Horsham FC’s week on the road has highs – and a low

Horsham recorded their first National League South success since August 22 courtesy of a 2-1 victory at bottom side Slough on Saturday.

The Hornets trailed to Ruben Shakpoke’s sixth-minute strike but the game turned when Slough’s Shay Spencer was sent off midway through the first half following a tussle with Charlie Hester-Cook.

Horsham levelled just before half-time, Ryan Bartley getting the deftest of touches on James Hammond’s free-kick, before Greg Luer superbly curled home what proved to be the Hornets’ winner on 54 minutes.

Di Paola told us: “It was good to get a win. It’s a tough place to go – but it was probably the worst performance of the season from us. The irony of it was we won!

“This is the weird thing about football. We’ve played so well against so many good teams and not got what we deceived – and on Saturday we were very average and we ended up getting a win.

“But it doesn’t matter. We did need a win, and the boys deserved a win for what they’ve put in over the last few weeks.

“Slough are down the bottom, although they do now have investment so they’re going to go crazy signing players, but it was good to pick up three points and keep us ticking along.”

Tuesday saw valiant Horsham concede in second half stoppage time to draw 2-2 at unbeaten Ebbsfleet.

The Hornets went ahead on 28 minutes through Ronan Silva, but an error from keeper Sam Howes allowed Lennon Peake’s high cross to sneak home, drawing the hosts level on 78 minutes.

Horsham retook the lead almost immediately, Jamie Yila firing home following a flick-on by debutant Jimmy Wild – but they couldn’t hold on, Charlie Seaman netting at the very end to see the spoils shared.

Di Paola continued: “But for a poor error, I don’t think they [Ebbsfleet] come back into it. It’s hugely frustrating because I thought the boys were brilliant.

“They’re an excellent side – there’s no denying that – but although they had a lot of the ball, they weren’t really troubling us. I don’t think Sam had much to do in goal, our defenders were brilliant, our game plan was perfect, but unfortunately Sam flapped one into his own goal. It changed the momentum of the game.

“But in terms of the performance we were excellent. To a man, they were really, really good. There were some blockbuster performances from a lot of our boys. Jake Elliott will admit himself he was bad on Saturday but I thought he was absolutely exceptional, as were Lee Harding, Ryan Bartley and Niall McManus.”

Horsham became the fourth team to take National League South points off unbeaten Ebbsfleet this season.

Fleet sit second in the table, three points off leaders and Kent rivals Maidstone United with two games in hand.

Ebbsfleet’s 2026-27 campaign began in September due to a National League suspension. The Kentish outfit had their first six National League South fixtures postponed while the club addressed their ongoing financial issues.

An August takeover from new owner John O’Leary allowed Fleet to fully pay His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, who had issued a winding-up petition over unpaid debts going back to April, and the club’s players.

Horsham were one of the teams directly impacted by Ebbsfleet’s suspension. The Hornets were due to travel to Kent on August bank holiday Monday but the game was postponed due to Fleet’s ongoing financial woes.

And Di Paola admitted he was unsatisfied with the punishment dealt out to Ebbsfleet by the National League.

He said: “What I will say is, I like Ebbsfleet and I think it’s a great club, and I like the people up there, but I feel like we’ve been hard done by by the National League. I feel like they’ve been given a massive advantage by being given all of August off.

“They’re a good side and they’ve got 20 good players. They keep saying, oh we have to play all these games, but they’ve got 20 players to play them with. We’ve got 14, 15.

“It doesn’t seem right to me. It feels like there hasn’t been a punishment. Equally, they didn’t play anyone in August where everyone starts the season with an intensity. By the time they started playing people, a lot of teams have had a reality check and aren’t in as good a place as they were at the start of the season.

“It’s very annoying. Nothing against Ebbsfleet, but the situation and how it’s been dealt with doesn’t seem right. They’re an excellent side so they’ll probably win the league anyway, but from my point of view it doesn’t quite sit right with me.”

Di Paola has recruited defender George Cox from Worthing and forward Wild from Chatham Town.

The Hornets, now 14th, entertain second-from-bottom Walton & Hersham this Saturday before visiting Maidenhead United on Tuesday.

You can read more from Di Paola – including his thoughts on new boy Wild and Horsham’s upcoming league fixtures – tomorrow at sussexworld.co.uk/sport.