FA Trophy tie at Scunthorpe a ‘tough undertaking’ for Horsham FC

​The Hornets – who are on their best-ever Trophy run – travel to Lincolnshire tomorrow looking to book a place in the competition’s last eight.

But they will be coming up against a Scunthorpe side who have been in imperious form. The Iron, fourth in the National League, have won eight of their past nine in all competitions, with their last defeat coming at Altrincham on November 29.

And Di Paola is under no illusions how tough Horsham’s task will be at Glanford Park.

He said: “We keep providing these opportunities for good experiences for everyone. Win, lose or draw, I’m sure the supporters will have a great weekend as they always do.

“It’s a tough undertaking. I think they are second-favourites for the Trophy and they’re going really well in the league now. They seem to have kicked on massively – sod’s law isn’t it!

“We’ll give it our best. It’s all we can ever do. It’s the hardest draw we could have possibly had really, given the journey – we’re doing it in a day – and what we’re facing.

“We’ll give it our best shot and hopefully we’ll do ourselves justice as we have done so many times in the past.”

Di Paola confirmed that Horsham’s two long-term injury absentees – who had left a ‘big hole to fill’, according to the boss – were ‘no closer to being back’ but an in-form striker was back in contention after a short bout of illness.

He added: “Charlie [Hester-Cook] and Lee [Harding] are no closer to being back, and it’s a big hole to fill. We’ve really missed Cookie but I think we’re starting to miss Lee more now.

“We’ve been short at the back for two months and one or two need to come out. But that’s the problem when you go with a small squad. When people are out of form you want to drop someone else in there – but we can’t. We’ve got to play them, and when they don’t play well you get frustrated but it’s not their fault.

“Sometimes you just need to come out of the team for a couple of games and that freshens you up and you’re ready to go again. Moving forward next season, we can’t have the same situation again. You’re always going to have these peaks and troughs, but you might not have as many peaks as troughs – then you’re in trouble.

“Soul Kader is suspended. Hopefully [Rhys] Murphy will be back after illness, so it’ll be Murphy for Soul and that’s the squad.

“We’ve got no one fit to come in, as far as I’m aware, and no one coming in as far as I’m aware at this stage. We’re trying to do something there but we will see.”