Di Paola believes opponents Three Bridges are in false position in league

The two Sussex sides face off at Gorings Mead tonight with Paul Faili’s side sitting second-to-bottom in the standings.

They have won just three of their 14 league matches - two of which have come in their last three matches, including a shock 1-0 scalp of Dorking Wanderers on Saturday.

Di Paola, whose side are 12th, is expecting another tough game and has backed their opponents to climb up the table after overcoming injury problems in the first few months of the campaign.

He said: “Three Bridges are a really good side on paper. They have had a lot of injuries and I think they will kick on, I do not think they will be in the relegation mix.

“They have a good squad. Tony Garrod is one of the best strikers in the league in my eyes and they have a good goalkeeper and Jamie Crellin is a good solid centre-half.”

There will be a number of former players from both sides on show tonight as Matt Whitehead, Allan Tait, Steve Sargent, Kieron Thorpe, Dan Mobsby and Tom Howard-Bold are amongst the Bridges ranks.

On their own recent injury problems, Di Paola added: “Everyone apart from Charlie Farmer is available from Saturday, but we are still missing Lee Carney, Terry Dood and Tony Nwachukwu, we are probably six off full-strength.

“Lee has done his hamstring so could be a month or a couple of weeks, Tony reckons he could be back for Saturday, but I reckon more likely it will be the following week.

“Adam Hunt is straight-line running and Mark Knee did the warm-up on Saturday. He is maybe two weeks away and then we will have to get him out on loan for two or three weeks, so it’s likely we will see both of them in January.”

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!