ROSS TRELEAVEN made his Worthing debut at Imber Court but a 77th-minute equaliser prevented his ending up on the winning side.
The former Crowborough striker, whose goals sent Athletic racing away with the County League title, and whose previous club visit A2B Woodside on Monday, was twice denied a goal on his debut.
Met keeper Mo Maan required a full-stretch, reflex divi
ng save in the 29th minute to keep out a diving header by Treleaven.
It was a dramatic moment. Lloyd Skinner battled through midfield, was fouled, but laid off the ball to Chris O'Flaherty on the left who was waved on by the referee's advantage.
The close-season signed, former Whyteleafe left-sided forward put in a first-time cross and after Treleaven met it, Maan pushed the ball upwards. It dropped onto the top of the bar, bounced up again but came down to land on the roof of the net.
A third fine save by Maan in the 47th minute kept Treleaven off the scoresheet. Another O'Flaherty cross was headed by Skinner, more upawards than forwards but when it came down, Treleaven was at the near post with a half-volley on the turn.
Confidence restoredTreleaven, joint-signed with Eastbourne Borough of the Conference, is tall and slim, and the physical aspect of Met's big men in central defence subdued him until the diving header gave him his confidence.
On the brink of half-time, Maan had been extended again by O'Flaherty from 20 yards after Skinner robbed Ron Edwards. This Worthing pair were effectively active again, and Rebels went in 1-0 up at half-time with a 37th-minute goal also involving O'Flaherty.
He and Ben Andrews raced after a ball down the left wing, exchanged passes. Andrews, from near the byeline, got in the cross and Scott Kirkwood, who scored seven goals last season after arrival from Hastings, tapped it in.
If Maan had played a major part in the first half, his Worthing opposite number, Alan Mansfield, had already kept his side in the game from the ninth minute. Saheed Sankoh bore in from the right and shot from 20 yards towards the far side of goal, but Mansfield, also at full length, pushed it around the post.
Police take chargeThe Treleaven half-volley save by Maan early in the second half was the last real threat Met Police allowed Rebels in this early match-up of the two losing promotion play-offs semi-finalists. They became more positive, re-shaped and played further up the pitch.
They contrived not to level the match on the hour when Rob George slid in to connect with a Sankoh cross that was travelling all among the ground and somehow lifted it, not only over the Rebels crossbar, but also out of the ground.
But after a 20-minute spell with pressure on Worthing, the Met did equalise.
The Worthing right-side defence allowed the Met some progress along the goalline and this got the ball into the six-yard box where Sankoh turned to score out of a goalmouth scramble.
Worthing made changes in the last 10 minutes and Jorge Lopes forced Maan into an urgent clearance, but another strong Met Police side were not about to allow Worthing anything more.
WORTHING: Mansfield; Pook, Alexander, Douglas, Gregory; Skinner, Kennett, Kirkwood, O'Flaherty; Andrews, Treleaven. Subs: Lopes (Douglas 82), Brotherton (Treleaven 86), Akehurst (Kirkwood 90), Southwell, Elliott.
Rebels now have a win, a draw and a defeat in their first three matches.
Ryman League Premier: Hornchurch 1, Dover 0; Ashford Town Middx 7, Tooting 0; Billericay 3, Wealdstone 2; Boreham Wood 1, Ramsgate 1; Dartford 0, Hastings Utd 2; Harrow Bor 1, Carshalton 5; Horsham 2, Heybridge Swifts 0 (at Woodside Rd); Maidstone 1, Harlow 2; Margate 0, Canvey Is 4; Sutton 1, Hendon 0; Tonbridge Angels 1, Staines 2.
Div 1 South: Corinthian Casuals 1, Sittingbourne 3; Crowborough 4, Fleet 4; Eastbourne Tn 2, Croydon Ath 3; Folkestone Inv 1, Walton & Hersham 2; Godalming Tn 2, Ashford 0; Kingstonian 3, Whyteleafe 0; Leatherhead 1, Cray Wands 1; Merstham 1, Dulwich Hamlet 4; Met Police 1, Worthing 1; Walton Casuals 1, Chipstead 1; Whitstable 0, Burgess Hill 1.
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