Worthing 1 Bognor 1: Bognor's promotion champagne is back on ice, thanks to the coolest of penalty conversions by their former skipper.

Gary Young drilled home the 78th-minute spot kick after Miles Rutherford, also playing against his old club, had been tempted into an unwise challenge on Ben Carrington.

A point apiece was a fair result from a lively derby notable for Kevin Murphy's superb 53rd-minute free-kick and red cards for Rebels' Wes Lopez and Bognor substitute Adam El-Abd.

Bizarrely, both players who had been sent-off were on the pitch straight after the final whistle, El-Abd to plead his case with the referee and Lopez to receive the sponsors' man-of-the-match award.

Jack Pearce was trudging across the bumpy Woodside Road turf too, wondering how his men could let slip a win which would have left them on the brink of the top flight.

Rocks are still in a great position, and this draw with an in-form Rebels side cannot be considered a bad result.

For 25 minutes though they were ready to party on enemy territory until Carrington at last got away from the superb Murphy and Rutherford made his fatal slip.

The Bognor boss said: "I'm shattered by the way the goal happened.

"I could understand it if a kid had done it but I can't believe what Miles has done. Everybody knows you can't touch Ben Carrington.

"If the game was televised and you touched the telly he would fall over but Miles has committed the cardinal sin.

"My lads don't think it was a penalty but I had a clear view and the minute he did it I said 'Pen'. You would be very lucky to get away with that.

"But I was disappointed with the way we tried to play. We went for the 1-0 and I never thought they were going to score in the second half unless something like that happened."

Murphy's goal was a superb free-kick from 20 yards after Lopez had clipped Richard Hudson to earn his first booking.

Michael Birmingham had been inches off target from similar range in the first half but this time Murphy used his left foot to chip and curl the ball into the top corner.

Had the same player's header not been cleared off the line by the busy Paul Brown seven minutes later, the contest could have been all over.

Instead Worthing hit back and go to Lewes ready to throw another spanner in the promotion works tomorrow.

Boss Barry Lloyd said: "It was the right result for us in many ways. We worked hard and I thought we deserved a draw. I still think Bognor will take the championship but the last thing they wanted today was a local derby."

Lloyd took heart from a bright opening by his side which saw Lopez twice shoot powerfully at Craig Stoner after great foot work and Mark Knee have a shot deflected narrowly wide following a clever free-kick routine.

Lopez was perhaps a touch unlucky to see yellow twice, the second time for clipping El-Abd.

The Albion youngster went himself soon after for a lunge on Andy Beech.

Lloyd backed the referee on both decisions while Pearce described El-Abd's straight red as "a dreadful decision."

The luckiest player on the pitch was Jodey Rowland, who was only booked after decking Carrington straight after the penalty award.

That scuffle delayed the taking of the spot kick but the veteran Young, whose season could now be over due to ankle trouble, insisted he was not put off by the delay.

He said: "Nervous? Not at my age. Twenty years ago I might have been but not now.

"It meant a lot though. I've still got great passion for Bognor and I hope they go up but I'd rather it was not at the expense of us."

Worthing: Burton, Young (sub Lewis 79), Hibberd, Walker, Graves, Beech, Carrington, Knee (sub Moses 83), Alexander, Brown, Lopez. Unused subs: May, Stevens, Mateos. Yellow card: Lopez (fouls 59, 86), Carrington (foul 87). Red card: Lopez.

Bognor: Stoner, G. Rutherford (sub El-Abd 45), Rowland, Stevens (sub Wyatt 79), M. Rutherford, Murphy, Russell, M. Birmingham, Hudson (sub Sargent 66), Howell, D. Birmingham. Unused subs: Lawrence, Hall. Yellow card: Rowland (ungentlemanly conduct 77). Red: El-Abd (foul 88)

Referee: A. Laver.

Attendance: 932.

Men-of-the-match: Alexander (Worthing), Murphy (Bognor).