Hornets boss says ‘shambolic’ final game sums up the season

The final-day defeat meant the relegated Hornets finished dead last in the Ryman League South Division table.

Horsham managed just one effort on target and were blighted by the unavailability of Tom Gilbert, Tony Nwachukwu, Joe Obersteller and Richie Byrne, while the injured Trevor McCreadie and Tom Vickers were only on the bench.

Di Paola said: “To be fair we had a lot missing through availability or not wanting to play or whatever reason.

“We just had to get a team out. We had two midfielders playing at the back and two youth teamers on the bench.

“The game was awful for our point of view. It sums up the season in terms of the playing staff just not being good enough for that league.

“They are either too young, too lightweight or not committing enough. Not having Tom Gilbert, Richie Byrne or Tony (Nwachukwu), three of our more experienced players made it even harder.”

Di Paola added: “It was a bit shambolic really. We expected one of the games to be like that (availability issues) out of the three and thankfully it was only one of the weeks that was that bad.

“It was not very enjoyable from a football point of view, it’s not how we like to put a team out, but it sums up the season really I suppose.”

Full report, reaction and the latest from Di Paola on his thoughts going forward in Thursday’s paper.