Daggers Uninspiring In Hatters Defeat
Uninspiring. I often struggle to find a solitary word to sum up a performance, however, following the 0-2 home defeat to Stockport – I find this word synonymous of Tuesday’s encounter. The floodlights, seemed to be the only thing the Daggers owned that were shining bright, on a night where the standard of football left many fans with a rather dim view of play-off hopes.
The Daggers now five points off the play-offs,
though the level of performance leaves many with the belief things can’t improve
as much as they have to in five months – for us, to achieve a top 7 spot.
This is putting off-field financial matters
aside, the future of the season remaining in the balance.
The State Of Play
Finally. A return to league action, the opponents were
Jim Gannon’s Stockport, who were fresh from back-to-back cup contests - the
first saw them narrowly defeated by West Ham in the FA Cup.
The second, another defeat against Notts County on Saturday,
so the Hatters match sharp or fatigued? We would see how that was to play out under
the lights at Victoria Road - the Daggers though, with one aim, determined to
continue their climb up the table. Looking to bounce back from an
uninspiring FA Trophy defeat following the end of their isolation period.
It would have been a fantastic three points if they were
to have pulled it off, many tipping County to return to the football league,
most recently Paul Scholes on BT Sport. The Daggers manager himself also
stated in his post-match interview; he believes Gannon has ‘the best squad in
the division’.
But then again, the Irishman made it clear his side
‘want to get back to winning ways’, and as I believe, we want to be challenging
at the top – therefore, we should be getting something out of games like this. That’s
if we are to match the ambition.
I thought it was a tough ask to defeat Stockport on Tuesday,
as I mentioned in the build-up, but I could draw some parallels from the run up
to this game and the Torquay fixture.
An expected defeat; the fans wanted a reaction and the
team to bounce back. But, then of course, we were without some key players as
McMahon alluded to also – in Weston and of course Abu Ogogo. Although there is
hope for a Joey Jones return against the Hatters and exciting news of Liam
Gordon’s contract extension just before kick-off!
My
Take
Well, as
I say, uninspiring. But, there are of course reasons behind such an assessment –
or, rather the absence of reasons to praise the Daggers’ display.
The
first half was not too disheartening, the Daggers growing into
the game as it wore on – a few half-chances created. Nothing too clear cut. Although,
there were some good pieces of play which won a set-piece or two; rattling the
Stockport back line.
But, this didn’t go without risk at the other end, both sides throwing caution
to the wind – both going with back threes – toe-to-toe. Though we played with wing-backs,
it was Joey Jones who seemed to be the driving creating force from the back –
overlapping the wing backs himself. Jones put some great balls over the top and
into the box.
Another man who had been on the side-lines, and too, looked productive
in the first half was midfielder – Matt Robinson. Looking to make his stake for
the vacancy in that midfield role following the departure of Abu Ogogo; which
left a void in that area of the pitch. As well as his passing, Robinson earned
praise from supporters (a rare occurrence following the Tuesday night defeat) for
his fight, desire and tackling.
Not quite the reaction Brundle received for his return to action; though,
there was a belief among supporters at the break that we had a foothold in the
game – able to get something out of it.
That was at least, among those who weren’t so eagle-eyed to witness Joey
Jones clutch his hamstring, an injury he’d supposedly just recovered from. A
HUGE blow. The Daggers forced into a change, one certainly forced and would not
have been taken otherwise!
Anyway, the scores were still level, so the game remained all to play
for. But, the visitors
didn’t take long to break the defences of Dagenham (which included the newly
introduced Johnson) - it was Bennett who found the breakthrough.
Though, it was Elliot Justham who was to take the brunt of the criticism;
seemingly parrying the powerful Rooney strike into the goal-scorers path, for a
tap in. My reaction to the goal can be seen in the tweet below:
From there on in, that word ‘uninspiring’ was to ring true of the
performance of the hosts at Victoria Road. The lack of creativity was
concerning: the likes of Balanta and Deering on the pitch – though, unable to
supply that electric spark.
The final nail was to be put in the Daggers coffin, even at the early 62
minute mark, as Alex Reid did well to find the bottom corner from the edge of
the box – on his return to the Victoria Road. A happy one at that.
With little else to mention from that point onwards, I’ll speak briefly to
the reasons behind that aforementioned ‘lack of creativity’. Now, I’ve spoken
about this previously, and it’s the utilisation of Paul McCallum – a player
most effective with balls coming into the box.
Therefore, when he isn’t getting the service, he is irrelevant to an
extent – isolated – our most valuable player on paper is made redundant. So, I
stand by McCallum, though people may criticise his playing style – he is a
proven goal-scorer who isn’t being played in the right way. Or, at least the
players around him aren’t giving him the ball in the air.
McMahon’s
Take
An ‘alternative’ view came from Daryl, who was interviewed the morning
after the defeat, claiming it was a ‘good’ performance on the whole – 15 minutes
again leading us to ‘shoot ourselves in the foot’.
The idea we created some good chances, I’d have to refute, and I’m not
often one to be negative. It seemed that he was reiterating points made after
defeats at the very beginning of the season – not in context of Tuesday’s game.
As some pointed out, if that’s a good performance – that’s a cause for concern.
‘
Though, I do agree that this squad – though they weren’t performing at
their best – is the best in the division at Edgeley Park. Furthermore, that
this was our first league game back after a while, not excuses – more reasoning.
I disagree therefore, in the majority, but not in the entirety of Daryl’s
comments. I also would point out that this was our 15th game of the
season – the time of the calendar year throwing some people – ‘we still have 29
games’. The latter phrase, McMahon mentioned, we still have time to turn it
around and play-offs are only five points away.
Player Ratings
My Player Ratings can be found below:
Justham – 4
Now, I put this rating with great regret - I am a huge fan of Justham. But, it was his mistake for the opener and the unfortunate thing of making a mistake as a goalkeeper is - it is very costly!
Eleftheriou – 6
Jones – 7
His first half performance a refreshing change to the balance of the side. Though, his injury that could put him out for another few games is extremely disappointing - a quality player.
Croll – 6
Reynolds – 6
Gordon – 6
Brundle – 5
Robinson – 7
On his return to the side, he didn't have a fantastic performance. But, it was up there with the best in the side on a disappointing night - definitely staking his claim for another start on Saturday.
Deering – 6
Balanta – 6
McCallum – 5
So, the future of the season uncertain, I thought I’d give some football
reading for you – just while we still can! There remains hope for ‘Grants Not
Loans’ (this issue putting the season’s continuation in the balance) but it is
dwindling.
We’ll see the outcome, local MPs making sure Dagenham & Redbridge’s
voice is heard – let’s see what is to unfold!
For now, Stay Safe and COYD!
Comments
Post a comment