Di Paola pleased with Horsham FC’s ‘tough’ start to the season – but players are told to stop switching off

The Hornets sit ninth in the table having taken nine points from their first five games.

Horsham recorded a thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind home win over Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday before a 3-1 defeat at Whitehawk on Bank Holiday Monday.

Di Paola said: “We’ve got some tough games out of the way in this opening five games. You could argue we could have got a point against Hornchurch and we could have got a point against Whitehawk. We’ve been very close in the games we’ve not won.

“Even with the Bank Holiday weekend, I thought we had enough about us. We had enough about us, but in moments we switched off. That’s probably been the common theme in our opening five games. That’s the area we have to improve on.

“We’ve got a very tough game coming up in the FA Cup but we’re starting to get everyone back - and people have to start delivering.

“A lot of the boys have done really well in this opening exchange. Some have done a lot of good things, some have got to improve and up their game. We will then attack the next batch of league games.”

Saturday saw Horsham lead Dulwich at half-time courtesy of Jack Mazzone’s penalty - but Hamlet rallied in the second half to make it 2-1.

The Hornets looked to be heading for defeat, but goals in the last eight minutes from Tom Richards and Dan Ajakaiye saw Horsham claim a heartstopping win.

Horsham took the lead at Whitehawk on Monday thanks to Jack Strange’s 34th minute effort, but the hosts needed just two minutes to equalise.

The Hornets then fell behind on the hour and missed a golden chance to restore parity on 64 minutes when Mazzone was denied from the penalty spot – before the Hawks added a third in second half stoppage time.

Di Paola said: “On Saturday, in the first half I thought we played pretty well. We were the better team in the first half. We stuck to the game plan quite well.

“And in the second half, they came at us for 25 minutes. They really threw the kitchen sink at us.

“The penalty changed the momentum because they weren’t really troubling us, although they were putting a lot of balls into dangerous areas.

“It was a farcical penalty. The ball has bounced up off the ground and struck the underside of Harvey [Sparks]’ arm. The referee’s given the penalty, and that’s changed the momentum of the game.

“After we went behind we made some adjustments to our shape and brought our subs on, and I thought the boys who did come on were brilliant. They adjusted to what was required in the game.

“It got to 1-1 and they looked out on their feet, Dulwich, and we kind of ran over them with eight or nine minutes to go and got our just rewards with the winner.

“It was a good win against a very good side. Regardless of their positions after five games, I fully expect them to be in the mix. It was a really good win.

“Fast forward to Monday’s game, it’s a tough place to go. I highlighted it as probably one of the three worst away days of the season.

“I’ve watched the game back, and if I’m honest we had a lot of the ball but we didn’t do much with it.

“You can only play one half of football because of the hill. It’s pointless. It’s not a great pitch to play on and they know how to play it very well because they’re the home side.

“But going up the hill, we went 1-0 up which was brilliant. You think, if we go in at half-time 1-0 up going up the hill you’re in for a good second half, but we switched off and conceded a poor goal to make it 1-1.

“Second half we were very comfortable, I thought, going down the hill, but there was an unfortunate deflection for their goal.

“Again we put the pressure on and won the penalty - and that penalty changed the game. If we score the penalty, the momentum would have been with us and the minimum we would have got was a point.

“It was a frustrating day. I wasn’t impressed with our performance, but in the cold light of day when you take the emotion out of it, it’s not an easy place to go.”

On Saturday Horsham go to Leatherhead in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Bobby Price is set to return for the Hornets this weekend - but the club have confirmed summer signing and former Fulham defender Matthew Briggs has called time on his playing career due to an ongoing injury.

Reflecting on Briggs’ retirement, Di Paola said: “He’s a lovely lad, and I think he’s had a lot of injury problems that have stopped him doing more in football.

“You think of his history, he was a Premier League player at the end of the day.

“He came to us and he was struggling through pre-season with recovery. I told him to think about it [retirement], but I wasn’t trying to persuade him not to do it. It’s the right decision.

“If your body can’t do it, you can’t force your body to do it because you end up struggling in later life. It’s a common theme. A lot of footballers end up having problems with their hips and knees. He’s done the right thing.

“He’s got a great job at Fulham, and he’s got an opportunity to have a career in football which is what he wants to do.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get him three or four years ago when he was a fit player, but we kind of thought it was on the cards in pre-season.”