Horsham FC looked 'laboured and one-dimensional' in Wingate loss
Dominic Di Paola bemoaned a ‘laboured and one-dimensional’ performance as promotion-chasing Horsham FC fell to a second Isthmian Premier defeat in a row.
The Hornets missed the opportunity to strengthen their grip on third after a 2-1 home loss to Wingate & Finchley on Saturday.
Camilo Restrepo’s cross gave the visitors a fortuitous 23rd minute lead, but Horsham drew level 10 minutes later courtesy of a superb Reece Myles-Meekums effort.
James Hammond spurned a golden opportunity to put the Hornets in front in the second half, blazing over with the goal at his mercy, before Theo Alexandrou pounced on Jack Strange’s mishit back pass to net the winner.
Di Paola said: “We started really well. Up until they scored, I thought we were excellent and it looked like a good performance – but we gave away a terrible goal.
“We did really well to get back into it. Going in at half-time I was trying to emphasise that we needed to stick to what we were doing well.
“We came out [for the second half], missed a great chance, an almost open goal for Hammo. It was unlike him because he’s a good technician and a calm head, but he blazed it over the bar.
“We then just huffed and puffed and didn’t really do anything.
“Strangey made a horrific error, putting them straight through on goal and they’ve taken the chance. We just didn’t have anything about us to get us back in the game.
“There’s been three or four performances this season where we’ve been well below-par – Cray Valley away, Folkestone at home, and this one. You just think, we were so bad on the day. It was frustrating.
“We looked a bit laboured and one-dimensional. I’m going to have to make some adjustments.”
Horsham’s misery was compounded by league leaders Billericay Town and second-placed Dartford both falling to defeats against Lewes and Chichester City respectively, while wins for fourth-placed Cray Valley Paper Mills and fifth-placed Dover Athletic saw the chasing pair close the gap on the Hornets.
Di Paola admitted Saturday was a missed opportunity for Horsham to cement their promotion credentials, and stressed his players couldn’t put in a repeat performance during the run-in.
He said: “I fancied Dartford to lose. I just think they put loads in against us the week before.
“For Billericay, Chichester are a really good team and they’re hard to play against.
“But we’re running out of games now. We can’t have performances like Saturday.
“I’m a bit angry with the performance, really. We have to adjust that and become harder to beat again.”
Horsham visit Bowers & Pitsea this Saturday, before their Sussex Senior Cup semi against Brighton & Hove Albion’s under-21s at Lancing on Tuesday evening.