It was a game that City really couldn’t afford to lose. It was never going to be easy, and the last thing City could afford to do was to give two cheap goals away in the opening 20 minutes or so. Dagenham came out strongly, and - despite an early City chance in the opening minute - took full control of the game from the off. City were sluggish, and the management won’t have been particularly happy with either of the goals conceded. With enough men back to defend the ball, and the Dagenham player on the ball pinned out wide on the bye-line, there really wasn’t any excuse for his being allowed to get the ball in low for the first one. Even once he had got the ball across, there were chances to clear, but the ball made it right through the pack to the far corner of the 6 yard box, and putting it away was a fairly straightforward task. Dagenham spent the next quarter of an hour or so looking very much like a team that is running away with the title, and they had the confidence of a side with a good recent record. They were running the midfield, and looked particularly quick and sharp up front. That said, the second goal, after about 20 minutes or so, was again disappointing, and a rather scrappy affair. From a Dagenham throw about 18 yards out, City got players back to pick up their men, to prevent the Dagenham attack getting the ball on the ground and in a position to create anything - instead we were treated to two or three flicks over heads, the last one sailing over a badly positioned Tony Roberts into the far corner.
It was difficult to see City getting back into it at this stage, but to be fair, they rallied well, and gradually started to make an impression on proceedings. Newell was forced to make a couple of - albeit fairly easy - saves and a couple of good chances from close range headers went begging. Eventually, and with excellent timing, 5 minutes before the break, Steve Clark put City right back in it with a close range header. I’ve read that City didn’t really recover from his having to go off as a result of a hamstring injury picked up while scoring, but to be honest I didn’t really think he’d shown much until then. That said, there are few better at digging a goal out of a mediocre performance, and it was just reward for a good 15 minute spell from City.
City started the second half as they’d finished the first, and an equaliser looked the most likely outcome. Only a superb tackle denied Andrews - on for Clark - in the opening minute of the second period, and Rob Haworth seemed - understandably - to be deceived by Newell’s inability to take what seemed a fairly straightforward catch from a cross, and put his header on to the face of the cross bar from point blank range.
But credit to Dagenham at this point. Having soaked up a lot of pressure either side of the break, about half way through the second half they seemed to regroup, and City found themselves unable to keep the pressure on. Once they’d regained their composure, there only really looked like being one winner, and that was duly confirmed when Mick Bodley took advantage of some pretty shaky marking to kill it off at 3-1.
A fair result? I’d say a two goal win flattered Dagenham, but I couldn’t argue with the fact they deserved all the points. City let themselves down in the first twenty minutes, and were fighting to get back into it for the rest of the game as a result. It would have been extremely interesting if City had got it back to 2-2, but it wasn’t to be. Roberts - inevitably - got a bit of stick from the travelling support, as did Newell from the City fans, but it all seemed generally well humoured. City’s pick was probably - and certainly in the first half - Rob Haworth, with Rooney again looking sharp further back. They probably lacked that extra yard down the lines, and Frankie didn’t really seem to know whether to push up, or hang back just in case. Praise to the lads for trying, and they really did well to get back into it at all from 2-0 down so early on.
As for Dagenham, they just about deserved it. I have to say that Newell doesn’t look any better than when he left City, and a better (Conference?) side might well have made more of the chances on offer. I also thought the back line looked less than comfortable when ran at, and they’ll need to tighten that up a bit. In the midfield, they looked very well organised, and that really was where the game was won. Up front, again, the forwards looked comfortable with each other, and had pace which had the City defence in trouble on a number of occasions. They’ll probably - though with our having a game over, and that vital match down there to come, not definitely - go up, and if they do they’ll probably stay up. Love him or hate him, Garry Hill is an good manager. But I feel they’d need to work a bit on the back and get a new keeper to really make an impression. |
