Goals flowing for Horsham FC to the delight of manager Di Paola

The Hornets came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw at Margate on Friday night and an excellent performance on Monday saw Horsham put ten-man Bognor to the sword in a resounding 4-0 victory.

Horsham are fourth in the table, two points behind early leaders Potters Bar Town.

The Hornets are also the league’s top-scorers, with 14 goals in five games, and boast the division’s top marksman in Jack Mazzone. The striker has bagged six in five games, two more than teammates Daniel Ajakaiye and Lucas Rodrigues, who sit joint third in the charts.

Di Paola said: “The boys have done well, but I think they could have done better. I suppose I’m always like this, but I feel that in the Carshalton and the Margate games we didn’t perform.

“But it’s been a good start for us. Sham [Fenelon] has been very, very good. Lee Harding, Tom Richards, all the forward players have come to the table and are doing good things for us at the moment.

“Long may that continue, because we have struggled for goals in this league if we’re being brutally honest. In our first year Chris Smith carried us in the first half of the season. He got ten I think, which shows that we’ve struggled to have a cutting edge.

“Fair play to the boys, they’ve been good. It’s been a good team effort and there’s been lots of good stuff from a lot of players. I’ve been really happy.

“I thought [defenders] Bobby Price and Tom Day on Monday deserved huge credit for playing at centre midfield up against some excellent players. They did a brilliant job for the team and that’s what you need when the chips are down. You just need boys to get on with it and suck it up. I can’t imagine either one particularly wanted to play there, but they did a brilliant job.

“Although we don’t have big numbers we’ve got a good group who work hard for each other. That’s all you can ask for.”

At Margate Horsham had a goal ruled out early on. Gate took the lead on the hour but Rodrigues levelled two minutes later.

In front of a capacity home crowd of more than 1,600 on Monday, Rodrigues netted on the stroke of half-time before Mazzone doubled Horsham’s lead on the hour.

Bognor’s Sam De St Croix saw red before Mazzone added his second and Ajakaiye struck at the death.

Di Paola added: “The Margate game was a humdinger. We were a bit unfortunate with the goal that was disallowed. Everyone said, including the referee, that he got it wrong but you could argue that it was a game of few chances. The draw was fair.

“Going into Monday’s game against Bognor I felt we were going to be up against it. We didn’t have a single central midfielder in the squad. Tom Kavanagh got a concussion on Friday night and Doug Tuck damaged his back.

“We had a right-back playing in central midfield, so it was quite an ask for the boys to be able to compete against a really good side.

“It took us a while to get to grips with their shape, but from around half-hour onwards I thought we were the better side. It was a good win and it keeps us ticking along.”

Meanwhile, the Hornets have confirmed the re-signing of fan favourite Eddie Dsane. He has joined Horsham for the remainder of the campaign.

Horsham travel to Ramsgate’s Southwood Stadium to take on league rivals Herne Bay in the FA Cup first qualifying round this Saturday.

You can read Di Paola’s thoughts on the Dsane signing and the Cup tie at Herne Bay tomorrow online at sussexworld.co.uk/sport.