Christie maintained his 100% record against penalties faced this season as he leapt to his right to save from Arundel’s Josh Biggs to give United another chance to progress in the World’s oldest club competition.
Prior to the fixture, there was an impeccably observed minutes silence by everybody inside The Oval to remember those lost in the Shoreham Airshow tragedy that included Worthing United players Matt Grimstone and Jacob Schilt.
United were forced to shuffle their pack ahead of their 100th appearance in the FA Cup, with 3 changes to the side that began last time out against Pagham.
Adam Davidson missed the fixture as he served a one game suspension following his dismissal at AFC Uckfield, while Callum Dove and Dave Smart were both also absent.
Peter Featherstone returned in defence and Peter Cooper made his first start of the season, while there was a debut for Liam Painter at right back.
It was a fairly low key opening 45 minutes with United failing to fully test Arundel keeper James Fernandes, with Liam Baitup coming closest with an acrobatic scissor kick that Fernandes gathered.
Only a posts width denied Arundel from taking the lead as Rory Biggs saw a diving header rebound off the post.
Dom Clarke and Ryan Cooper found themselves in the wars during the opening 45 minutes following separate clashes of heads with their opponents, with Clarke ending up sporting a large patch of petroleum jelly on the back of his head while Cooper required bandaging.
United began the second half brightly as Jamie Bunn angled a ball to Peter Cooper, but his effort saw Fernandes untroubled.
Fernandes saw a weak clearance fall to Seb Saunders 30 yards from goal five minutes later, but his half-volley landed on the top of the net with Fernandes scrambling.
United found themselves under a barrage of high balls into the area throughout the contest, but manfully dealt with the threat.
With a little over twenty minutes left to play, a counter attack following a United corner saw Arundel take the lead as Barney Bountwood fired across Christie after the ball had been played in from the left wing.
The lead lasted a little over five minutes however as a left sided corner was scrambled home by Ryan Cooper whilst under pressure from Fernandes for his first goal in United colours.
On 82 minutes, an almost identical counter attack to the one that ended with the mullets taking the lead ended with Dean Stevens conceding a penalty and receiving a yellow card for his troubles.
Christie turned out to be United’s hero as he guessed right to save Josh Biggs’ penalty and ensure the scorelines remained level.
With the prospect of a replay looming, both sides had further chances as Biggs looked to redeem himself after his penalty miss with a swerving shot from distance that Christie had to watch carefully to gather before Baitup saw a curling effort tipped onto the bar and out for a corner by Fernandes as the game drew to its conclusion