Pre-season results matter little to Horsham FC boss
Dominic Di Paola isn’t putting too much stock in Horsham FC’s friendly results – despite the Hornets enjoying an unbeaten run.
Horsham have won three and drawn one of the four home pre-season tune-ups they’ve played so far.
The Hornets kicked off their summer schedule with a 3-2 victory over Eastleigh before beating AFC Wimbledon U18s in a 6-3 thriller.
A convincing 3-0 success over Eastbourne Town followed last Saturday, before a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Dulwich on Tuesday evening.
Di Paola said: “I don’t really put much stock in it. I thought we were absolutely horrific last pre-season and yet we started the season pretty well.
“I think we’ve been better in the games we’ve played this year than we were throughout the whole pre-season.
“But equally, we played an Eastleigh side who are still piecing together a squad and we played a very young under-18s for AFC Wimbledon. It was probably their first exposure to adult football. After Sutton, Palace and Worthing we will have a better idea where we are.
“You’re just looking for little patterns that you’ve worked on, and you’re trying to get the boys to do exactly what you’ve asked them to do.
“I never know in pre-season. I’ve had some good ones and bad ones down the years. It’s a strange thing!”
Di Paola admitted his pre-season priority was getting players who had struggled with injuries towards the end of 2025-26 ‘up to speed’.
He continued: “We’ve just got to get ourselves up to speed. Lee Harding and Cookie [Charlie Hester-Cook] played a few games at the end of last season but it was very unfair to expect them to do a lot.
“We threw them in at the end of the season, and Cookie was actually really good for the first couple – but then he blew up because he hadn’t played in so long.
“The same with Lee. I think we played Lee against Dorking – but then after that we didn’t see the real Lee Harding.
“Ronan [Silva] hasn’t kicked a ball yet because he’s arrived with an injury, so we’ve got Lee, Meeky [Reece Myles-Meekums], Cookie and Ronan who need to get up to speed.”
Horsham visit Sutton this Saturday before entertaining Crystal Palace U21s on Tuesday evening.