The lead had already changed hands 7 times before a Worthing try deep into injury time levelled the scores and the successful conversion secured both the game and promotion. The Saxons were left with nothing but the desperate empty feeling of an athlete finishing 4th in an Olympic final, and remain in National League 2 North for the 2013/14 season.

Jamie Hearn opened the scoring with a well-struck penalty after a powerful Saxons’ scrum drive saw the visitors’ front row stand up under pressure. Worthing’s kicker missed when the Saxons were penalised for side entry, but their free running backs hit back with a nicely worked try for winger Jack Maslen after Saxons’ possession was stolen from a collapsed maul. A Worthing infringement allowed Hearn to reduce the deficit to a single point and gradually the Saxons started to exert pressure, direct running from centres Ben Barkley and Will Hurrell generating yardage as Worthing had to double-team their midfield defences.

The penalty count started to mount in the Saxons’ favour, and though Hearn pulled a kick wide following a tackle infringement referee Nick Cockburn eventually lost patience and produced a yellow card for Worthing centre Oliver Richards’ deliberate knock-on. The Saxons kicked it for the corner and a series of drives worked enough space for winger Nathan Bressington to crash through the depleted wide defences. Hearn kicked a magnificent conversion from the touchline but the Saxons were caught napping as a fumbled restart catch was recovered by Worthing and their man-of-the match scrum half Joe Govett evaded some slack defending to scuttle under the posts and regain the lead. It was scant consolation when Hearn hit back with a penalty after Bressington’s foot just drifted into touch while rounding a defender, the half time whistle was blown with it all to play for at 16-14.

A ruck infringement enabled Worthing to benefit from a sudden squall to find touch deep in the Saxons’ 22 and produce a rare taste of their own medicine as the Saxons’ pack were shunted back over their own line from a catch & drive, 2nd row Scott Barlow securing the try. The Saxons came back and opted to kick a penalty into touch deep in Worthing’s 22. The catch & drive was just held out but Will Hurrell burst through 2 defenders to level the scores from Sione Tu’ipolotu’s switch pass and Hearn re-establishing the lead with the conversion. A Saxons’ obstruction in attack gifted Govett a long range penalty attempt that fell short on the hour, but with just 10 minutes to go Hearn put the Saxons within touching distance of victory with a penalty after Worthing’s front row again stood up under pressure in the scrum.

The Saxons secured possession with barely 4 minutes on the clock and proceeded to run time down with a series of pick and go drives. Disaster struck with barely a minute to go though when a runner was isolated on the floor and conceded a penalty. 3 points was not enough so Worthing kicked to the corner and launched a wave of attacks that the Saxons defence just about held out before a ball carrier was adjudged to have been held up over the line. Worthing attacked from the resulting scrum but a Saxons hand in the ruck gave them another opportunity which saw No.8 Rob Smith crash through the desperate defenders to score under the posts. Govett made no mistake with the conversion and the final whistle went to the despair of the Saxons and joy of the elated Worthing Raiders.

Director of Rugby Neil Mitchell commented “It was bitterly disappointing to lose in the 83rd min from being 5 points up, though there was almost an inevitability to it when we tried to run the clock down. It seemed the gods were playing with us the way the wind and rain blew in the 2nd half, but a playoff is always a gamble and to be fair Worthing are a good side who always looked capable of scoring".

"We’ve no one to blame but ourselves though, after the way our campaign started we should have gone up as champions. In a strange way though that also contributed to our downfall when complacency set in. It’s very hard for everybody involved but we’ll see how many of the squad we retain, rebuild and start again. We’ll be back”.