A fifth home defeat of the season pushed Canterbury into the dangerous waters of the National 2 relegation zone as once again they faded in the second half.

The city side did all the hard work playing against wind and slope, restricting Worthing to a seven point lead at the break and pushing the odds firmly their in favour.

Frustratingly, they then failed to control territory, let their concentration wander and late in the game helped the visitors on their way through poor discipline.

Both sides were desperate to win after poor runs and when Canterbury collected two yellow cards in the final quarter theSussex team made the most of their two man advantage with the winning try.

It was another infuriating day from a city side who, in the first half, looked a different unit from that which crashed heavily the previous week.

There was purpose and intent from the start with Harry Sayers making the first significant breach and soon getting his reward with an eighth minute try.

It took Worthing almost fifteen minutes before they got into any sort of order but a missed tackle opened the way for an equalising try by Matt McLean.

Impressive work by the Raiders back division and a neat dummy took them into the lead with full back Owain Davies’s touchdown, converted by McLean, but a spirited and at this point disciplined Canterbury did a an excellent containing job although they could not capitalise on a sin binning for visiting prop Dan Sargent.  There was a let off when a McLean penalty shot bounced off a post but Canterbury headed for the changing room with plenty to be pleased about

The feel good factor grew four minutes after the restart when Royce Cadman barged through a lineout gap and Ollie Best’s conversion levelled the scores.  When the fly half kicked Canterbury into back into the lead with a 40 metre penalty goal the way seemed open.

Perhaps Canterbury thought the game would drop in their lap but that was a mistake, The application of the first half drained away in the face of a determined Worthing and too much possession was squandered through basic errors.

A sin binning for wing Courtney Horey was punished with a pick and drive try from Sargent, converted by McLean, and the balance had shifted once again.  Canterbury showed what was possible when they turned a Will Farris break into a try for Best,  but it was not enough.  More Raiders pressure brought a yellow card for Sam Rogers and the visitors punished it with Ben Loosmore’s match winning try.

In the last act they topped up  that score up with a Davies penalty goal, leaving Canterbury with a losing bonus point and much soul searching over the way they let this game slip,

Canterbury: M.Beaumont, C.Horey, W.Farris, D.Winchester (repl F.Morgan), H.Sayers, O,.Best, D.Smart, I.Miljak (repl J.Green), T.Rogers (repl S.Rogers), J.Green (repl A.Wake-Smith), R.Cadman, T.Burns, T.Edwards (repl S.Nixon), G.Micans, M.Cantwell (repl R.Ward)