Narrow opening day defeat at highly-fancied Chelmsford ‘not a bad start’ for Horsham FC

The Hornets made their National League South debut, the highest level they have ever played at, on Saturday and very nearly came home with a creditable point.

But Harry Bradbrook struck with just nine minutes to go to condemn Horsham to an opening day loss.

Di Paola said: “I was okay with it in general. It was one of those where a lot of things went against us on the day, but we were still very competitive.

“It’s obviously a tough place to go. To play one of the favourites first up is difficult, but I thought maybe up until the 65th minute we were the better team. I just felt we faded badly. We’ll have to address that this week.

“They’re in [training] five days a week and the fitness that they’ve built up during pre-season took them away from us. In the last 20, 25 minutes, they were much stronger than us.

“You can argue that a draw would have been a fairer result. I was at peace with it, but I do think there are things we can improve on.

“Losing Sham [Fenelon] to injury almost as soon as kick-off started, we muddled on for 15 minutes. Losing a sub early was not ideal on a hot day because they were bringing on subs that were changing the game. We’d already used one earlier on and then Cookie [Charlie Hester-Cook] got injured, so we’d used two before the hour mark.

“There were some extenuating factors, but I think as a starting point it gives us an idea of what the league is all about. I didn’t think we were outclassed, we were just lacking in a couple of areas that we knew we’d be lacking in before we even kicked off.

“We’re going to have to come up with a little bit more to get results. We know that. We’re going to have to work out a way to bridge the gap a bit, but it wasn’t a bad start.

“If I’m being hyper-critical, I don’t think we passed the ball well enough. That’s the one thing we have to take from the game. I don’t think we were brave enough on the ball.

“I think we counted and there were seven or eight boys who had never played at this level. There’s going to be an element of nerves and a bit of apprehension. Sometimes if you’re nervous, that can sap the energy out of your body.

“There's a lot of things to think about, but it’s not a bad start.”

Di Paola stressed that not much could be gleaned from their first league game of the season, admitting that Bradbrook’s late winner completely changed the post-match narrative.

He said: “I think the boys will come on in terms of fitness, but I think they’ll also come on in terms of the intensity of the game. There’s just an uplift in intensity, but in saying that it’s all a bit false.

“You can’t analyse too much from the first game. I know it’s a stupid thing to say, but if they hadn’t scored that goal, we would have come away really happy with a point against one of the better sides.

“It’s very hard on the opening day to gauge where you are at, so it’s important not to get too high or too low. We don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water, as the saying goes. You’ve just got to look to build.

“We’ve got to accept we’re not going to win every game. There will be teams who will be better than us. Did I think Chelmsford were better than us? Probably not, apart from the last 20, 25 minutes on the day.

“But from a starting point, I think the supporters can see that the boys gave their all.

“If we’d have had two extra subs later in the game we might have held out but it’s all ifs, buts and maybes.”

Midfielder Danny Barker made his 100th Horsham appearance in the opening day defeat at Chelmsford.

Barker, who joined the Hornets from Worthing in July 2023, was a key member of last season’s Isthmian Premier and Sussex Transport Senior Cup-winning squad – and Di Paola had nothing but praise for Horsham’s latest centurion.

He said: “He’s another good lad. He always does what we ask him to do, he follows instructions really well, and he had another good game on Saturday.

“He nullified [Chelmsford midfielder Josh] Hedges, who is a very good player. He nullified Elliot Long last week against Billericay. He’s a really good player, and to get to 100 games is great.

“He’s another really good lad. He’s great round the group, well liked, and he deserves to give this league a go.

“He probably didn’t get the opportunity he maybe deserved while he was at Worthing, so maybe he can take it on this year and have a go at it.

“He’s a good egg, and he deserves to play at this level.”

Horsham entertain West Sussex rivals Worthing this Saturday in their first-ever National League South home game, before travelling to Chesham United on Tuesday.

And you can read a full online preview of the Hornets’ highly-anticipated home curtain-raiser tomorrow at sussexworld.co.uk/sport.