Hornets down to bare bones
Injuries and a lack of fit players have seriously hampered Horsham, according to manager Dominic Di Paola.
Lee Harding’s header in the eighth minute of second half stoppage time snatched a dramatic 1-1 home draw for the Hornets against Bowers & Pitsea in the Isthmian Premier on Saturday.
In midweek Horsham advanced to the last 16 of the Velocity Trophy thanks to a 3-1 win at home to leaguebelow Hythe Town. Shamir Fenelon’s double and a Lucas Rodrigues goal sent the Hornets through.
Di Paola admitted that Horsham’s lack of numbers made it difficult for him to change things tactically on Saturday, and further injuries during midweek had left his squad ‘threadbare’.
He said: “We weren’t vintage [on Saturday]. We’re going through a patch with a lack of numbers. We had two players on the bench fit to play so there wasn’t too much we could change up.
“But, credit where credit is due, Lee has scored a good goal and we’d been teasing scoring a goal for quite some time. It was one of them.”
Di Paola said Tuesday was a ‘tricky night’. “We had to take Harvey [Sparks] off at half-time, and Tom Day was out with Covid, Danny Dudley had done his groin,” said the boss.
“Gary Charman can’t play because he hasn’t got a mask, and considering there’s only a few months left until the end of the season it’s a hard thing to justify. We haven’t got him available because he can’t play without his mask.
“We’ve gone full circle. Before the Covid outbreak at the club we were picking from 17, 18. We are now picking from about 12, 13. It’s been one of those seasons.”
Saturday saw Bowers take the lead inside 10 minutes. Jamie Dicks’ low free kick evaded everyone in the box before finding the bottom of the net.
The Hornets missed chances before Harding popped up late on.
Di Paola said: “If you let them score early then they’re quite compact and hard to break down and that proved to be the case.
“But saying that we had quite a few chances to get back into the game and we didn’t take them. It looked like it was going to be a frustrating day. Luckily Lee popped up with a goal, but I feel like it’s two points dropped really.”