Horsham warned they cannot afford to slip and to concentrate on themselves

The Hornets are back in control of the title race after an eggcellent Easter saw them climb back to the top of the Premier Division.

A 1-0 win over Worthing United and routine 4-0 triumph over landlords Horsham YMCA on Monday saw them close a five-point gap on Eastbourne Town. Their title rivals suffered a shock 1-0 loss to Wick & Barnham United and then drew 0-0 with Eastbourne United.

That saw the Hornets go level on points with Town and top on goal difference with a game in hand. With five fixtures remaining, Di Paola knows they can ill afford any slip-ups. He said: “We have just got to worry about us. I keep saying to the players as they keep getting excited about Eastbourne Town. It’s all about what we do.

“We need to win our games and play to our potential, that’s really important. I was getting really annoyed before the YM game as they were all checking Twitter on how the other team were getting on.

“You just have to worry about the next game, it’s Newhaven, another really tough game and we have to be on it. We have a long way to go and it sounds like I am just saying it, but it’s true. If we lose Saturday the pressure is back on. We can’t afford a slip up, neither team can seem to pull away, so we have to keep doing our job.

“I just have to concentrate on the next game, otherwise it is too exhausting. We just have to do our job and not worry about anyone else.”

“I have not looked at the league table since we lost here 5-4 to Eastbourne Town; there is no point in looking at it.

“What will happen will happen if we win all our games and I said that to the boys after the Broadbridge Heath game when we lost that night.

“We have to worry about ourselves and get ourselves mentally right – and credit to the boys as that’s the last four now with no goals conceded.

“We shook off that awful day against Eastbourne Town and we have been on it.”

And the Horsham boss believes they need to win all five of their remaining league games.

He confirmed: “That’s the aim, you have to aim for that because if not, you start taking your foot off the gas, which we did when we played Eastbourne United here.

“That time would have been a good time to pull away, we have had loads of chances to pull away.

“There is nothing in it at the moment, we have to worry about Newhaven, then Eastbourne United and try to tick them off.”

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