock 3-1 defeat at home to Taunton Town, Yeovil’s lead at the top of National League South remains 12 points. Second-placed Chelmsford City take on Truro City at their temporary ‘home’ in Gloucester this evening.

Worthington added: “Worthing dropped points tonight, but ultimately we have to regroup, look on Monday at what went wrong. We have been very honest with each other all season. It was tough and I apologise on behalf of the whole group for the performance which was not good enough, but we have been very good all season. It is just one game and we will do everything we can to put it right on Tuesday.”

One small silver lining to the cloud of defeat was that both Worthington and Charlie Cooper got through the game without incurring the censure of card-happy referee Craig Scriven. That means both players avoided a two-match ban which would have come with a booking which would have been their tenth of the season.

The captain added: “It was difficult, but thankfully Charlie and I both got through it. It was difficult because there are challenges out there that you could go and win and put a bit more pressure on the opposition, but it is always in the back of your mind that if you slip up or catch them you will be missing for two games. At this point of the season, nobody wants to do that.“