Horsham forward Smith 'flourishing' on Premier Division return

The Hornets forward took the home the match ball on Saturday as he bagged a hat-trick, his second of the 2019/20 season, in the 4-0 win over Bowers & Pitsea that sent Horsham top of the BetVictor Premier Division.

The treble saw Smith take his goal tally for the current campaign to 16 in 21 games in all competitions.

The Horsham forward is, at the time of writing, the Premier Division’s second-highest goalscorer, with 11 goals in 15 appearances.

Di Paola was delighted that Smith was thriving in the division after a difficult spell in the Premier with Burgess Hill Town in 2015.

He said: “A couple of people had asked me if I was concerned that he’d gone a few games without scoring but there’s the response.

“He’s always going to score goals if you give him the opportunity. He really suits the way we play.

“It’s always about the team but it is great for him.

“We’re really pleased for him because he had a go at playing at this level and it didn’t really work out for him at Burgess Hill.

“He went back down to Step 4 at South Park with a lot of his mates and it’s good that he’s now flourishing at this level.

“He’s 29 so he’s at a good age. I think he gets football now.

“He does a lot of good work off the ball so, for me, there’s lots of pleasing factors in his game, not just his goalscoring”.