Horsham FC boss calls for 'perspective' after back-to-back league defeats

The Hornets went down 2-0 at home to Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday before losing 2-1 at Enfield on Tuesday evening.

Horsham are now winless in four and have slipped to sixth. Despite this run, the Hornets are just four points behind early pacesetters Hornchurch, albeit having played two games more.

Di Paola said: “A week can be a long time in football. You go from everyone telling you you’re the greatest in the world, to everyone thinking it’s a disaster. I think it’s a little bit in the middle.

“A bit of perspective needs to be put on this batch of games. We’ve travelled up to North London three times in two weeks. It’s a lot of time on the road.

“I’m not massively happy with the first quarter of the season, but I feel like there’s been some good stuff, and we are only a quarter of the way in.

“Expectations grow very quickly. There’s disappointment when things don’t go to plan. At this stage of the season, if you look at our points total and gave me another three points I would’ve been absolutely over the moon.”

Goals in either half from Matthew Johnson and Frankie Merrifield gave Bishop’s Stortford the win on Saturday. On Tuesday Andre Corker and Adam Cunnington gave Enfield a half-time lead, before the Hornets pulled back through a Rian Bray own goal early in the second half.

Di Paola added: “Saturday showed the difference between being clinical and not. I thought it was a really even game. I think if either side got a point no one would have argued.

“I was really happy with the performance. I thought we were okay, in general, on Saturday apart from when we switched off and they scored.

“At Enfield, in the first half I thought we were off the pace, but we were excellent in the second half. Again, we’ve not capitalised on the periods where we’ve been dominant.”

Midfielders Tom Richards and Doug Tuck could returnfor the trip to Bowers & Pitsea this Saturday. But Horsham have bid farewell to popular striker Eddie Dsane.