Horsham FC boss delighted with ‘really important’ win over play-off rivals Cray Valley PM

The Hornets ran out 2-1 winners thanks to first half goals from Reece Myles-Meekums and James Hammond.

The win moved the third-placed Hornets six points clear of place-below Cray Valley, although the Millers have a game in hand.

Victory also moved Horsham to within a point of second-placed Dartford, who suffered a surprise defeat at Cheshunt, and three off leaders Billericay Town, who left it late to beat Carshalton Athletic at home.

Di Paola said: “In terms of the play-offs, it was really important [to beat Cray Valley]. We’re not mathematically guaranteed [a play-off place], there’s still quite a bit to go.

“Carshalton and Hashtag are on the march a little bit. It feels like a few teams are beginning to maybe fade away slightly. I think the likes of Chatham and Folkestone are maybe a bit too far away to catch us now.

“It was an important one because Cray Valley are so close to us in the table. You’d probably say Chichester, Carshalton and Hashtag are the final ones that could maybe get in there [the play-offs].

“Some of those teams in the chase are in really good form, so you look at that and think you need to keep some distance between the three chasing ones - Chi, Carshalton and Hashtag - and we did that.

“Eleven points clear of [sixth-placed] Hashtag is a good place to be. We’ve just got to keep ticking off the games and stay in there. The main target is to get in there, so we’re in a pretty good place at the moment.”

Myles-Meekums fired the hosts in front on 17 minutes, after brilliant wingplay by Ola Ogunwamide, before Hammond tucked his 29th minute penalty past Millers keeper Harrison Chamberlain.

Former Hornet Tom Beere struck at the death to set up a nervy finale, but Horsham held on to claim a valuable three points.

Di Paola added: “It was a really tough game. They’re a good side, and you can see why they’ve done so well this year. They play a tough style of football to play against.

“The first half was good. If I were to be ultra-critical, I didn’t think we were great in the second half, but we defended really, really well.

“We limited them to very, very little. They had a lot of the ball but didn’t do a great deal with it, which is obviously good.

“It was a bit of a rubbish goal to give away near the end, but in general it was a good display.”

The Hornets travel to Dartford this weekend in a huge game in the race for promotion.

Horsham will be hoping to not only strengthen their play-off credentials on Saturday, but to extinguish memories of their ‘shambolic’ 3-1 home defeat to the Darts in December.

Di Paola continued: “It was a different game then. There were a few factors external to the game that didn’t go to plan either.

“We try to approach every game as an individual entity. They’ve had some changes to their squad and we’ve got players who won’t have played in the previous game.

“We just want to do as well as we can. We’ll always attack it in the right way and see where that takes us.

“We’re in a good place, but I think they are as well. It’ll be two form teams giving it a good crack.”

Di Paola also provided injury updates on three players ahead of the Hornets’ trip to Kent.

He said: “Brivs [Jack Brivio] is on the comeback trail, but still quite far away.

“Lee Harding is okay and back involved, but we think [Charlie] Hester-Cook may be out.

“He came off injured Saturday with quite a bad one, so we will see how that pans out.”

Meanwhile, Horsham’s Sussex Senior Cup semi-final against Brighton & Hove Albion’s under-21s has been moved back a week, from the previously announced date of Tuesday, March 11.

The tie will now be held at Sussex FA headquarters at Lancing FC on Tuesday, March 18, kick-off 7.30pm.