Horsham FC toast 'good 10 days' as Isthmian Premier play-off places move into view

The Hornets came from behind to beat Hashtag United 2-1 on Saturday.

Horsham trailed at half-time before goals from Charlie Hester-Cook and Elliott Romain earned the visitors three points.

Tuesday evening saw the Hornets win 2-0 away to Sussex rivals Hastings to move within six points of their fifth-placed hosts. Jack Penfold’s early own goal and a wonderful second half Jack Mazzone strike secured their first win at Hastings since 2015.

The Hornets are tenth in the table, but still have multiple games in hand on sides occupying the play-offs.

Di Paola said: “We were very unlucky to come in [at Hashtag] 1-0 down. We just switched off from a corner and they broke on us, but we completely dominated the half.

“In the second half, our boys showed great character to come back into it. We were good for 80 out of the 90-odd minutes.

“At Hastings we were excellent. It’s one of the toughest places to go for me, Hastings. It’s never an easy place to get to, even though it’s meant to be a Sussex game!

“It was a really good professional performance. We followed the game plan well and we were really switched on and focused. We were well worthy of our win.”

The win at Hastings was Horsham’s third league victory in a row - the first time they have achieved this feat since August.

This Saturday, the Hornets welcome a fourth-placed Wingate side who Di Paola said were among the league’s best.

He added: “It’s been a good 10 days. We just need to keep going and see how many points we can get on the board.

“We’ve got to focus on individual games. If you focus on one game at a time, you won’t get too excited. We now have to pick up points whenever we can.

“We’ve got another tough game on Saturday, Wingate at home. They, for me, are the form team at the moment. They’re possibly in the best two or three teams in the league the way they’re playing at the moment.”

Horsham entertain Haringey on Tuesday evening.