‘The supporters deserve better and the players deserve better’ – Di Paola issues honest assessment of injury-ravaged Horsham FC’s frustrating week on the road

Those were the words of manager Dominic Di Paola, who saw his decimated squad draw 0-0 at Slough Town on Saturday before losing 2-1 at relegation-threatened Enfield Town on Tuesday.

The injury-ravaged Hornets’ one-point week sees them drop to 12th in the National League South.

Di Paola said: “Fundamentally, it’s a lack of players. You’ve got Hammo [James Hammond] and Greg [Luer] hobbling around the pitch for 90 minutes [at Enfield], Lucas [Rodrigues] came off after eight minutes, we’ve got a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old on the bench, and young Ronnie Gorman [a second half sub] is just 18 himself. We also had a full-back playing as a winger, so it’s Mickey Mouse to be perfectly honest.

“The supporters deserve better and the players deserve better. At the moment, we’re giving them no help and all we’re doing is getting more and more injuries and injuring the ones that are already battling hard. Like I said, Hammo is already hobbling home after games. We’ve got no one to come and help.

“The support we’ve had away from home deserves better and the players deserve better. They’re having to scramble game after game, and that’s why we look like the team that we do.

“It’s Sunday League. Whoever’s the fittest on the day gets on the pitch. This is step two football. This isn’t Mickey Mouse football where you just throw a team together – but we’ve been doing it since the beginning of December. This is the by-product of that.

“We’re probably averaging about a point a game, which is more than fine, but that’s not what we’re about or what we want. We don’t want to be just ticking along, you want to strive and do good things, but for two-and-a-half months we’ve been cobbling things together and trying to drive performances out of a group – and it’s not what you want.

“I don’t think anyone who comes to watch Horsham wants that, and I don’t think the players want that. And they’re frustrated because we’ve got this lengthy injury list that’s at six or seven players now. The same 12, 13 boys are having to carry a recently-promoted team into this league and to the end of the season.”

Following the stalemate at Slough, two goals inside five minutes gave Horsham an uphill battle at Enfield. Hammond reduced the deficit in the second half but the Hornets couldn’t level.

Di Paola continued: “The boys were brilliant [at Slough]. We should have won the game. We had the better chances – but the way we are at the moment, we aren’t taking those chances. That’s keeping the games really tight.

“Dagenham and Slough were great examples of games where we should have come away with the points and we haven’t – but they’re both the form teams in the league so then you flip it on its head and I think it’s not too bad.

“But you want more out of the game. We fought well considering we’ve got two-and-a-half fit subs, so we did okay.

“We were awful in the first five, 10 minutes [at Enfield]. That’s given them everything they need as the team at the bottom of the league. It’s given them a bit of energy.

“I think we actually played alright for an hour, after the first 15 minutes or so. We could have easily got a point out of it, but we didn’t take our chances.”

The Hornets also bid farewell to Ola Ogunwamide this week – and Di Paola revealed he was unable to replace the popular winger, who was a key part of last season’s Isthmian Premier and Sussex Transport Senior Cup successes.

He said: “We’re not able to bring anyone in. What we’ve got is what we’ve got. Whatever number that is, is what we’ve got.

"We’ve got to go with 16 players, of which Lee Harding and [Charlie] Hester-Cook are out long-term.”

Horsham entertain play-off chasing pair Hemel Hempstead Town on Saturday and Ebbsfleet United on Tuesday.

And Di Paola added: “We’ve got a massive 10 days coming up. We should be preparing properly but what we’re doing is trying to work out how we can get 11 fit players on the pitch against Hemel, which was our exact same position against Enfield and Slough.

“It’s doom and gloom in my head at the moment. I don’t know what the answer is.

“I don’t think Meeky [Reece Myles-Meekums] will be back Saturday, I don’t think Lucas will be back Saturday, Hester-Cook and Lee Harding won’t be back. We’re going to go with what was put together at Enfield, which is two centre-halves and a full-back on the bench.

“It sounds depressing – and it is. We wanted to keep going as we were, but we’re not because we can’t get our stronger players out on the pitch. We’re playing players out of position.

“Brivs [Jack Brivio] came on as a forward at Enfield, we played Kai Innocent as a left-winger, we’ve played Leone [Gravata], who is a winger by the way, as a right-back since October.

“I feel for everyone. I don’t want to put out a poor side, but I also don’t want to put out a poor product.

“The boys are going to the well, but who wants this? I don’t, the players don’t. At the beginning of December we were looking up and really proud of what we were achieving, but now we’re cobbling teams together and throwing them on the pitch.”