WEYMOUTH 1

Linton 81

WORTHING 4

Cashman 8, Pearce 43 pen, 60, 85

WORTHING punished a poor Weymouth side as the Rebels claimed a fully-deserved 4-1 victory at the Bob Lucas Stadium.

Weymouth errors were punished for three of the four goals, although there was nothing they could have done about Danny Cashman’s opener, the midfielder diverting Reuben Livesey-Austin’s dragged shot home.

Livesey-Austin saw red for a nasty tackle on Teddy Howe in the 14th minute but Gerard Benfield conceded a penalty, scored by Ollie Pearce, to make it 2-0.

Pearce capitalised on Olu Durojaiye’s woeful slice for 3-0 before Malachi Linton’s consolation for 3-1.

READ MORE: Weymouth 1-4 Worthing - how it happened

And another mistake saw Pearce race through for his hat-trick, delighting a vocal and boisterous away support.

Worthing even finished with nine men after Joel Colbran picked up a second booking in the 97th minute.

Weymouth, looking for a seventh straight home game without defeat, made three changes to the side that began the 1-0 loss at Chelmsford last time out.

Charlie Rowan picked up his 10th booking in that game and is suspended for two matches, while Harry Jones and Ezio Touray dropped to the bench.

In came midfielder Elliott Bolton and defender Teddy Howe, while there was an immediate debut for Eastleigh loanee Corey Panter, who joined the club on Thursday.

On the bench, Touray and Jones were joined by Nazir Bakrin, Keelan O'Connell and Dan Roberts, who all retained their places from last week.

Facing the league’s highest scorers, Weymouth nearly gave Worthing a taste of their own medicine in the first minute as Brandon Goodship scampered clear on the left, only for Michael Klass to telegraph his pull-back.

However, it took only seven minutes longer for Worthing to break the deadlock in fortuitous circumstances.

Livesey-Austin’s dreadful shot was hit so poorly it whizzed infield into the path of Cashman, who diverted the ball past a stricken Benfield into the bottom-left corner.

But Worthing gave themselves 76 minutes to play with 10 men after Livesey-Austin was sent off for a reckless tackle on Howe, lunging in dangerously and making contact with Weymouth’s right-back.

Referee Nicholas Dunn needed little persuasion in brandishing red, but Worthing got their tactics spot on with a numerical disadvantage.

They hunted in packs and made themselves very narrow, with Weymouth’s sporadic joy coming down the flanks.

The Terras dominated possession for 25 minutes after the red card, Leo Hamblin guiding a header wide from a corner after good work from Harry Parsons, whose loan from Maidenhead was this week extended to the end of the season.

Hamblin then had a headed goal ruled out for offside before Linton nodded Benfield’s long diagonal at debutant keeper Ollie Wright.

Weymouth were now threatening a goal with every attack as Linton hooked a volley at Wright, only for the hosts to gift Worthing a second.

Joe Felix’s precise pass tempted Benfield to advance but Willard beat him for pace, drew contact inside the box and won a needless penalty.

It gave the league’s top-scorer Pearce the chance to net his 31st league goal of the season and he did so emphatically, hammering his shot down the middle.

Early in the second half, Weymouth wasted a clear chance for 2-1 when Hamblin’s deflected cross was sliced horribly wide by skipper Tom Bearwish.

Boss Bobby Wilkinson recognised the need for more width by deploying wing-backs in the second half, allowing Hamblin and Howe the chance to rain crosses in.

One such cross was hooked wide by Parsons’ overhead kick before Hamblin was set free by Goodship, only for Wright to gather his low shot at the second attempt.

On the hour, though, Worthing could not believe their luck as Durojaiye’s terrible sliced clearance teed up Pearce perfectly to dink a lethal finish over the advancing Benfield for 3-0.

Touray replaced Durojaiye one minute later and he responded by prodding wide from Hamblin’s low cross.

Howe was then guilty of a big miss as Worthing switched off, allowing him to collect a diagonal and go one-on-one with Wright, only to smack his shot against the near post.

Worthing were shown a second red card, this time for manager Adam Hinshelwood in the 69th minute, but his dismissal mattered little.

With 14 minutes to go, Wright made a double save as Weymouth continued to pour forward, first Linton testing the keeper before Parsons’ scuffed follow-up landed perfectly for him to claim.

But Weymouth did eventually grab a consolation, Wright’s low save only partially taking the sting out of Hamblin’s shot and Linton following up to score from all of two yards out.

Having given themselves a glimmer of hope, Weymouth then fittingly extinguished it themselves as a wayward midfield pass allowed Worthing to slip Pearce in for a clinical hat-trick goal.

There was still time for Colbran, booked earlier for time-wasting, to receive his marching orders for a late tackle, but Worthing were already out of sight and claimed a big three points.

Terras: Benfield, Howe, Panter, Jo Thompson, Hamblin, Durojaiye (Touray 61), Bolton, Bearwish, Parsons, Goodship, Linton. Subs not used: O'Connell, Roberts, Bakrin, Jones.

Worthing: Wright, Felix, Young, Colbran, Livesey-Austin, Wadham, Klass (Wills 38), Cashman, Fage (Rye 16), Willard (O Starkey 70), Pearce. Subs not used: Rees, Robinson.

Referee: Nicholas Dunn.

Attendance: 1,028.