Chesterfield FC v Horsham FC in the FA Cup: Hornets boss looking forward to special weekend for players and fans

The Hornets have seen off Virginia Water, Dorking, Margate and Gorleston in the Cup this season to reach the first round for a third time in four years.

And Di Paola admitted the clash with the Spireites will be another ‘great occasion for the club’, to rival the likes of memorable FA Cup trips to Swansea, Carlisle and Barnsley.

He said: “It’s going to be a great weekend for the supporters and everyone around the club, but I just kind of tick along as normal!

“These games are a challenge because I spend a lot of time with the club sorting out the logistics.

“As we’re a small club, the logistics of planning for a Carlisle or a Barnsley or a Chesterfield gives you a lot to think about.

“I’ll be happy once we’ve got to the game and everyone’s where they need to be and people have been picked up!

“And then we’ll be back to normal. I’ve got one eye on this month knowing how tough it will be with all those games, but you’re a victim of your own success. We can’t complain about that.

“At the moment, we’ve got a full complement of players to choose from, so if we can get through four or five of these games with the squad as it is, that would be a big help for us to put some fresh legs in for all the games.

“It’s going to be an exciting weekend. It’s another great occasion for the club, and everyone is going to look back and enjoy it.

“From what I can tell, loads of supporters are staying up and they’ll make a weekend of it. Our players are going out on the Saturday night, so they’ll have a good time too.”

Horsham have also enjoyed success in the FA Trophy, reaching the second round after seeing off Canvey on Saturday, and sit eighth in the Isthmian Premier, just four points off the play-offs with multiple games in hand on the teams above them.

The Hornets have hit 12 goals in their past five games, all without conceding, and Di Paola said his players were in a ‘good place’ going into their clash with Chesterfield.

He added: “I’m enjoying the group, I’m enjoying where we are. I think we’re in a really good place. You never know how long that’s going to be, but at the moment everything is really positive.

“Boys are coming back to full fitness, we’ve got boys coming into form, the management team are doing a great job so that makes my life much easier, we’re getting big crowds and the club is buzzing.

“Winning games does that to a team. Nothing apart from winning games makes a club happy.

“The boys have been in a good frame of mind since pre-season. They’re a really good bunch, I like them all, but you have to keep your eye on the ball.

“The minute we thought we cracked it against Dorking, we got pumped by Dulwich; we beat Hashtag comfortably, but we then lost to Dover.

“We’re going to have a huge challenge on Saturday. It’s going to be really, really tough physically, mentally and emotionally. We could come down to earth quite quickly on Saturday.

“The boys are in a good frame of mind but we know the next nine games are going to define the season.

“There’s three cups, all of which we want to stay in, and then six league games. That’s a fifth of the season in a month, so we have to be really on it. It’s a huge challenge to get as many results as we can.”

You can read more build-up ahead of Horsham’s FA Cup first round trip to Chesterfield online at sussexworld.co.uk/sport and in this week’s West Sussex County Times.