Horsham FC boss tips Chelmsford to be ‘right up there’ in National League South title race

That’s according to Horsham FC manager Dominic Di Paola, who takes his troops to Essex tomorrow.

The Clarets are the league’s only remaining unbeaten side – yet they sit 14th in the table, one place above the Hornets.

City have been left to rue too many draws. Seven of Chelmsford’s eight National League South fixtures have ended in stalemate so far this season, with their one and only league victory coming at home to Maidenhead United on August 29.

The Clarets did, however, advance in the FA Cup last weekend with a 1-0 win at Canvey Island. City will visit National League North outfit Brackley Town in the third qualifying round on October 3.

And Di Paola believes Chelmsford will be ‘right in the mix’ for National League South honours come the end of the season.

He told the County Times: “They’ll be right up there with the players they’ve got. I think the first ten games don’t really tell you a lot. If you look at the league table at the moment, I don’t think half the teams will finish where they are at the moment – both top and bottom.

“But it’s such a tight league. A win puts you in the play-offs and a loss at the moment puts you in the relegation spots.

“It’s not really evened itself out yet. There’s currently eight teams on ten points, which is odd. It’s just a really, really tight league at this stage – and everyone and anyone thinks they’ve got a chance of doing something.

“Chelmsford have got worldie players. Last year I felt that they and Dagenham were the biggest underachievers. They’ve massively strengthened this summer with the boys they’ve brought in from Southend.

“They’ll be right in the mix no matter what happens. Sooner or later they’ll be up there. There’s no doubt about it.”

Injuries have shorn Horsham of a number of their key stars in recent weeks – including goalkeeper Sam Howes, tricky winger Reece Myles-Meekums and top scorer Greg Luer.

Luer remains a doubt for the Hornets’ trip to Chelmsford, while Marco Haigh is suspended following his red card against Farnham Town.

But Di Paola had positive news on the recoveries of Myles-Meekums and defender Jake Elliott.

He added: “We’ve just got to see how many players we’ve got fit. If we can get two more back on the pitch that would be huge.

“Meeky [Myles-Meekums] isn’t far off, Jake is okay, so if we can bring those two back into the group we can almost field a full bench – which we’ve not been able to do since the second or third game of the season.

“I’ve got to see what the club is willing to do in terms of getting additional bodies. Nothing is going to change in terms of injuries if we don’t get a couple of extra bodies in the building to free up some of our existing boys.

“It was lovely to have Dan [Ajakaiye] come off the bench Saturday because he changed the game [at Walton & Hersham]. You need people off the bench to do something different and we’ve not had that.”

The Hornets host SCFL Premier side Newhaven in the Sussex Senior Cup on Tuesday evening.