Horsham boss: Second premier season set to be tougher than first

Manager Dom Di Paola is warning the Hornets’ second year at step three of the non-league game is likely to be harder than their first.

Promotion to the premier last year was followed by a fine campaign in which Horsham were never far away from the group at the top of the table.

When football was suspended in March because of the coronavirus outbreak, they sat a comfortable sixth in the table and, with nine games to go, had genuine hopes of getting into the play-offs.

But it’s often the case in football that once a team’s surprise element in a new league has worn off, form can suffer. And Di Paola is under no illusions the 2020-21 campaign will be a real test for his team.

“Our second season could be harder,” he told the County Times.

“People know about us now, where as they didn’t when we first went into the premier division.

“It is a strong league and there are always a number of clubs capable of winning it or going up.

“For next season, you’d look at Kingstonian, Margate, Worthing, Hornchurch, Cray, Carshalton – all of them are capable of doing really well, they’ll be expecting to do well.

“We’ll see how we go but we are not big at this level. We’re still young guns.

““Budget-wise we’re not where we need to be compared to some of the teams in the league.

“But we have a lot of plans and we just want to have an enjoyable season.

“If we can be in the top eight or nine we’ll be pleased.”

As reported last week, Di Paola will be content if it is a summber of little change at the Camping World Community Stadium.

Adam Westwood has stepped down as Di Paola’s assistant manager and has been replaced by Ross Standen.

Three players – Alex Kelly, Harry Mills and Greg Cundle – are moving on and Di Paola’s first job is to replace the trio. But he is not planning major changes to a squad he believes have shown they deserve further chances to shine.