Foggy frustration for Horsham at Hastings but postponement was right call, says boss

The foggy scene at The Pilot Field shortly before the scheduled kick-off time. Picture by Simon Newstead

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Horsham manager Dominic Di Paola agreed, despite a three-hour horror journey, the postponement of Tuesday night's match at Hastings United due to fog was completely the right decision.

The Ryman League South Division clash was called-off shortly before kick-off, despite many spectators from both sides already in the ground at The Pilot Field.

It’s the second successive Tuesday that both teams have had a game postponed, the Hornets’ match last week suffered from a frozen pitch at Gorings Mead.

Di Paola said: “It was less annoying than last week against Three Bridges because personally, I thought common sense could have dictated things.

“The temperature was dropping and something should have been done to call it off earlier.

“Whereas at Hastings, the fog just came in. A few of their supporters were moaning saying it was alright to play.

“I would have preferred to play, after a three-hour trip the last thing I wanted was to be going down there again.

“But you could just not see. Maybe from the sides it looked ok, but standing in the middle of the pitch, you could not see the four corners.

“It’s infuriating and frustrating, but I know the reasons for it.”

Horsham were set to have dual-signed former captain Joe Shelley play for them last night with Southern Combination League side Pagham not having a game.

But that is likely to be a one off, with Di Paola adding: “I was short in central midfield and he texted me offering to come down if we needed someone to make up the numbers, which was nice of him.”

Horsham host Ramsgate on Saturday and the manager added: “We have big games in the next three and we need to try and arrest the slide and pick up some points.”

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