Welcome to a very special FA Cup episode of Sussex World’s Gullmouth Action podcast.
Matt Pole is joined by Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford, and very special guest. Horsham manager Dominic Di Paola. Dom is taking his Hornets side to Oakwell on Friday night to face Leaguer One Barnsley in the first round of the FA Cup.
We look ahead to the tie - which has been fraught with controversy - as well as Worthing and Crawley Town’s cup clashes at Alfreton Town and Notts County respectively.
Matt Pole is joined by Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford, and very special guest. Horsham manager Dominic Di Paola. Dom is taking his Hornets side to Oakwell on Friday night to face Leaguer One Barnsley in the first round of the FA Cup.
We look ahead to the tie - which has been fraught with controversy - as well as Worthing and Crawley Town’s cup clashes at Alfreton Town and Notts County respectively.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome to a very special FA Cup episode
00:25 of Sussex Wealth Goldmouth Action Podcast.
00:28 I'm Matt Powell and I'm joined by Crawley Town expert,
00:30 Mark Dunford and a very special guest.
00:32 This week, we are delighted to welcome Horsham manager,
00:34 Dominic Powell to the podcast.
00:36 Dom was appointed as Hornets manager in April, 2015
00:39 and oversaw Horsham's first league title for 20 years
00:41 as they won the Southern Combination Premier Division
00:43 by 11 points in 2016.
00:45 He then guided the club back to the ESPN Premier
00:47 after a seven year absence in 2019,
00:49 where they've remained consistently
00:51 in the division's top half since.
00:53 Following promotion back to the Prem,
00:54 Dom has taken the Hornets to the first round
00:56 of the FA Cup twice,
00:57 guided Horsham to their first ever
00:59 ESPN League Cup success,
01:00 and just last season secured the Hornets
01:02 highest ever league placing and points total.
01:05 This Friday sees Horsham travel
01:06 to high flying league one outfit Barnsley
01:08 in the first round proper of the FA Cup.
01:10 We'll look ahead with Dom to the tie at Oakwell,
01:12 which has been fraught with controversy,
01:14 as well as Worthing and Crawley Town's cup clashes
01:16 at Alberton Town and Knox County, respectively.
01:18 Thank you very much for joining us this week, Dom.
01:20 How are you getting on?
01:21 You all right?
01:21 - Yeah, well, good.
01:22 Thanks for having me on.
01:23 - Lovely to see you, Dom.
01:24 No, absolute pleasure.
01:25 But before we get started,
01:27 you recently took charge of your 400th competitive game
01:29 as Horsham manager,
01:30 which I think makes you the second longest serving manager
01:32 in the club's history.
01:33 How proud are you of this achievement
01:35 and what do you put your longevity at the helm down to?
01:38 - Yeah, it's amazing.
01:39 I didn't know about it until today.
01:40 I think it was on the intro of the game
01:43 that I think Mark Wells,
01:45 who's sort of like our statistician historian,
01:48 stuck something on there.
01:49 So yeah, it's incredible.
01:49 That's amazing, really.
01:51 400 games with a couple of COVID years as well.
01:54 So yeah, I don't know where they've all gone,
01:56 but yeah, it's pretty proud, really.
02:01 So it's amazing they've let me look after the club
02:04 for that long, to be fair.
02:06 (laughing)
02:07 - Well, looking ahead to this Friday's game at Oak Hall,
02:08 there's mentioned plenty of noise surrounding the tie,
02:11 which we'll be looking at in a minute,
02:12 but have you been able to enjoy any of it so far?
02:15 - Yeah, I was just talking to the management team
02:19 earlier on today.
02:20 It's just a lot of admin at the moment.
02:23 We'll be fine once we get on the coach and get up there
02:25 and then it becomes a bit more normal.
02:29 But yeah, it's just running around
02:30 trying to sort things out, ticketing,
02:32 and coordinating all the,
02:34 we've got best part of 30 people
02:36 from a first team point of view going up.
02:39 So it's just trying to coordinate everyone,
02:40 make sure everyone's all right,
02:42 try and be as fair as we can to the players
02:44 who've also got sort of day jobs.
02:46 And yeah, it's just the logistics at the moment.
02:50 I'll be glad when we're sitting on the coach
02:53 and we've pretty much teed everything up.
02:56 - I'm guessing you've had a lot of requests
02:58 for tickets this week as well from people.
03:00 - Yeah, a few requests for tickets
03:02 and then obviously trying to make sure
03:03 that players get some for their families
03:05 and people that are traveling up.
03:07 Obviously it's quite good
03:08 'cause we know it's not gonna sell out
03:09 or anything like that.
03:10 And they've discounted the tickets
03:12 so people can get them online
03:13 I think up to sort of up to kickoff.
03:16 So yeah, it's not massive.
03:19 It's not as big a problem as Dorking.
03:21 I had loads and loads of requests for the Dorking game
03:23 and obviously we'd sold out
03:24 and I hadn't even made any arrangements
03:27 to get any for that game.
03:28 They sold out so quick.
03:29 So this is slightly different
03:31 'cause we know the stadium's massive
03:34 and we're certainly not gonna feel the away end.
03:37 - Before we move on to the Barnsley game,
03:39 going back to the Dorking clash,
03:40 which you mentioned there,
03:41 I was in attendance for that
03:41 and you must've been ever so proud of the performance.
03:43 I was saying to some of the people that I was with,
03:45 you wouldn't know who the National League team were
03:47 and who the Ismail Premier League team were.
03:50 - Yeah, it was probably,
03:51 the first half was probably the best,
03:53 best one of my teams has ever played,
03:55 I think, at Horsham.
03:56 We were just so on it.
03:58 And obviously I think Dorking,
03:59 Dorking had a bad day at the office
04:01 and you need that sometimes.
04:02 But I thought our boys did everything they needed to,
04:05 to sort of bring the levels together.
04:08 I thought we were bang on it
04:09 from a game plan point of view.
04:10 They were very good on the ball,
04:13 really good out of possession,
04:14 didn't really give them many opportunities
04:17 to cause us problems.
04:17 So it was like a complete performance really.
04:20 So it doesn't happen very often.
04:22 So it's a bit of a buzz when it does happen.
04:26 And it's credit, you know,
04:27 like to all the management team,
04:28 everyone was, you know,
04:30 we put a lot of preparation into that game
04:32 and the boys just carried it out to a T.
04:34 So, yeah, it was a really, really good day.
04:36 And obviously the atmosphere at the ground
04:38 was great on the day.
04:39 And that's what you do it for.
04:41 - Dom, just very quickly,
04:44 Mark White's interview afterwards,
04:46 that game went viral.
04:48 I assume you saw it.
04:49 - Yeah, he got more publicity than us, didn't he?
04:51 - He did, yeah, he did.
04:53 I mean, I was quite cynical about that
04:55 'cause I've seen him on social media.
04:57 I know what he's like.
04:58 What did you think of it?
04:59 And would you ever do anything like that
05:02 if your team played that badly?
05:05 - Well, I think the biggest thing with Mark
05:08 is obviously he owns the club.
05:11 So he can say what he wants
05:12 and he's not gonna get in trouble.
05:13 So I think I have to be a bit more diplomatic.
05:17 Sometimes it's so infuriating
05:19 if you prepare and plan
05:22 and put a lot of time into something
05:23 and then the boys don't deliver in any way
05:27 and you feel like they've gone completely off script
05:29 and sort of let everyone down.
05:30 You do feel like lashing out sometimes.
05:32 He's a different character to me,
05:35 do you know what I mean?
05:35 It's like I'm not quite so interesting on an interview.
05:39 But that's kind of the way he is.
05:42 And he'll blame himself sometimes.
05:45 He'll blame his management team.
05:47 He's pretty open about it all.
05:49 And I think because he's got like the,
05:51 I don't even know what it is,
05:52 the sort of the social media thing that they do.
05:55 I think it's all part of that.
05:58 He puts everything out in the open.
06:00 Some of our players would have seen that
06:02 similar sort of rants from me in a changing room,
06:04 but we don't have that sort of
06:08 that social media type stuff that he does.
06:11 So yeah, I thought it was fair play really.
06:14 I think sometimes it's right to be critical.
06:17 There was money on the game.
06:18 There was status on the game.
06:19 Obviously, we're good friends and it's not,
06:22 whoever lost that one wouldn't have felt
06:24 particularly good about the whole thing.
06:26 So yeah, the fact that he can do it is nice
06:28 as a chairman, owner, manager, everything type guy.
06:32 He gets a completely different reign on things
06:35 and you don't see it too often at any level really
06:37 that someone can just let rip
06:41 and let people know what they think really.
06:44 I think it's refreshing in some ways.
06:45 I think supporters probably sometimes
06:47 quite like to hear that
06:48 because they're probably in the stand saying similar,
06:52 but obviously you always have to be a bit diplomatic
06:53 if you're just representing a football club
06:56 instead of heading the whole thing up.
06:59 - Well, I'm sure as anyone who's read
07:00 a County Times back page lead knows Dom,
07:02 you're a diplomat 'cause anything,
07:03 so you don't need to worry about that.
07:05 As has been well documented,
07:07 moving and looking ahead to Friday,
07:09 the game at Oakville has been moved
07:11 from a traditional 3 p.m. start on Saturday,
07:13 to 7.45 p.m. on Friday
07:15 following talk to South Yorkshire Police.
07:17 This decision to move the fixture
07:18 has been widely criticised by yourself, Dom,
07:20 Horsham and Barnsley supporters
07:22 and Horsham Committee Vice Chairman Mark Barrett.
07:25 How has the date switch affected your buildup
07:27 and preparation for this game?
07:29 - Yeah, it's made it a lot harder
07:30 and obviously when I spoke to you about it at the time,
07:34 it was largely down to the fact
07:35 that I kind of get why Barnsley
07:36 wouldn't put a huge amount of effort into changing it.
07:40 It makes it an easier tie for them.
07:43 We would have liked to have travelled up
07:45 sort of like some stage,
07:47 you know, midday or something on the Thursday
07:49 to give ourselves a nice easy run up,
07:50 not hitting rush hour,
07:52 a bit more time up there to get a bit of a breather
07:54 and, you know, maybe head back,
07:57 you know, sometime midday, sort of Saturday.
07:59 But because of people having to take time off work,
08:01 we're all travelling up on the evening of the Thursday,
08:05 which is, you know, it has its problems,
08:08 you know, eating, you know,
08:10 sorting out food, sorting out travel,
08:11 sorting out hotels,
08:13 getting there for a late check-in,
08:16 the boys not having as much, you know,
08:17 much rest as you'd have liked.
08:19 So, yeah, it's a shame from a footballing point of view,
08:22 you know, as non-league people,
08:24 this is kind of our world anyway,
08:26 you know, we'll finish work,
08:28 rush to a game, get back, you know, one in the morning.
08:31 It's just kind of what we're used to anyway.
08:33 So it's not that big a deal.
08:35 We just have to roll with it.
08:36 The disappointing thing is that this was,
08:39 we'd have liked this to have been our, like,
08:40 you know, kind of our weekend and make a real,
08:45 you know, make a real event of it.
08:47 It's not often that happens, you know,
08:50 the Barnsley people sing really good
08:52 and proper football people.
08:53 So it would have been a great event.
08:55 And I feel for the supporters,
08:57 I feel for the kids who can't come up
08:58 because anyone who's been to our ground would see that,
09:01 you know, a big chunk of our gate are families and kids
09:05 and they're going to, you know, perhaps have something
09:08 that, you know, would live with them for a long period of time
09:11 that they're not going to be able to have.
09:13 And I know there's a lot of younger,
09:14 which are now, they're now a lot older,
09:16 that were at the Swansea game
09:17 and they still talk about that game a lot.
09:20 So it's like, you know, you're kind of taking away,
09:23 taking away an experience for the kids
09:26 and, you know, the families of Horsham.
09:29 And that's a real shame.
09:31 I also think it's a bit of a shame for sort of Barnsley in general,
09:33 because I know that our supporters would have spent
09:37 plenty of money on hotels, restaurants, drinks, in the pubs.
09:41 You know, we're in the dead of winter now
09:42 and it's like, I can't imagine
09:44 Barnsley's going to be super busy with tourism
09:47 or anything this time of year,
09:48 if it's anything like where we live.
09:50 So, you know, there was a, there's a,
09:53 there would have been a good,
09:54 a good amount of people that were staying maybe two nights
09:56 up in, up in Barnsley and make a real weekend of it.
09:59 But it is what it is.
10:00 Unfortunately, a decision was made.
10:02 It was a poor decision.
10:03 I think it was rushed.
10:05 I don't think the right people were consulted
10:07 and maybe everyone can learn from that,
10:08 but we just have to roll with it, really.
10:11 You kind of touched on it a little bit there, Dom,
10:12 but have you been heartened by the support you've received
10:14 from Barnsley's fan base, especially?
10:16 They seem to have backed everything.
10:18 I think our supporters in general
10:21 are usually fed up with this sort of stuff anyway.
10:23 Like, you know, I think a lot of our supporters
10:26 have become our supporters because they're fed up of games
10:28 being put on at all sorts of different times for the Premier League
10:30 or Championship clubs or whatever that they support.
10:33 So it's like, it's a common, it's a common theme for them.
10:35 So whilst this is, you know, to Barnsley,
10:38 you know, not the most, you know,
10:40 not the biggest game they're going to face this year,
10:42 their supporters have still got to, like,
10:44 you know, maybe rush back from work to get to the game or miss a game.
10:47 You know, you've got a lot of supporters
10:49 that don't like missing any of their games,
10:50 their diehards, and it's a headache for everyone.
10:53 So, yeah, it's a real shame.
10:54 I don't think it was, as I said,
10:56 I don't think it was thought through,
10:57 and I don't think, you know, the powers that be all got together
11:00 and actually, you know, put the heads together.
11:02 But it's very common.
11:04 Happens a lot in football.
11:06 I was going to say, by contrast, and without meaning,
11:08 well, wanting to get you into trouble,
11:09 how disappointing has the response been from the FA?
11:11 Because you've said you've seen the club has received little in support
11:15 from them, from what I understand.
11:16 Yeah, I mean, like I said, I don't, I don't even,
11:18 I don't even think there's no, there's not been any support.
11:20 I just think that there was,
11:21 there wasn't like a joined up conversation
11:23 and it was kind of rushed through as soon as they knew,
11:26 as soon as everyone knew that it wasn't going to be on the TV
11:28 and that TV, the TV weren't going to dictate when the game was,
11:32 you know, it's kind of just like being a rushed,
11:34 this is the, this is the date, this is the day.
11:37 And, you know, like I said, it's a, you know, it's probably one that,
11:41 you know, I'm sure all the parties will learn from in the future.
11:44 They probably needed to be a bit more time, a slight delay on it,
11:47 some justifications as to why it's not a good time to put a game on.
11:51 But, you know, we as a football club will live and learn from it.
11:53 And I think obviously maybe the FA will take a view on it in the future
11:57 because it's not good.
11:59 It's not good PR for anyone really, is it?
12:02 But as I said, I don't, you know, I don't particularly blame anyone.
12:05 I just don't think it was thought through enough.
12:08 - Yeah. Moving to matters on the pitch, Dom.
12:11 Barnsley sit fifth in League One after 15 games and are unbeaten in their last five.
12:16 As a manager of a semi-professional outfit,
12:18 how do you prepare to take on a full-time side that is five divisions above your team?
12:22 And will you be using the experience in your blueprint against Carlisle a couple of years back?
12:27 - Yeah, so we've not, we've not, we've not done it before.
12:29 So it's quite hard to, it's quite hard to put something in place.
12:33 But no, I mean, we'll, I've said this to everyone, we prepare exactly the same week in, week out.
12:38 So I think we do quite a lot of, you know, we do quite a lot of due diligence on our, you know,
12:43 sort of the clubs we're coming up against.
12:45 So we'll do exactly the same.
12:47 We're not in a luxurious position because of the way we're travelling up on the Thursday.
12:52 We've lost a training session as well.
12:54 So we wouldn't normally train on a Thursday.
12:57 So we literally had last night, we had a brief run through, you know,
13:00 obviously it's easy to get loads of info on a league one side.
13:04 We know plenty about them as to how you deal with it is a different matter.
13:09 But, you know, five, five leagues, it gives us a tiny percent chance of doing anything in the game.
13:14 It's, you know, full-time against a very, very much, you know, this week, even more part-time than normal team.
13:22 And, but, you know, we just want to do ourselves justice.
13:25 We want to make the club proud.
13:26 We want to make the supporters proud.
13:28 The boys want to do the best they possibly can.
13:31 We've got some ideas.
13:32 Whether it works is, you know, is going to be dependent on the night.
13:37 I always think like with these FA Cup upsets, usually the FA Cup upsets are at clubs that are in turmoil or,
13:43 you know, having a bad season in a bit of a rut.
13:45 They turn up to the game and it's a bit of a negative, you know,
13:49 the one we have against Carlisle was very, very much like that.
13:52 I think if we'd have had a couple of, we had quite an injury crisis at the time,
13:56 and I think it got to like 73 minutes and we were quite comfortable.
13:59 They weren't, sorry, they weren't troubling us all that much.
14:02 It looked like a bit of a board draw and it was only their subs that came on, impacted the game.
14:07 And we ended up, I felt we could have got the replay that day.
14:11 But that was a club that was rock bottom of the league and the supporters were ranting and raving at the game
14:15 because they were fed up of the performances.
14:18 So sometimes you can feed off that, but this is going to be a different one.
14:21 Barnes, they're flying, they're top of League One.
14:23 They're at home.
14:25 We've had to travel.
14:26 So there's loads of factors against us.
14:28 We'll do what we can to, you know, to put on as good a performance as we can and just see where it goes, really.
14:36 Yeah, you would have fancied facing Crawley Town at the moment, wouldn't you?
14:41 I don't know with Crawley.
14:42 I mean, they're probably doing better than everyone predicted this year, aren't they?
14:45 They are, yeah.
14:46 But yeah, I mean, you know, any league club, the time they have to prepare for stuff,
14:52 you know, we get 15 minutes on a Thursday to work on set pieces.
14:56 You know, if you're full time, you can spend a morning on it, you know, or a couple of mornings, you know, on the finer detail.
15:02 All the pattern, you know, you can break your week down into sort of out of possession, in possession.
15:07 So many things you can do.
15:08 We do a sort of condensed four elements in one session and then bolt on some finishing and some set pieces on a Tuesday night.
15:16 It's really tough. And then add on to that is the additional fitness that those guys have got.
15:22 And obviously they're super talented footballers playing in League One.
15:26 So it's a huge challenge, but it's a great one.
15:28 Like, you just want to embrace those sort of occasions and just see how we go on.
15:35 What are your memories of that FA Cup trip to Carlisle, Dom?
15:37 It was the first time Walsh had been in the first round since 2007.
15:40 So it was very much a special moment for the club and the supporters as well, wasn't it?
15:43 Yeah, I've never been that bothered about the FA Cup, to be honest.
15:46 I've said this before, like, you know, because you're so low down, you know, in terms of the qualifying rounds and everything.
15:54 I never really got it. And we sort of, we had such a tough draw all the way through.
15:57 It was a very different run to this one.
15:59 I think we played Heywood Sea first round.
16:01 They were top of the league at the time in the league below.
16:04 Then we played Kingstonian, who was the top of our league.
16:06 Then we played Eastbourne Borough, who at the time, I think were fifth in the National South.
16:10 Then we played Woking, who were third.
16:12 And it was such a challenge just to get there.
16:17 And then all through that, we had a massive injury crisis.
16:20 But the actual weekend, Carlisle was unbelievable.
16:23 Like, the club pulled out all the stops.
16:25 We had a brilliant, you know, brilliant hotel.
16:27 It was really well coordinated.
16:28 Everything was perfect.
16:29 I think the boys had an experience they'll never forget.
16:32 So, yeah, and then I kind of fell in love with it off the back of that, I think, you know, going up there and realising,
16:40 you know, the point of it, I suppose.
16:43 And the first round is like an achievement.
16:44 I never saw it as an achievement.
16:46 You're not winning anything, are you?
16:47 But it is a great achievement for the club.
16:50 And obviously, it creates memories for the supporters that they'll talk about, you know, forever sort of thing.
16:57 So, yeah, it's brilliant.
16:59 And then obviously, the following year, we wanted to do exactly the same.
17:02 We lost in the first qualifying round.
17:04 So, it kind of reminds you how hard it is to do.
17:09 So, yeah, that's what the Carl Ardtrip gave you, really.
17:13 It's just this amazing experience.
17:15 And for that weekend, our boys were treated like, you know, Premier League players.
17:20 You know, everything about it was spot on.
17:22 It was a brilliant weekend.
17:23 So, yeah.
17:25 And also, it was with a team that was coming to the end of its, you know, cycle with us.
17:31 There was a lot of older guys that got us out of Step 4, and it was kind of their sort of last achievement.
17:37 So, it was amazing that we could do that with that batch of players.
17:40 And obviously, a lot, you know, almost all of them are not with us now in the team.
17:44 A few of them retired, and some of them have gone to other clubs and whatever.
17:48 So, to do that with that bunch of boys, especially off the back of COVID, where, like, you know, they lost two years of their football, which was a real shame for everyone.
17:56 So, yeah, it was brilliant.
17:57 And that's kind of given us the taste for it, I suppose.
18:02 Not many people may know this, but Horsham are an ex-Barnsley player among their ranks.
18:05 Midfielder Charlie Harris moved to the Tykes from Brighton in February 2016 before departing in August of the same year.
18:11 Has Charlie been giving you any advice on what to expect at Oakville as an ex-Barnsley lad's down?
18:16 Yeah, it's quite, yeah. So, Charlie's, yeah, he's mentioned mainly more around the social, which is not really helping us all that much.
18:27 If we wanted to know about the nightlife or where his digs were, that would be really helpful.
18:32 But unfortunately, apart from that, we've not had too much intel.
18:36 But, yeah, Charlie was up there, I think, for a bit.
18:38 I don't know how long he was up there, but he's, yeah, he's mentioned it a few times that he was on the books of Barnsley for a bit.
18:46 So, yeah, fair play to him.
18:47 And obviously, it's nice for him. I think he was buzzing to go back up.
18:53 Yeah, so, Dom, you're the first manager in Horsham's history to guide the club to the first round proper of the FA Cup twice, which is quite an incredible achievement.
19:00 Can you enjoy those little milestones while you're still in charge?
19:03 Or will you really appreciate it once you've sort of retired? I know retired's a strong word for someone of your age.
19:09 Yeah, well, I like breaking records, you know, like at Horsham, it's quite nice because we've got a guy called Mark Wells.
19:17 He's like, he's just the oracle on the history of the club.
19:19 Yeah. And he's got every record going.
19:22 So, yeah, like we've been so lucky.
19:25 Like what we've done since we've been at the club is like it's mad, really.
19:29 Like there's been so many things, so many firsts for the football club.
19:33 And, you know, like we've had some brilliant players that have helped us along the way, some brilliant guys, you know, from a manager, you know, around the management team.
19:42 And it's like we've just been really lucky that, you know, we've had a lot of good things happen while we're here.
19:51 Yeah, it's mad to get there twice.
19:52 As I said, after the Kyle Arwen, you know, we talk about it a lot.
19:56 And it was like, well, you know, it's one of those lifetime, lifetime experiences.
20:00 So to do it again is like you're just really lucky.
20:02 You've just got to be really grateful that you've got that chance because it doesn't happen to, you know, to every team.
20:09 And I don't think it happens a huge amount in Sussex.
20:12 So it's brilliant.
20:13 You know, it's brilliant.
20:14 You need so much. You need so many things to go your way in the run.
20:19 And you need, you know, you need luck and you need your players to be on it.
20:22 And, you know, we could have gone out, we could have possibly gone out in the first qualifying away at Leatherhead.
20:26 We weren't very good that day.
20:28 And then we got them back to ours and got through.
20:31 And it was kind of like, apart from the Dorkin one, we were sort of scrapping to get through.
20:36 We were playing teams from leagues below and they're really tough to play against.
20:41 Like you sometimes want a Woking or a Dorkin because you know what you're going to get.
20:46 So, yeah, it's amazing.
20:47 Like, we've been really lucky at Horsham to have so many good things.
20:53 And as a club at the moment, we're in a really good spell.
20:57 Like the last sort of like eight, nine years has been largely positive off the back of probably 10, 12 years of massive negativity.
21:05 So I would say you have to sort of ride it when it's good because you can change quite quick on it at any football club.
21:12 So, yeah, definitely.
21:15 When we spoke on Tuesday, Dom, you didn't really have a clear picture of how Horsham are going to be stacked on the injury front.
21:19 I think you've held a training session on the Tuesday evening.
21:22 So bearing that in mind, how are you looking for Barnes?
21:27 Yeah, we're all right.
21:28 We've got a couple of doubts.
21:30 We think Mazzone will be out.
21:34 We don't think he's going to make it.
21:35 Everyone else I think should be there or thereabouts.
21:39 There's a few that are carrying some knocks and we'll have to assess it almost last minute.
21:44 But, yeah, we've kind of got through this batch of games with most of the squad intact.
21:51 We're really lucky this year.
21:52 We've got like probably the best and biggest squad that we've ever had.
21:57 You know, we've been really lucky that players wanted to stay last year and we've made some good additions.
22:02 So, like, I've never had a situation where we've been able to sort of like mix it up as much as we have.
22:09 So that's allowed players to get their fitness.
22:11 We've not rushed people back.
22:12 And historically, we've always had to do that.
22:14 So it's been really, really helpful to have a big squad of players to choose from.
22:19 And the boys have been brilliant.
22:20 You know, they've all been mixing in and delivering.
22:23 And so many people have contributed to the FA Cup run with their performances in different games.
22:31 Almost the whole squad's done something great.
22:33 So it's going to be tough to pick an 11 and then it's going to be tough to pick a five that come on.
22:39 But, you know, unfortunately, that's the only negative of the trip.
22:42 But we've got hopefully lots of other good things coming up this season where players can impact.
22:50 Meanwhile, Worthing travel to Alfredton Town this Saturday in the Cup, and they'll certainly be in good spirits for last weekend's excellent win in National League South, won't they, Mark?
22:58 But it won't be an easy trip to Alfredton, will it?
23:01 Yeah, I don't think so.
23:01 Alfredton are currently fifth in the National League North table.
23:06 So, yeah, Adam Ingelwood said to me, because I was there for the when they beat Crawley in the Senior Cup 6-2, and he said,
23:14 'But the good thing is there's going to be a step, were they step six, sorry, or step five?
23:18 I can't remember. Are they step five?
23:20 Must be five, yeah.
23:21 Yeah, there'll be a step five team in the second round, which is a good thing.
23:26 And he said it's a game both sides think they'll be able to win.
23:29 So he's got the makings for a cracking cup tie.
23:31 And he's got everybody available for it.
23:34 He's got his injury free at the moment and everybody wants to play, he says.
23:37 You can read his full interview with him in the Worthing Herald tomorrow.
23:42 But they're going to travel up on the Friday like you are, Dom, on the day before.
23:47 And he just says it will give them a glimpse of bigger games.
23:49 They want to be playing more regularly.
23:52 Obviously, they've got ambitions.
23:53 They're doing really well this year.
23:55 I think they will be in the national premier next year.
23:59 So it's going to be, yeah, it's going to be a really good one.
24:01 And it's just, again, a real good experience.
24:03 And yeah, they're lucky enough to have the free PM on a Saturday, aren't they?
24:07 Unfortunately, so sorry to rub it in.
24:10 Yeah.
24:11 Saturday, we'll see Worthing appear in the FA Cup first round for just the fourth time in the club's history.
24:16 You'd have to go all the way back to 1999 when the Reds last appeared at this stage,
24:19 when they lost out 3-0 at Rotherham United.
24:22 What do you make of Adam Hinshaw's success down at Worthing, Dom?
24:25 He's already won the ESPN Premier and Sussex Senior Cup titles,
24:28 and he's recently signed a new three-year deal.
24:30 It seems that it's set up for success at him down there.
24:33 Yeah, he's done an amazing job, to be honest.
24:36 I think, I don't think you can fault it.
24:39 I think we all have to sit back and admire what he's done there.
24:43 You know, people, I see him get a bit of criticism now when they lose,
24:47 which tells you how good a job he's done, because you kind of get like a bit of a floating support
24:53 that have come off the back of his success.
24:56 So, you know, I remember when he come back in, I think they were scrambling to stay in that league.
25:01 I don't think they'd won when he came in, and I think they were ground sharing with Bogner
25:05 because they had problems with the pitch.
25:06 And if you think where he's taken that club from there to now, he's done an amazing job.
25:13 They play great football.
25:14 You know, they're a really good side to watch.
25:16 And we like, you know, obviously Worthing's my local team.
25:19 I live in Worthing.
25:20 So if we're off last minute and they're at home, I'll always pop down and watch them.
25:24 But yeah, I think he's done a great job, and he's almost ticked every kind of non-league box,
25:30 I think, you know, first round FA Cup, won one Ismian Prem, won Sussex Senior Cup.
25:37 You know, he's almost achieved, you know, almost everything sort of non-league wise.
25:41 So, yeah, I think he's done a great job.
25:43 He's transformed that football club from a club that was in a bit of turmoil when he come in.
25:49 And yeah, he deserves a huge amount of success and credit.
25:55 Are you surprised that Worthing haven't featured in the first round of the Cup more often, Dom?
25:59 They seem like, since I've been working, it seems to be quite a big fish in West Sussex football.
26:04 Yeah, but this is what, this is the thing.
26:06 This is the madness of like, you know, this is what we said about this generational thing.
26:11 You know, that's a generation of people.
26:12 I remember the '99 one.
26:14 I used to go and watch them when I was, you know, when I was playing, when I was young.
26:19 I remember them getting there then and cutting the players they got.
26:22 And you think there's been some talented boys that have played for Worthing between '90, '99 and now,
26:26 and it's just not fallen for them.
26:28 So it just shows, you know, I don't know when Bogner got there last, but it's a huge,
26:34 it's a huge challenge even to get through a couple of rounds.
26:36 If you have, you know, you can have bad draws year after year or you can have bad luck year after year.
26:41 So it just shows, doesn't it?
26:43 As I said, Worthing's been a powerhouse probably at least for 10 years at the moment.
26:47 You know, they've been one of the benchmarks for us all the way.
26:50 They've been run since George came in and took them over and they've not been able to get there.
26:55 So it's, yeah, it's a huge one.
26:56 Obviously, he deserves lots of credit.
26:58 Probably he hasn't got the, he hasn't been given the credit he deserves for this one because of the draw.
27:04 You know, it's like as much as you say we've been a bit unfortunate with the day,
27:10 we've got our first round against the league opposition.
27:15 You know, he could go up there and the pitch is awful and they, you know, they scrape Alfredson, beat him on the day.
27:21 And it's so disappointing that they haven't had their moment in the sun, if you like,
27:25 because they're playing a team of the same level as them.
27:28 So it's a real catch 22 because they can get through.
27:31 It is a comfortable game.
27:32 They could win it.
27:33 Then they get the prize money of everything and then they could get the marquee game in the next round or they could have a bad day at the office.
27:39 Alfredson beat them and it's all over.
27:42 And he hasn't had any of the sort of like the stuff that we've had this week with the BBC, ITV,
27:46 you know, all the different things that we've got off the back of pulling a, you know,
27:50 probably about as good a tie as you're going to get in the first round.
27:54 So it's a difficult one.
27:55 Like if anyone asked me who we'd want, I probably wouldn't want a non-league team at this stage.
28:00 We'd take almost the impossible challenge of a Barnes lead and then a team that you can easily lose to anyway, if that makes sense.
28:09 Finally on Worthing, Dom, how do you see that one going at Alfredson?
28:13 I think for me it probably depends a little bit on the surface.
28:16 I don't know what the surface is like up there, but I think, you know, they're both going to be quite similar in terms of their ability.
28:22 I think Worthing can beat anyone on the day.
28:24 I think they're one of them teams, like I think when they get up ahead of Steam, I think they can beat anyone.
28:29 They played us in pre-season and we just couldn't live with them.
28:33 And I've seen them do that to loads of sides.
28:35 And obviously they played Crawley the other week.
28:37 And, you know, they can, when they're on it, they're very hard to beat.
28:42 They play quite a unique style of football.
28:44 But I don't watch a lot of the National North, so I can't comment on the style up there.
28:48 I would have thought it's probably slightly more physical, that league.
28:52 Given the fact there's a lot of big clubs that are still floating around that league.
28:56 But, yeah, I think they can beat anyone on their day.
28:59 I also think they could probably slip up there.
29:02 It's a tough one.
29:04 I think when that got pulled out, Hinch is probably pulling his hair out a little bit.
29:07 But it's not an easy tie, that, to go away.
29:12 If he'd got them at home, he'd probably be buzzing.
29:14 But, you know, anywhere away is hard because, you know, it's tough for non-league teams to go away.
29:22 Crawley Town, meanwhile, travel to League 2, Notts County on the same day as Worthing.
29:26 We'll talk about this more in detail tomorrow, Mark, because a lot has been happening at Crawley Town.
29:32 Everything always seems to be happening at Crawley Town.
29:34 But how has Crawley's build-up been in preparation for this one?
29:37 Well, it's been kind of disrupted, really.
29:39 I mean, Scott Lindsay will tell you that on the training ground, etc., it wouldn't have been disrupted and that.
29:44 But the noise around Crawley this week, with Scott being revealed that Scott apparently had two interviews for the Gillingham job.
29:51 But today, Stephen Clements was given that job.
29:54 So, hopefully, that settles that down a little bit.
29:58 But they've been on a very poor run.
29:59 October, they had six games.
30:01 One of those was in the EFL Cup.
30:04 They drew 0-0 at Sutton and then lost on penalties.
30:06 But they didn't pick up.
30:07 They picked up one point, sorry, in the whole of October.
30:12 When you look at September, they won every game, I think, in September.
30:15 So, it's been not the best build-up and preparation for a game in a competition which Crawley would like to do well in,
30:24 because, as we've said before, it's money.
30:26 And even at the E2 level, the prize money at this level makes a big difference.
30:30 So, it hasn't been the best preparation.
30:33 When I spoke to Scott on Monday, he said that you always want to go into an FA Cup game on the back of a win.
30:40 So, you've just got that little bit of positivity and that.
30:43 But they've had, yeah, they drew at Walsall, but they've had four other losses in October.
30:50 So, hopefully, new month, this Gillingham stuff is behind them now.
30:55 Maybe it's a more positive feeling around it.
30:59 Well, you mentioned their form there, Mark, in the league.
31:01 Is this game a welcome distraction for them or would they rather be righting a few wrongs in the league?
31:06 Well, I asked exactly the same question to Scott on Monday and he said to me,
31:10 "That's a very good question."
31:11 So, good question.
31:13 Thank you very much.
31:14 But he said, yeah, it is a distraction.
31:21 And I think it is a little bit of a welcome distraction, given what's happened with Gillingham and all the things.
31:26 But I think he still would rather just correct his league, get the league form, have a couple of wins and then play the FA Cup game.
31:32 But, yeah, I think it is a good distraction because I think he'll change up the line-up a little bit this week.
31:39 It's a chance for him to try something different.
31:42 Obviously, it hasn't worked the last five games.
31:45 So, maybe he'll try something new, give a couple of other players some chances and that.
31:50 So, I think it's a good distraction for him to try something different.
31:53 And, yeah, another league defeat on Saturday would, I think people would start to ask questions just because of what happened with Gillingham and everything.
32:02 So, FA Cup, I don't know if it's not a free hit, but it's something different for the fans to think about.
32:08 So, I think it is a good distraction for them this weekend.
32:12 You mentioned that they might make a lot of changes for the game at Notts County.
32:17 Would the only worry for that be that fans may view that Scott Lindsay isn't taking the cup tie seriously?
32:22 Or is that probably looking too much into it?
32:25 I think, no, I don't think he's looking too much into it.
32:28 But, I mean, if you read what the fans are saying about Scott Lindsay now, after the start they've had this season,
32:35 everybody wrote them off, everybody's favourite to go down.
32:38 He's got, what has he got, I think it's 21 points from 14 games.
32:43 And as he said to me on Monday, you get that at the end of the season, that's 65 points and that could be a playoff.
32:48 That's good enough to get you to the playoffs.
32:51 So, just because they've lost a few games, I think, you know, we all know what football fans are like, they're a bit fickle.
32:58 When it's going well, everybody's the best.
33:01 When they're not going well, changes need to be made, etc.
33:04 Scott Lindsay can't win at the moment, I don't think.
33:07 But if he makes some changes, they beat Notts County on Saturday, then he's a genius again, isn't he?
33:13 So, yeah, I mean, fans will be fans and they will read into it what they want to.
33:20 But I think it is a good opportunity for Scott to try something different because, like we said, they have had a bad run.
33:25 So he needs to change things up a little bit, I think.
33:28 And although the tie may not set Pulse's racing necessarily, Mark, how do you think they'll get on?
33:33 It's a winnable tie for him, I think.
33:35 I think it is as well because Notts County, they've set their stall out.
33:38 They are going to be pushing for promotion this year.
33:41 And if it means they sacrifice the FA Cup to get a promotion, to lead two promotions on the trot from National League to League One in two seasons, I think that's what they'll want.
33:50 Yeah, you'd imagine Notts County will make changes as well because they probably see it as Crawley coming here.
33:55 Crawley needs to focus on the league as well.
33:56 I don't know. It's a winnable tie.
34:00 I think they play similar football to Scott Lindsay, but they've got a much bigger budget and they've probably got what you would see on paper as better players as well, playing that kind of football.
34:12 But I did ask Scott, is it hard to prepare a side that plays similar football to you?
34:17 And yes, it is because I play this kind of football because it's hard to play against.
34:21 So he's fearing it's going to be a hard game.
34:24 But yeah, I think it's a winnable game.
34:27 I think both sides will go into it thinking they can win similar to Alfredton and Worthing.
34:32 So I think it's going to, yeah, it's got the makings for a really good effort.
34:35 I think there'll be goals in it. I think there'll be a lot of goals.
34:37 It could be like a 4-3 thriller either way.
34:40 So, but Crawley do need to get scoring again now because they didn't score a lot in October.
34:44 Lowest September, they scored 120 goals in four or five games.
34:48 So, yeah, it's going to be an interesting one.
34:51 But yeah, now the Gillingham stuff's out of the way, I'm hoping that everything settles down and Crawley get back into winning ways.
34:58 Finally, Dom, to wrap it up, I know you don't follow, you said you didn't follow Crawley that much,
35:01 but how do you see that tie going down at Notts County?
35:05 I saw quite a bit of Notts County last year in the National League.
35:08 I think they're a good side, they play good football.
35:11 I think he comes across a really good manager, the guy at Notts County, as to how that game goes.
35:16 I mean, I think it's a winnable game for both of them, isn't it?
35:19 It depends who's most focused on it.
35:22 You know, it's one of them, if you're on a bad run, you almost want to go full strength.
35:27 And get something clicking again.
35:30 If it was me, I'd 100%.
35:33 I don't think I'd be resting people and seeing it as a...
35:38 I think we were talking about this the other day, like, if you think about the FA Cup of all the competitions,
35:42 I don't know why anyone would rest players, because if you look at it, like, for example, Barnsley,
35:50 it's a winnable game against us, they get a nice draw in the second round.
35:54 The third round game's worth half a million, if they get the right draw.
35:57 Half a million to any sort of League Two, League One clubs, a minimum of a fifth of...
36:03 you know, like, their playing budget for the season.
36:05 So it's the same principles as what we have.
36:08 Like, you know, we're looking at it as an opportunity to earn money for the football club.
36:12 It's the same.
36:13 And then obviously, on top of that, Crawley need a win by all accounts.
36:16 I don't follow Crawley all that much.
36:19 Only a little bit in the summer when I saw they were tipped for going down.
36:24 So it looks like the manager's done a pretty decent job, but that's probably a toss of a coin, that game.
36:30 Yeah, I think I agree.
36:31 Yeah.
36:33 And you mentioned the money side of things, Dom.
36:35 How is the Cup run money, or how will it help Horsham, the run that you've been on?
36:41 I don't really know, to be honest, Arn.
36:42 So, like, I think I don't get too involved with the finances of the club.
36:48 But obviously, we've had, you know, the Dorking game was a big crowd.
36:52 I think what it does, the finances obviously help.
36:54 But I think it obviously gives the club a bit of a steer on what they need to do to sort of manage the bigger crowds.
37:01 And we're seeing our crowds grow every season.
37:04 So there's talk of applying for an extent, you know, an increase to our capacity because we're locked in, I think, just under 2,000.
37:12 So I assume there would need to be some of the money spent on the ground to bring that up, to allow us to increase the capacity and stuff like that.
37:19 But we're just a growing, you know, we're a growing football club at the moment.
37:21 Every season, almost sort of every couple of months, there's something we've had to do to accommodate bigger crowds or, you know, we've got bigger events happening at the club.
37:31 So I would have thought that if there's surplus money, it will go to that side of things, really.
37:39 There's always talk about, you know, new additions to our ground in terms of like stands and facilities.
37:45 So it can't be a bad thing.
37:49 Well, brilliant. Well, thank you very much for your time, Dom. And thank you very much for your time, Mark.
37:52 Best of luck on Friday, Dom. Hopefully I'll see you whether you're committing.
37:56 Yes, you can catch up with everything sports related on the Sussexworld.co.uk/sport.
38:00 We'll be back tomorrow. We'll be looking at Brighton and Hove Abbey and Corley Town in more detail.
38:05 Thank you very much for listening. And we'll see you all soon.
38:08 Thanks guys. Thanks.