Horsham manager Di Paola salutes his side's 'patience' in victory
After a goalless first half, the Hornets took the win after substitute Harry Mills fired home from the penalty spot on 75 minutes following a foul on Rob O’Toole.
Casuals had Coskun Ekim sent off for dissent late in the game.
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Hide AdThe victory saw the Hornets cut the gap between them and second-placed Folkestone Invicta to three points. Invicta were held to a 1-1 home draw by mid-table Haringey Borough.
A full match report from Saturday's hard-fought win can be read here.
Di Paola said: “Apart from about ten minutes in the second half they didn’t really trouble us.
“They’re a really hard team to play against. We found out when we played up there (the 2-1 victory in October).
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Hide Ad“They keep a lot of players behind the ball and it’s quite a tough thing to break down, especially in the first half.
“I spoke to my wingers at half-time and they said they were being doubled up on.
“It just takes a bit of patience. We came out in the second half and we were forcing it a little bit but we calmed back down, we controlled and we probed, and it paid off.
“I was quite happy with the win and it was a good clean sheet. We’ve picked up a lot of good clean sheets this year.”
Horsham travel to third-from-bottom Merstham in the BetVictor Premier Division on Saturday.