Spectators at Church Road on Tuesday night were left feeling totally dazed as Chichester ran riot in a 13-goal encounter against fellow County League Division One strugglers Worthing United.

The visitors were 5-2 down at half-time but even at that stage nobody was dismissing their chances, bearing in mind they had recently conjured up an epic revival against Shoreham by scoring three goals in the last 8 minutes of that particular match.

But on this occasion - fielding a threadbare line-up that included striker Warren Levy converted to centre-half and only two outfield substitutes - the Worthing United defence simply caved in during the second period as the City forwards went on a wild goalfest.

It took just 60 seconds for the deadlock to be broken.  An immediate Chichester offensive appeared to be squandered when Scott Murfin – still adapting to the very heavy going – slipped to the floor but managed to regain a footing and send the ball over to James Smith at the far post to make it 1-0.

Further pressure followed by the home side, and Murfin himself added the next goal on 15 minutes as he thumped in an unbeatable shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Within two minutes though, Worthing United managed to reduce the deficit.  Lee Mullen conceded a free-kick straight in front of goal, and the ball was only semi-cleared before Paul Young headed in for the Mavericks.

The next attack of the match on 19 minutes saw the ball played down to the other end and pushed across to the left, where Lewis Fennemore had plenty of space and beat goalkeeper Sam Figg point-blank.

Then, with 28 minutes gone, veteran forward Eamonn Searle escaped on a run for Worthing United only to be hacked down by Paul Jones.  Mark Price’s resulting penalty-kick sluiced through the mud before hitting the net to trim City’s lead to 3-2.

Five minutes later, Scott Murfin crossed the ball into the visitors’ goalmouth and Steve Boston steamed in to head home another Chichester goal.  With the interval approaching, the same player then smashed in his sides’ fifth point.

Worthing United brought on John Axworthy for the start of the second-half, but by this time Chichester really had the bit between their teeth.  Usually in this situation a team will simply close down and slow the pace until the final whistle, but not this time.

Scott Murfin was proving to be a complete handful and grazed the woodwork on 49 minutes before the Mavericks’ had to resort to fouling him 6 minutes later at the expense of a free-kick.  It was left for Fennemore to blast the set-piece directly between the posts for 6-2.

Straightaway, Searle pulled a goal back and then another shot from Worthing United, this time by Price, was cleared off the line by a City defender.

In the last 15 minutes, Chichester claimed another four goals to round off this extraordinary contest.  Boston was brought down and subsequently converted the spot-kick himself, while on 83 minutes substitute Jake Lafferty unleashed a solo run to get his name on the score-sheet.

By this time the Worthing United players were simply praying for full-time, Paul Jones casually striking goal number nine and Michael Turvey laughably scoring in the very last kick of the evening with the opposition not even bothering to pay him any attention.

“At least that will help our goal difference,” quipped jubilant Chichester manager Mick Catlin as he got his breath back, “beforehand we expected to win, but to be honest the defending by both sides was terrible.

“I was particularly pleased with Steve Boston, who we’ve signed from Moneyfields and got a hat-trick tonight.  Hopefully we’ll be able to go on now and get a run of results together,” he added.

It remains to be seen if this was purely a freak result on a bottomless pitch, or if the New Year heralds a turning point in Chichester’s fortunes.

Report written by Chester Browton

Chichester Team: Ender;  Buckland, Mullen, Saunders, Jones;  Fennemore, N Murfin, Ward, Smith;  Boston, S Murfin.
Subs: Case (for Fennemore), Turvey (for N Murfin), Lafferty (for S Murfin).
Scorers: Boston (3), Fennemore (2), J. Smith, S. Murfin, Lafferty, Jones, Turvey.


Attendance: 35