Horsham FC's 'stop-start season' hit by further postponements as backlog mounts

Saturday’s game at Canvey Island was postponed because of a frozen pitch, while Tuesday’s trip to Sussex rivals Lewes was called off on Monday following overnight storm damage at the Dripping Pan.

Next Tuesday’s home clash with Kingstonian has been rescheduled because of their involvement in the Velocity Trophy, meaning the Hornets will have to play 21 league games between now and the season’s end in April.

Horsham’s home game against the K’s will now be played on Tuesday, March 5, while their rearranged trip to Canvey Island will take place a week later. A date has yet to be confirmed for Horsham’s visit to the Rooks.

Di Poala said: “It’s been a shame this week. The frost at Canvey was a difficult one.

"It was a bit late notice but I suppose they tried to give it as long as possible to thaw out.

“With the Lewes one, with all this storm stuff, it could have been called off anyway later because of the rain. The rain was quite heavy on Tuesday.

“You’ve just got to suck it up. It’s made things harder, but what can you do? It’s the hand we’ve been dealt and we’ve got to ride it out.

“We’ve got a lot of games, and not a lot of time to play them. We’ve still got another week of January, and then February is notorious for call-offs.

“Win, lose or draw those [games], you just don’t want a massive backlog. Sooner or later we’re going to have to fit all these games in.

“It’s been such a stop-start season, although lots of good things have happened.

"If it hasn’t been cups breaking up our league run, it’s been postponements.”

This Saturday sees the Hornets, now 13th, entertain 15th-placed Potters Bar Town, and Di Paola admitted the players were desperate to get out on to the pitch after their enforced break.

He added: “We’re ready for a game. We want to get a game played and see how we get on.

“We’re at Hashtag the following Saturday and that should be on as it’s 3G, so hopefully we’ll get some of these games played.”