Singing we've got 3 points, haven't you?!

This Saturday I was allowed a nice lay-in and a slow comfortable awakening by the footballing gods. And it was while I was in this early morning haze, hugging the pillow like a child in his mother’s lap that I suddenly remembered...

..."IT'S SATURDAY!!! AND WE HAVE ORIENT AT HOME"!

Saturday 4th September - Leyton Orient - Home

So I jumped (well my unfit approximation of "jumped") out of bed and headed downstairs for a cuppa with the taste of the fried breakfast sarnie I was gonna have already on my tongue. Bounding into the kitchen to my horror I saw there was no bread! "No bread?!? On a Saturday?!?! The day after the shopping is done?!?!" then I checked the fridge "No bacon either!!! This shall not do!" It turns out that the bread had been given to a grandparent in need and the bacon had been forgotten when shopping. But I was determined and MrsMetalDagger came to the rescue by making some scrambled eggs which I fired up some sausages (with chilli sauce on the side) with for a pretty decent on the fly brekkie.

Sitting down with my eggs and a cuppa I switched on Soccer AM, and to my delight saw a the face of Mark Arber (with the superimposed mouth!) explaining that I was indeed correct that his celebration after scoring against Tranmere was a tribute to wrestling legend, "the Dirtiest Player in the Game" Ric Flair! (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!).

Once Soccer AM finished I put on my Daggers home shirt (Now looking a little worn!) and we set of to catch the rail replacement from Upney Station. As We got closer to Viccy Road I realised I was quite nervous about today’s tie, Although we had shown promise in most of our games, we were yet to win and after dropping 2 points to Tranmere, I feared going up against an O's team that had seen a couple of wins already!

We got into the ground and headed for the ticket office to pick up everyone’s tickets for the day from the brand new and shiny window at the side. With ticket in hand we headed into the clubhouse with Gemma to meet Nikos who was waiting inside sitting down at a table with familiar faces and a pint. We watched the MK dons vs Hartlepools game on the big screen, Nikos had MK down to win on his accumulator so was watching the game with much interest. We chatted amongst ourselves until the game all nervous and fearing the best we could do today was a point, but none the less happy for what was going to be a derby day game in front of a packed house.

Orient fill the away end

So with a belly full of beer we headed to the turnstiles and I got to use my season ticket for the first time and in my half cut state managed to embarrass myself by not being able to tear the ticket out of the book and having to hand it to the woman in the booth to do. Once inside the first thing I noticed was how full the Marcus James stand was, from one end to another it was full with O's ready for the game! The second thing I noticed was how full the sieve was already! So with heads down we weaved through the mass of people until we found a space near the middle to stand.

Daggers pack out the Sieve

It's times like Saturday when you look around at over 4000 people in our little ground, you wonder how we'd squeeze in another 2000 to reach our stated capacity. The teams came out to much applause and the game got underway. Straight away the Daggers contingent were in good voice as we cheered the boys and it seemed very back and forth at first but with the Daggers pushing forward with each attack. We didn't have to wait long to wait for something to cheer as Danny Green slipped past his man, darted forward and flew in a cross which was met by the diving head of Romain Vincelot for an 8th minute goal! And for only the third time this season I found myself dancing in the arms of my fellow fans! 1-0 to the Daggers!

Orient weren't out yet and I was thankful when Robbo took the sting out of Matthew Spring's half volley and collected safely then a little later Stephen Dawson broke through the Daggers backline and I thought he was going to score until Ogogo took one for the team with a last minute tackle which he came out a little worse for wear from! But the dagger continued to attack with Gavin Tomlin ending a lovely bit of work with a shot into the side netting and Vincelot nearly scoring a near-copy of last season’s goal against Burton!

With the home crowd singing away the half time whistle went, and then something I didn't expect to happen, happened. Out stepped Digger the dog and seven cheerleaders stepped out and started to dance to some random "boom tss boom tss boom tss" music. Straight away I wished this was the day I was in that furry suit! After the show I headed for a much needed pee, on the way back Digger was doing his rounds so I called him over, shook his hand and told him he was "a lucky bastard!"

Digger with the girls!

Back in my spot on the terrace the teams came out for the second half (with Will Antwi on for the injured Ogogo). The Orient fans hadn't been as loud as I had expected them to be with such a large away crowd (Morecambe spring to mind as one crowd who made more noise with less) but I think this was down to how the game was panning out, as when they decided to make some noise they had the potential to be quite loud. Sadly for the Orient fans our French phenom wasn't about to give them something to sing about as 5 minutes into the second half Danny Green whipped in a corner which was headed back across goal by Arber was guided by the Frenchman’s head into the Orient net! 2-0!


a terrace of happy Daggers!

As soon as we had stopped celebrating I think the whole home crowd remembered the last home game and the dropped points, So when the daggers dropped back as the O’s attacked the mood in the Sieve became noticeably tense as the mumbles and grumbles of a worried crowd filled the air. And after a decidedly wobbly period of worry the daggers settled back into a comfortable attacking pace and we nearly jumped out of our skins when Josh Scott hit the post with a lovely strike. But we also collectively shat bricks when Scott Doe misjudged a header back to goal which Robbo thankfully tipped away from goal! Finally the whistle blew and a cheer went up as we were safe in the knowledge that today all the points on offer were safely in Dagenham and Redbridge's account.

After clapping the team off of the pitch me and Nikos headed for the shop to get some cash out and the girls headed for the club bar. As we headed back to the ground for the post-match drinks we spotted Mark Arber driving down Victoria Road so as he stopped ready to pull out I called out to him "Hey Mark, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and did the Ric Flair walk, He looked over, smiled and with a "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" back at us, pulled off down the road. Just as Me and Nick were discussing that moments like that were one of the many things that make this club of ours special, Robbo drove past us with his head out of the window yelling "COME ON THE DAGGERS!!" at us, and with a "RRRRROBBO ROBBO ROBBO!" we waved him goodbye grinning like idiots.

Once back in the clubhouse we found a pint each waiting for us and sat down to toast the Daggers first win. Then the TV on the wall showed us some very welcome information

We're out of the relegation zone, so time for another beer and another toast. Just as Nick was at the bar John Still walked in ,so knowing he is a very approachable man (who last time I bumped in to him after the Tranmere game asked how my day as Digger was) I took the chance to shake his hand and congratulating him on the win. After a couple more drinks and chinwags with our friends around the clubhouse we headed home stopping at the chippy on the way home for some kebaby goodness.

What an awesome day! After staying up to watch the Footy League show I fell into a warm, drunk and very happy sleep

COME ON YOU DAGGERS!!!

FxMxD

Sadly I am too skint to make the trip to Bournemouth so I’ll be biting my nails listening to it on the Daggers Player!

Next - Ballmouth on the radio :(