Hornets in no rush to add to squad and '˜break the bank' with safety virtually guaranteed

Horsham are in no rush to add to their ranks and with safety virtually guaranteed, they are happy to go with what they have until the end of the season.
Horsham FC v East Grinstead FC. Horsham's first goal . Pic Steve Robards  SR1701375 SUS-170130-144752001Horsham FC v East Grinstead FC. Horsham's first goal . Pic Steve Robards  SR1701375 SUS-170130-144752001
Horsham FC v East Grinstead FC. Horsham's first goal . Pic Steve Robards SR1701375 SUS-170130-144752001

The talk of the top flights of the football pyramid has been transfer deadline day this week, but while that does not apply to the Hornets - their business is done for the season as well.

They definitely won’t be breaking the bank to bring in anymore firepower with manager Dominic Di Paola admitting he sees no point in throwing money at a striker.

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While that will leave the ground-sharing Gorings Mead outfit short of an out-and-out striker, Di Paola says he has options that have earned their places.

A point against East Grinstead on Saturday took the Hornets’ unbeaten Ryman League South Division run to eight games.

They are in 12th place and 24 points clear of the bottom three with 15 games left play, so have almost secured their safety which has lessened the need of replacing goalscoring loanee George Gaskin.

Di Paola said: “To be perfectly honest, unless anyone exciting comes up we are happy to go with what we have. We want to give Alfie Rogers more minutes and Ollie Gill will be playing more. Most of the boys have been with us now since November or December and deserve to get a good run for the rest of the season.

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“If the worst comes to the worst, Tony Nwachukwu can play up front or we can stick Tom Lawley and Ollie Gill up there as a two - we have options.

“We are probably not going to look to do anything (with signings), I don’t see much point now. If it means we do not pick up as many points as we might have, then so be it.

“To get someone in now we would have to break the bank for a striker and I do not see the point in that as we are pretty much safe.”

Tiago Andrade played for Haywards Heath on Saturday and on if he will return, Di Paola added: “It’s up to him. He has got to get himself fit. I feel for him a bit, but if he doesn’t get fit he won’t be able to do it at this level.

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“He is a nice lad and deserved a bit of football and did not get a lot for us, it was unfortunate George was in such hot form.”

Horsham face two tricky away encounters in four days starting with a trip to fourth-placed Carshalton Athletic on Saturday. They follow that with a Sussex derby away to a play-off chasing Hastings United on Tuesday night.

Scott Kirkwood and Alex Duncan are set to return after being unavailable last week.

And Di Paola is relishing the task of keeping their unbeaten run going.

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He added: “There is still a lot of the season left and will we be aiming to improve and be more consistent now. We have South Park coming up as well and I do not really mind who we play. We are almost better sometimes when we play the better teams.

“We do not fear anyone, you do not expect any walkover in this league, we will give it our best and we have been better in the last eight or nine games - even when we have dropped points.”

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