Di Paola delights in hitting new heights at Horsham FC – but cup exits sting Hornets boss

Horsham broke a number of club records following their seventh-placed finish. The Hornets recorded their highest-ever league position, most Isthmian Premier points (72), wins (20), and goals (84).

Horsham also regularly saw gates of 1,000+ pass through the gates at the Camping World Community Stadium. The Hornets finished the season with a league-high average attendance of 920.

But less success was had in the cups. Horsham exited the FA Cup at the first qualifying round, while their FA Trophy run came to an end at the first round proper.

The Hornets had more joy in the Sussex Senior Cup - reaching the quarter-finals - but Di Paola said Horsham ‘failed miserably in that competition’.

He said: “Our target is always to finish higher than the previous season - we achieved that.

“Some of the disappointments? Probably the Senior Cup. I watched the final on YouTube the other night and the fact that we failed miserably in that competition [was disappointing].

“The cup competitions in general [were disappointing]. In the FA Cup we didn’t do very well, the FA Trophy we had a quite a tough draw but we didn’t do very well, so I think the negatives were the cups this year.

“The positives were, up until a couple of games before the end of the season, we had a chance for the play-offs.

“We needed a bit more luck in terms of injuries to key players and some of the postponements during the winter due to the bad weather - we always seemed to be away. We played nine of our 21 away games on a Tuesday night, which is quite tough going.

“But it was a positive season in general. The crowds just grew and grew, and the atmosphere at home was really, really good. The boys did well.”

As reported, Eddie Dsane has left Horsham. Di Paola was sad to see the striker depart, but admitted Dsane needed to be playing first team football following a season of limited opportunities.

The boss confirmed it would be a while yet before the club announced their retained list.

He added: “I’m always sad to see players go. Eddie was a good lad and a good player.

“He bounced backwards and forwards a couple of times to us, but I think it was just down to a lack of playing time really. He needs to be playing.

“He’s a good player in his own right, and this season was a hard one for him.

“We had [Jack] Mazzone, we had Daniel Ajakaiye, we had Sham Fenelon, and Lucas Rodrigues - all of them were doing good things over the course of the season so he probably didn’t play as much as he liked.”

Meanwhile, the Hornets have confirmed National League South outfit Maidstone United will visit the Camping World Community Stadium in a pre-season friendly on Saturday, July 22 (3pm).