‘It’s a bumper tie’ – Visit of Southend will be great occasion for Horsham FC
Dominic Di Paola is relishing the prospect of taking on another ‘proper football club’ when Horsham FC host Southend United in the last eight of the FA Trophy.
The National League Shrimpers – who spent a season in the Championship in 2006-07 – reached the quarter-finals with a 1-0 win at Isthmian Premier outfit Chatham Town.
The tie will take place on Saturday, February 28, with ticket details to follow.
Di Paola is looking forward to a ‘bumper tie’ – but joked the Hornets had been handed another ‘terrible draw’.
He said: “It’s good but it’s a terrible draw! We played the favourite in the previous round, and up to this round we’ve played Hemel away, who’d only lost one game all season, Leatherhead when we had no footballers due to injuries, and Farnham who, pound for pound, are the biggest spenders at step three in the south.
“We’ve just been given tough draw after tough draw, but I expect a really big crowd and that’ll bring in money for the club which is what they want.
“It’s a bumper tie. I remember Southend in the Champ. These are proper football clubs. Scunthorpe were in the Championship, Southend were in the Championship, these are huge clubs who have got a good chance of getting promoted [from the National League].
“It’s a really big one but we do have a bit to do before then.”
Horsham return to National League South action tomorrow at third-from-bottom Enfield Town, before a home game against Dagenham & Redbridge on Tuesday.
And last weekend’s FA Trophy heroics at Scunthorpe United have come at a cost – with Di Paola revealing the Hornets only have ‘ten fit players’ for their trip to north London.
He said: “We lost both our centre halves [Jake Elliott and Jack Brivio], our left back [Harvey Sparks], Hammo [James Hammond] was struggling with his hamstring at the end of the game, and then Sham [Fenelon] came on and did his calf.
“At the moment we’ve probably got about ten fit players. We’re back to square one but that’s the price you pay for staying in cups with a tiny squad.
“We’re just constantly decimated, but I can’t say anything more about it. We’ve been saying it all season. We need bodies and we haven’t got them at the moment and that makes it just a little bit harder.”