Horsham FC centurions hailed as ‘key cog’ marks milestone in style
Dominic Di Paola paid tribute to his Horsham FC centurions for firing the club to an end-of-season victory over Chippenham Town.
The Hornets edged out the relegated Bluebirds 3-2 at the Fusion Aviation Community Stadium to confirm a 15th-placed finish in the National League South – the highest league finish in the club’s history.
Saturday saw Di Paola field a Hornets XI composed entirely of players who had appeared 100 times or more.
Lucas Rodrigues returned to the starting line-up for the first time since February to make his 200th appearance but Reece Myles-Meekums – a fellow member of the Horsham 100 club – missed out through injury.
Di Paola said it was a remarkable achievement to have 12 Hornets reach their ton – but the boss admitted one more player should have hit that landmark.
He told the County Times: “If you got back to maybe the 1970s there were probably loads of teams that had players locked into clubs.
“But in the modern game now – and with the amount of local clubs and the amount of money sloshing around and the offers our boys get all the time – to keep that many for that long is unprecedented. I don’t think it’ll happen many times in the modern game.
“We talk about it all the time. It’s quite a common conversation point, but the fact that we’ve constantly been going for trophies and promotions over the years has kept the group at the club.
“But they also get on really well. You always want to keep playing with people that you like and they do get on well.
“It’s amazing to have 12 of them. If Jake [Elliott] hadn’t had his injuries this year we would have had 13. I think Jake is stuck on about 80-odd.
“It’s mad. It’s really good for the club.”
Rodrigues marked his double-century in style, his marvellous looping header breaking the deadlock against Chippenham in the 19th minute of the game.
The Brazilian-born maestro has been the man for the big occasion since joining from Whitehawk for a club record fee in the summer of 2021.
Rodrigues provided the assist for Tom Richards’ late equaliser in the Hornets’ heart-stopping 3-3 draw at former Premier League outfit Barnsley in the first round of the FA Cup in 2023-24.
The winger then helped himself to a double against Hashtag United on the final day of the 2024-25 campaign as Horsham secured the Isthmian Premier title in scarcely believable fashion.
And Di Paola had nothing but praise for Rodrigues, who he said had become a ‘key cog’ in the team.
Di Paola added: “He’s grown. You forget how young he was when he first joined. I think he was only about 21, 22 so he’s grown into the club and he’s grown into himself.
“He’s a much more mature player now and his approach to the game is much better. He’s a key cog. It took him a while to find his place but in the last three or four seasons he’s been absolutely brilliant for us.
“He’s scored some key goals – none more so than his ones in the last game of last season against Hashtag. He also scored a couple of key goals when we went on our FA Cup runs in the early rounds as well to keep us in the competition.
“He’s a brilliant player. He’s really, really good. To get to 200 games is a great thing really.”