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The Hornets were due to travel to the Gulls on Tuesday evening but the match was postponed due to persistent heavy rain.

The game at Park Lane will now take place on Tuesday, March 18, kick-off 7:45pm.

Di Paola didn’t lay any blame on Canvey for calling the fixture off, owing to the inclement weather, but said some teams needed to improve their pitches, instead of their squads, following a spate of postponements this season.

Dominic Di Paola has called for greater investment in pitches after Horsham FC saw their Isthmian Premier trip to Canvey Island called off. Picture by Natalie Mayhew, ButterflyFootie

He said: “We’re living in a country where we seem to have a lot of bad weather every winter. Every winter we seem to have six months of constant rain.

“I’ve got no arguments with Canvey because of the amount of rain. When you’ve got two days of solid rain and a grass pitch you’re never going to get the game on. You can’t really moan about it.

“Where it’s disappointing is where some teams fail to get games on when the weather’s not too bad. I think that’s down to a lack of investment in their pitch.

“When you see teams spend a lot of money on their squad instead of their pitch, that’s the one that drives me mad.”

Horsham did manage to take to the field this week, although they were beaten 2-1 at home by Carshalton on Saturday.

Sloppy defending from set-pieces saw the Robins lead 2-0 at half-time. The Hornets were much-improved in the second half, but only had Lucas Rodrigues’ 82nd minute effort to show for their endeavours.

The result saw Horsham slip to fifth, with the gap between them and place-below Enfield, who the Hornets visit on Saturday, cut to just a single point.

Di Paola said: “I thought we were really poor in the first half. Both goals were really poor. We just looked a bit flimsy and lightweight. For whatever reason, we didn’t really get going.

“In the second half, I thought we were quite good after the first five or 10 minutes but it wasn’t enough on the day.

“I think everyone got really excited - supporters, the club - about the play-offs but we have a lot of games to go. Nothing is cut and dry yet.”

Horsham FC boss calls for greater investment in pitches after spate of postponements