Horsham FC boss Di Paola: Wingate defeat not down to FA Cup heroics against Dorking

After Saturday’s heroics against National League outfit Dorking Wanderers, the Hornets succumbed to a 2-0 loss away to the Blues in the Isthmian Premier on Tuesday evening.

Second half goals from Ruben Carvalho and Elliot Long consigned Horsham to their first defeat in ten in all competitions.

The result sees the Hornets drop to 14th in the table, although they have two games in hand on six teams above them.

Di Paola said: “I don’t think the FA Cup game was the problem. [Sami] El-Abd got injured in the first couple of minutes. He had a dead leg so we needed to make a sub, and we were a bit makeshift at the back as it was, as Jack Strange had done his ribs on Saturday.

“We had an hour where we were quite good in the middle of the game and then we made a mistake. Jack Brivio uncharacteristically let the forward in, and that’s when we felt the after-effects of Saturday. We just didn’t have the power or energy to go on again.

“We let in a poor goal at a poor time and struggled to come back. When you’ve had a tough game on Saturday and you’re chasing the game, you’re always going to find it hard.”

Horsham now hit the road for two Isthmian away games. They travel to third-placed Carshalton Athletic this Saturday, before making the trip to Kingstonian on Wednesday evening.