tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71995196252869034402024-02-08T17:31:34.580+00:00Daggers DiaryFullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-79455230453414489872011-10-05T18:44:00.000+01:002011-10-05T18:44:11.890+01:00What a load of Cobblers!<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Let’s face it, September wasn’t the kindest month to the Daggers</b>. A string of sub-par performances had left the mood in the Daggers camp decidedly grim with one shining beacon of hope being that thrilling shootout at Orient. Words like “Conference” and “Kettering” were being muttered and grumbled around the sieve. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=Fixtures2.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/Fixtures2.png" /></a><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our away Performances at Hereford and Rotherham while troubling did not really hit home as the start of a genuine wobble because we had 2 home games coming up. The first of which was against our old conference rivals “The Pox” of Oxford United! So after work a trip to The Bell was called for and after the couple of mandatory pints with Ant and Jerk’ we jumped on the 103 to face our fate.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Tuesday 13th September – Oxford United - Home</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And let’s be honest this match didn’t go that well. The whole time it felt like we should have been getting something out of it and the chants of “we won the league at the Kassam!” were at best, bittersweet! The first half saw both teams battling to get an edge. We started a bit slowly but picked up soon and Nurse nearly headed home Femi’s cross for it to bounce the wrong side of the post. Nurse’s time on international duty at Barbados seemed to have done him some good because he had another chance but slammed it into the side netting.</div><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=1-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/1-2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Oxford’s James Constable should have put the visitors ahead when he skied Asa Hall’s cross over the bar. Looking around me most of us had our hands up; we knew we just got lucky! A mixture of luck and some superb keeping from Lewington kept us in the game for so long before the luck ran out. United’s low free kick was picked up by Hall who shot through our defence past Lewington and into the net. 1-0 to Oxford. And sadly that was the way it stayed. Despite Femi having a go at lobbing the keeper from outside the box and a few attempts from corners the Daggers lack of firepower was again our undoing and we were lucky not to go two down after Alfie Potter walked all to easily through our backline before missing his open goal in favour of the bar.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That result left a definite sour taste in most mouths and a lot of expletives. I ain’t gonna go into the whole twitter affair but to say it was symptomatic of the bad mood and infighting occurring in the Red and Blue Army. I for one was a little worried, it seemed my little family club was falling apart at the seams and negativity was threatening to tear us apart. The next fixture didn’t exactly fill me with confidence either. Rotherham had already claimed their revenge and Morecambe’s run (which saw them strutting their stuff at the top of the table) looked set to let the ghost of our Play-off glory well and truly come back to haunt us.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
Saturday 17th September - Morecambe - Home</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The away stand didn’t exactly look as impressive as it had on that glorious day when we finally “pulled a Merge” but that’s ok because neither the game nor the score line were really impressive either. This was a game (and I know we say/hear this a lot) that we really should have won. But The Shrimps were really up for this one and our confidence was low. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=2-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/2-2.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Daggers peer into the rain</span></i></span><br />
<br />
Today our downfall wasn’t so much a lack of goals scored but the softness of the goals conceded and it was the second half when the first Morecambe goal finally came. The first half had been a fairly scrappy affair with the best chances coming from Morecambe. I actually missed their first goal going in, I can’t remember what I was looking at but I missed it. Watching the highlights it seems the long ball landed at Danny Carlton’s feet, beating Arber before he slotted into the far corner past Lewington. The second goal I did see and it was all too easy for the Shrimps when Lewington palmed away Laurence Wilson’s tight angle shot from the left. The ball fell to Drummond who kicked it into the right hand corner before Lewo’ could get back into position. Now I think Lewington has stepped up to be the main goalie very well but I can’t help but feel this wasn’t one of his better moments. Saying that, I’m sure he’ll learn from it and the way he buried his head in his shirt tells me; he doesn’t want to let one in like that for a long time! By now the mood in the sieve matched the pouring rain that hammered the roof above our heads. The only real lift was a superb free kick from Olly Lee which he buried in the goal. The daggers looked to have a chance to snatch a point from this match but with our next best effort cleared off the line it all felt a little bit too late. Everything that day (including our spirit) was dampened.</div><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=3-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/3-2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With both home and away form not being particularly up too much, I have to admit I wasn’t going to go to the Northampton match. Instead I was going to meet up with my musician buddies with a view to starting a new project that shall tear the London metal/punk scene a new one!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So much to Mr ‘FromTheCoach’s dismay I declined my spot in the car for that Saturday. Until Friday night, when my guitarist and long-time partner in crime messaged me to say he had caught some kind of flu/cold/bug thing and therefore we had to call the jam off. So I did the only thing I had left to do, I rang Jerk and reclaimed my seat; Northampton here I come!!<br />
<b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Saturday 24th September – Northampton - Away</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
It’s amazing; no matter the result I always enjoy an away day. So no matter what I thought the outcome of the match would be (and for the record I thought we had a good chance of winning) I jumped into the car looking forward to another day out with the Daggers. Northampton have a nice little ground, we were allocated the South stand and we had a nice little group of us. It goes to show; even when morale is low we can get ourselves to an away day to support the boys! </div><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=4-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/4-2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The first ten minutes of this game we looked really good. The next 20 minutes we looked amazingly poor and it was in that spell we conceded our first goal of the day when a Cobblers corner just couldn’t be cleared and the ball finally sat at the feet of Arron Davies who’s shot hit the underside of the bar and went in and three (until that moment silent) stands erupted with cheers. 1-0 to Northampton. From this point till half time it was quite painful viewing, or at least that’s how it sticks in my mind, I do remember Lewington making a fantastic save however!</div><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The second half the Daggers really came out fighting and tried to make their chances count but almost inevitably the Cobblers got a second; Mark Arber’s backpass left Lewo’ under pressure to “get rid” and his clearance landed straight at a Northampton players feet. They past it around as the Daggers desperately tried to regather their shape before a cross met the sizable head of Adebayo Akinfenwa who nutted it home. Bollocks 2-0! Once again the silent stands erupted and once again grumbles of discontent swelled around me. In this game in total we managed to get 18 corners for ourselves but none of them yielded a goal (not for want of trying though! Arber nearly scored but for the bar). Our consolation goal came when Olly Lee smacked home a Johnny Nurse cross for his second goal of the season, both of which sadly couldn’t save us any points.</div><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=Image1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/Image1.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><i>The Away-Day Daggers</i></span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So once again it was a lack of goals that lost us that match. As I walked out someone came up to me and said “don’t clap them!” “Pardon?” I said, not hearing properly the first time “don’t clap them, not after that!”. While entitled to his opinion this was not an opinion I shared. We didn’t just roll over and die and for most of the game we had played really well. Peter Gain had worked his arse off and nearly scored, Williams nearly scored from Lee’s free kick and that’s just the ones I can remember now. Sadly Northampton have a natural hard worker and goal scorer in Akinfenwa and (for me at least) not taking anything away from the rest of the Northampton squad, Bayo’ was the real difference maker and he tipped it for them.</div><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=5-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/5-2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So with no points to speak for we got back in the car and before I had a chance to reflect on the match just gone I crashed out on the shoulder of the missus. I woke up about half hour later with a banging headache and a blocked nose. “YAY!” I had caught my mate’s cold. Luckily my waking had coincided with Jerk’ pulling into the services, giving me the chance to go to Costa for a massive coffee! The rest of the journey home was a lot more comfortable for me and lot more noisy for my companions because a massive Latte tends to bring out the chatty housewife in me! I got home and slept through till Monday!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=6-2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/6-2.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Chin up FMD!</span></i></span><br />
<br />
There was no midweek game, so next up was a home tie against Crewe. A match many were viewing as a do or die moment. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But that’s a story for the next blog</div><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=Fixtures3.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/Fixtures3.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>FMD</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Next –</b> A late win at Crewe! </div>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-36133236087853256022011-10-03T09:22:00.000+01:002011-10-03T09:22:36.513+01:00Acid Grapes!<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saturday 10th September - Rotherham United - Away</span></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>So, we find ourselves facing Rotherham again</b> - the first time since</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the fantastic memory of defeating them 3-2 at Wembley in the Play Off</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Final. All ghosts have been put to bed since then, both sides having</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">lost a number of players (in fact I believe only two starters for the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">hosts played in the game, a very big turnaround!)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My weekend was to prove eventful, but i wont bore you all with the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">extra trivia - nobody wants to hear about me listening to news reports</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">of 9/11 on my drive home in terrible wind, after all! What happens on</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">away days, stays on away days (unless we choose!!)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyhow, the day started with my usual plodding along, getting nowhere.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Seeing as i used to live up there, I figured I knew how long it'd</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">take me to get there, and what with my habit of being late for</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">arriving places (yet seldom missing a kick off!) this was a bad</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">combination, especially adding the roadworks, and a dodgy car into the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">equation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At the end of last season, I got rid of the old faithful Rover [and don't I fucking know it! - FMD], and</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> replaced it with another BMW Driving Machine. I did not know that by</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Driving Machine, they meant massive oil leaks, and vents that blow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">smoke into the car when they feel like it. But, these things are sent</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">to try us, and when the smoke started feeding its way into my lungs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">somewhere near Huntingdon on the A14, I decided to pull up and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">investigate (I say investigate, I mean I ate a sandwich before</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">continuing my trip).</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=IMG-20110910-00065.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/IMG-20110910-00065.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The rest of the trip went better than expected, I think the wind must</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">have been behind me, because i arrived a full hour before kick off,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">had a reasonably lengthy discussion with Brian Woodall's father, and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">sat in the pub for a while (I elected to drive past my hotel for the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">night because I am a fool).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Then came 14:50, and I made my way into the ground.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now, I've never been up to The Donald Duck Arena to see a game, and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">what I had heard was that it was a poor venue with a bad pitch, but</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">honestly, awful atmosphere aside, the rest of it wasn't too bad! The</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">view, though lengthy, was good - far better than The Withdean last</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">year, and the pitch looked in decent shape.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">However, upon kick off I stopped caring. Having visited Hereford on</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">our previous away match, I was hoping for something more entertaining</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">from us, but unfortunately that isn't what we got. Within 8 minutes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">we'd gone a goal down. I have to say, Rotherham, though not</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">appearing to need to get out of first gear, look a good bet for</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">promotion this season, we on the other hand look like we will</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">struggle. I hate saying it, and I am more than willing to be wrong,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">but it appears so.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Scott Doe forced in an equaliser on 21 minutes and it seemed we may</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">have a game on our hands, but come the 29th and 38th minutes, the game</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">was already done and dusted, The foot was off the gas as far as</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Rotherham were concerned, and it was game over. We did pick up in the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">second half with the introduction of Jon Nurse and Mark Arber (great</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">to have him back!), but Rotherhams effective game ensured that again,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the travellers were to go home unhappy.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=IMG-20110910-00067.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/IMG-20110910-00067.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Overall I did enjoy my Don Valley experience, its always nice to see a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">new ground, especially one where you wouldn't expect to find football,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">and the second half was made all the more delightful by the artistic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">skills of Gina Bowd and the unfortunately unsuccessful attempt by</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mitchell Bowd to scale the hill behind the goal whilst the game was</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">being played.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I don't wish to dwell on the actual game too much (we did hit the bar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">though through Oliver Lee, i believe), i never do when we lose.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sour grapes? Fucking acid my friends, acid grapes!</span><br />
<br />
<b>JerkFromTheCoach<br />
<br />
Next - </b>FMD sums up September and looks to a fresh start in OctoberFullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-29990970677915943992011-09-18T14:45:00.000+01:002011-09-18T14:45:22.056+01:00Why did it mean so much to us?<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Firstly I would like to make an apology.</b> Sorry this report is so late (I know you’re all used to it by now) but I have recently started a new job and am finding less time to write than before. And if I’m honest the spare time I have found has been spent asleep because it is taking me a while to adjust to my new routine!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
So, The Johnstones Paint Trophy.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That name doesn’t tend to get the most awe inspiring reaction out of people. Quite often all you will get is a little groan and a mumbled something about it being “tinpot”. But the thing is I love all cup competitions, all of them! As many of our readers know I have a particular soft spot for the Essex Senior Cup and I have to admit I have a similar feeling for the JPT. While it is not always the most glamorous competition and can throw up a fixture that no one of either side of the crowd segregation care about (MK Dons away anyone?) sometimes the good folks at Soccer AM pull a classic out of the bag. Last season for example; an away tie against Charlton which produced a narrow 1-0 loss, a great atmosphere and was a nice appetiser for the league match where we battled for a well-earned point at the Valley. Also the biggest reason to get behind the JPT is; it’s a competition we have a chance of winning and to win it you have to go to Wembley! And with “big” clubs like Sheffield Wednesday bailing out in favour of the league the odds are better for another day out at Wembley for the Daggers.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So this year I was very happy to see we had been picked to face Leyton Orient away. Yes I know ANOTHER away fixture in a cup! But to be fair Leyton away is nearly as easy to get to as Daggers at home (for the more local Daggers anyway, myself included). Our preseason friendly against the O’s had been at best a non-event and at worst a reminder that were it not for one point we would have been sharing a division this season. But a chance to dump them out of a cup certainly whetted my appetite for a little revenge for last year’s FA Cup defeat.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Wednesday 7th August – Leyton Orient - Away – Johnstones Paint Trophy</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My alarm rudely awoke me from my party induced slumber and I found myself glued to my guitarist/best friends leather couch. Sadly I would not be able to just chill out all day till it was time for football.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My aforementioned new job actually started off as a voluntary position that I had put myself forward for after doing a 2 day course with the company. My plan was to make myself as useful as possible in the two days a week I was working there that I would be missed on the remaining three. And it was obviously working as I had been begged to come in for a couple of hours that morning to help with the rush. I had said this was fine as long as they realised I was not going home the night before and would therefore be a little worse for wear. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So I dragged myself into work (in a clean shirt lovingly dropped off for my by the missus) and completed some Action Plans for our customers. With my promise to my potential employers completed I returned to my friend’s house with some nice fresh Gregg’s baked goods and played some Xbox and chatted for a couple of hours. MrsMetalDagger was finishing work at 5 so at about 3pm I went home, showered and changed into my Daggers shirt and waited for the clock to reach half 4. My mother in law then gave me a lift to MrsMD’s work and we made for Rainham station.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At the station we bumped into Lee Wilson and his friend and we chatted as we waited for the train. Neither of us were particularly optimistic of a result that night as it has to be said we’re not exactly having a prolific time in front of goal. We alighted the train at Barking to change onto the Gospel Oak line, leaving Lee and Friend to go a different route via Stratford. I decided to give this route a try this time as I had gone via Mile end before and wanted to compare the two. It turned out that Lee should have come with us as the train we had shared was not stopping at West Ham and him and his buddy found themselves on route to Fenchurch Street (DOH!).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We got off at Leyton Midland and walked down to the Coach and Horses. I think this route takes a little longer than the other but with Lee and co getting lost along the way we had no real comparison. We ducked into the mini Tesco for a sarnie then into the Horses for a pre-match drink. Our little crew which today consisted of Mikins and Gemma (Jerk was working overtime) would be meeting us in the ground so with our drinks drunk we walked the short distance to Brisbane Road.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=os1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/os1.jpg" /></a><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">the Daggers start to fill the North Stand</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Today the Red & Blue army (in green) had been allocated the North Stand, which I have to say is a nice little stand about half the height of the Marcus James. And while it might not have the old school feel of the East stand, the view was unrestricted and it was nice to be close to the pitch and next to the home crowd, who were today in the odd looking west stand. As I made for a spot with the noisy mob I gather with I noticed we had brought a fair few. It was nice to know that no matter the competition a chance to stuff the O’s was something many Daggers will flock to. At first glance it seemed we had nearly as many fans as the home crowd did (and it couldn’t have been far off).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The game kicked off and instantly our mob was in good voice. No, better than good voice. We were making ALL the noise and within 5 minutes I realised I was having the most fun I’d had so far in this short season. It seemed the noise we were making was really spurring on the team; they really seemed to want the win. The home crowd were nearly silent apart from a small crowd of about 20 in the corner of the West stand nearest to us and I say "good for them!" I really did feel for them as they tried to whip up an atmosphere amongst a crowd of people sitting on their hands. I was having so much fun singing and chanting at the home crowd I nearly forgot there was a football match happening but I was shaken back into the game when Peter Gain hit the post with a lovely strike from the edge of the “D”.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=os2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/os2.jpg" /></a><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Orient slowly file into the West Stand</span></i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=os3.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/os3.jpg" /></a><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The unused East Stand</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Despite the atmosphere we created Orient were far from just rolling over and letting us stroll away with a win. Their league campaign was off to a poor start and I think this game was not only a nice change of pace but also a chance to gain some confidence by getting a win over their smaller neighbours. Say what you want about the O’s, they do try and get the ball down and play some passing football and it was a nice example of this that nearly rewarded them with a goal were it not for David Mooney’s shot taking a deflection before being tipped around the post for a corner by our Gooner for hire keeper James Shea. Everyone’s favourite Orient player (read; sarcasm) Dean Cox fired in a cross for Jonathan Tehoue only for him to head it neatly into Shea’s arms.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Orients keeper Lee Butcher started to show the first signs of being a little suspect between the sticks when he couldn’t hold onto Ollie Lee’s shot from outside the box and must have been grateful when it was hooked away by one of his defenders. He must have also been grateful when Damien Scannell’s shot caught him on his heels only to zip past the far post! With the pangs of hunger setting in (after all I had only eaten a sandwich all day) I made for the food bar below the stand just before half time to try and beat the rush. I didn’t have to wait long to get me and the Missus a hotdog each before returning to my seats in time for the half time whistle. So far I have to say I was having a brilliant time and was really looking forward to the second half. I couldn’t help but feel we deserved the win for our support alone!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=os4.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/os4.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The second half began and the banter picked up exactly where it had left off. Both teams were well up for it and there was a feeling in the air that pride was on the line. I thought that Orient were going to open the scoring when Mooney’s flick across the box was parried by Shea into the path of Jimmy Smith who would have been dead on to shoot and score if it wasn’t for an excellent bit of defending by Femi who got his body in-between the Orient midfielder and the ball before spinning round and clearing his lines. Defending like that deserved a payoff at the other end and we got it. Scannell ran down the wing to the edge of the box his first cross was blocked but fell straight back to his feet and he whipped it in again with his left foot, the ball hit the back of Sam Williams head, rolled down his back and flew into the net off of his arse! And the travelling Daggers including myself went ballistic! And after the screaming and cheering died down we found ourselves doing the Poznan! Yep that’s right we were celebrating a goal in the first round of the JTP like it was the FA Cup final! And what of it? It felt good! 64 minutes Orient 0 , Daggers 1!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It was very nearly 2 when Billy Bingham (who impresses me more and more each time I see him) dribbled through the O’s midfield and fired from about 25 yards out only for Butcher to spill his save over the top of himself but luckily for him it rolled out for a corner. Then Orient caught the break they so desperately needed; Porter chased after the long ball and ran it to the goal line then crossed it low past Shea and into the path of Mooney who’s hard work all game was finally rewarded with an easy tap in from 5 yards. 88 minutes in, it was now 1-1 and all of a sudden the West Stand woke up and the 20 hardcore fans around their drum were finally joined by their Orient brethren. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
A part of me really resented this sudden bolt of enthusiasm, it wasn’t as if Orient had been playing badly but it had taken a goal for 90% of their support to actually give a toss. If we were to lose this game on penalties (and a shoot-out was looking a dead cert with only 2 minutes plus injury left) I would have felt pretty crappy to have them rub our faces in another cup loss in a game that only 3 minutes ago they started to walk out from!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The final whistle blew and it was time for the inevitable penalty shootout. Now I know this has been a long report so far and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me till this point but I want to tell you a quick story. As a child I loved the penalty shootout, for me it was the height of adrenaline in football and this feeling was at its peak during Euro 96. When England beat Spain on penalties in the quarter finals it was the greatest football rush ever and I was convinced that with Seaman in goal there wasn’t a shootout we couldn’t win. So when we faced Germany in the Semi’s there was this part of me that really wanted it to go the distance to penalties as I was convinced it would secure us a place in the final. Well as we all know I was wrong, very wrong! And it hammered home a very healthy respect and fear of the shootout that I hold to this day.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=os6.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/os6.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So needless to say I was very nervous about this shootout, but I could feel that childhood adrenaline building. What was to follow was the longest shootout I have witness both live and I’m pretty sure on the telly too! It went thus;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Phil Walsh - Scores,<br />
Charlie Daniels – Scores. <b> 1-1</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Richard Rose – Scores, <br />
Dean Cox (to a chorus of boos and a “W*nker W*nker!” chant) – Scores.<b> 2-2</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Ollie Lee – Scores, <br />
Ben Chorley – Scores. <b>3-3</b></span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<br />
Damien Scannell – Scores, <br />
David Mooney – Scores. <b>4-4</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Now it was sudden death!</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sam Williams – (even though I thought he’d put it over!) Scores,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Leon McSweeney – Scores. <b>5-5</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Scotty Doe – Scores (and gives the Orient fans a nice “Shhhhhh!”),<br />
Marc Laird – Scores.<b> 6-6</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Dom Greene (making his returning debut as a Dagger) – Scores, <br />
Terrell Forbes – Scores.<b> 7-7</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Peter Gain – Scores, <br />
Jimmy Smith – Scores.<b>8-8</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Billy Bingham – Scores, <br />
Lee Butcher (their goalie) – Scores. <b>9-9</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Femi (our crowd let out an audible “gulp!” #FemiFacts) – Scores, <br />
George Porter – Scores. <b>10-10</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
James Shea (I’ll admit to being nervous before this one) – Scores, <br />
Moses Odubajo – Scores. <b>11-11</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Phil Walsh (with an absolute belter) – Scores, <br />
Charlie Daniels – Scores. <b>12-12</b></span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<br />
Richard Rose - Scores, <br />
Dean Cox (in spite of more taunting) – Scores. <b>13-13</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Ollie Lee – Scores, <br />
Ben Chorley – Saved by Shea!!! <b>14-13</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And after 15 minutes of penalties the Daggers had done it, we had dumped Orient out of the cup. The players celebrated on the pitch as me and a horde of my fellow daggers ran down from the stands to the edge of the pitch to rub the home supporters face in the dirt and celebrate our win with another Poznan! We exchanged high-fives with the players and gave them a round of applause before doing a Conga back down the tunnel. I met back up with my little group and us and the rest of the travelling Daggers marched en-masse to Leyton station singing all the way. Then the smaller groups split off in their separate ways and the mob I was in on the District line sang all the way home! What a thoroughly enjoyable night! </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Oh and I forgot to mention; the weekend before this match the draw for the second round had declared that the winner of this match would get a home tie against Southend! Bring it on!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
In conclusion of this essay of a report I would like to mention a thread I saw on the Orient forum, it was questioning why we celebrated the win so much. And one of the O’s on there wrote</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>; “Because they really, honest-to-god hate us and think we have an actual rivalry. Clowns.” </i> <br />
To me this stinks of “it isn’t a rivalry because we don’t care if they beat us” well that is bollocks. Local bragging rights are the very foundation of a football rivalry (or one of at least) every time I pass an Orient fan in the street we both know what happened that night and we both know that for now the bragging rights sit with us. And that my bitter Orient friends is why we celebrate so much when we beat you. Because we love our team!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I went to bed that night a very happy and tired man with zero voice left. And the next morning I was woken by my manager offering me a fully paid job at the firm I had been volunteering with!</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> All in all I had an amazing 24 hours!!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=os7.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/os7.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We love you Dagenham, we do! Oh Dagenham we love you!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>FMD</b></span><b><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
Next –</b> Have we ever won at Rotherham?</span>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-87013440749147785292011-09-11T10:58:00.001+01:002011-09-11T10:59:15.024+01:00If Football Matches Finished at Half-Time<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Words By Anthony Hodgson)</i><br />
<br />
Hello there, yes it's me, after buying Full Metal Dagger a burger and a late night chat about blogging (he posted something I got nosey, then made him an offer), I now work for the hairy mafia. I would just like to thank Full Metal Dagger and Jerk From The Coach for allowing me to now post my inner thoughts on Dagenham and Redbridge on their site. So let's get started shall we?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I asked for ideas about a new blog post, I was originally going to trapse through the forum and give my take on some of the hot topics on there, something I may do in the future, but Thomas Thorn gave me a better idea so thanks for the title mate.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What if by some quirk of fate FIFA decided that what football needed wasn't goal line technology, balls with sensors in, 5 referees, clubs run financially properly, a bribe free organisation, but for matches to end at half-time whatever the result was at the time? A bit like the golden goal rule they had at one stage, must say great idea there Sepp got anymore stonkers? Women wearing tighter tops for football? Sorry you tried that one didn't you, anyway here's what I found out.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/?action=view&current=sepp_blatter.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/sepp_blatter.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Would it change the course of history? Would it mean that clubs that survived on the last day of the season be relegated instead? Would it effect those who won promotion not have achieved it? To be honest I couldn't really care less, and seeing as this is a Dagenham and Redbridge site let's concentrate on the daggers shall we?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So looking back over our league history, having looked through loads of stats (you've got to love Wikipedia), consulted my memory banks, well I'm getting on and it ain't what it was, Christ I can't even remember the kids names half the time let alone whether I've just been to the toilet, (always best to go again if you can't remember) I have found out the following. Nothing, not a thing. There isn't a website I know of, so having come up short in my search I then decided to have a look at how many games as a league club we would have won and points we would have gained.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I shall be using what I shall call the Sepp Blatter stupid rule, well cricket has the duckworth-Lewis method and no one gets that do they? So how many points would we be on and also how many would we have lost using this method.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So here we go then the results are in and I can announce the following, the winner of this years X-factor is, oh crap sorry wrong blog :). Right back on track then.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In our first season in League 2 07-08 we gained 49pts in total using the Sepp Blatter rule we would have ended the season on 39pts a difference of 10 points</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Season 08-09 when we just missed the play-offs we gained 68pts in total, using the Sepp Blatter rule we would have ended the season on 47pts a difference of 21 points</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Season 09-10 our promotion winning season we ended on 72pts in total, using the Sepp Blatter rule we would have ended the season on 34pts a difference of 38 points</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Season 10-11 our only season in League 1 we ended on 47pts in total, using the Sepp Blatter rule we would have ended the season on 29pts a difference of 18 points.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So what does this all mean then? Well, hang on a minute while I work it out, 2+3-4x22= I have no idea! No seriously, believe it or not our future wouldn't have changed. We would still have been relegated last season, we would still have been promoted a couple of seasons ago.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That my friends is the beauty of football, you can stick as many equations and stupid rules into it as much as you like but at the end of the day nothing changes. Players will miss open goals, score stunning 30 yarders, teams will somehow beat their rivals 8-2, and underdogs will win games they shouldn't.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You can't change football no matter how much you try, you can't for a simple reason, it's played by humans for humans. When emotion is involved all reason goes out of the window. Football is a game of passion and emotion, so let's leave it alone and live with the memories, good and bad, that have been created by it and not worry about the what ifs? Because in football the what ifs are what make the game the beauty that it is.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Thank you to statsbuster.com for all the football league records.</span><br />
<br />
<b>Ant</b>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-57685896230447368242011-09-10T12:13:00.000+01:002011-09-10T12:13:56.981+01:00Herefeeeeughhhhhhh<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Knowing i'd be missing the midweek game</b> away in the Far East (at the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Matchstick Stadium, Leyton) for a game in the Dulux Super Cup I</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">figured that i'd best sort out my football fix with a trip to glorious</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hereford, a place known for its cattle more than its football.</span><br />
<b><br />
Saturday 3rd September - Hereford United - Away</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">....and looking at Edgar Street its easy to see why. I practically</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">had to grease myself up to fit through the turnstiles, and when i did</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">was presented with the worlds slowest tea bar, and toilets which were</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">nothing more than a groove keyed from the floor tiles, and a badly</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">placed sink. In addition, they stunk. Welcome to Medieval Hereford.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Mappa Mundi wouldn't have looked out of place framed on the wall</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">in front of aforementioned floor groove.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=IMG-20110903-00061.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/IMG-20110903-00061.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our stand was a true beauty to behold. The Arthur Scargill Stand</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Cargill...) was slimmer than some of our supporters (myself included)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">and is made up of a lower tier of terracing, and an upper of 5 rows of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">seating. The lower tier view is obstructed....i say obstructed, its</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">obstructed in much the same way a coffin obstructs ones view of a</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">corpse. There may as well have been a wall built an inch in front of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">our faces it was that bad. In fact, the only decent-ish view was to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">be gained from an area which they had painted yellow markings onto the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">floor of, and of which it was a crime to stand in. I dont know why</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">common sense cant be applied when a club that takes such small numbers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">away from home are playing. Anyone left in the ground long enough to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">die in an emergency when the rush outside consists of a queue of 13</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">people and a hot dog, in reality, deserves to die. So, we had to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">stand behind the pillars to try and view the game.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=IMG-20110903-00058.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/IMG-20110903-00058.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">During the pre-game warm up and indeed after the whistle, it could be</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">noted that there was absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever. The home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">fans are appalling, I dont think i even heard them until around 20</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">mins from the end. Still....rather Edgar Street than a soulless</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">flatpack like Shrewsbury Town - as when the supporters did bother, you</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">could hear them.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I really didn't get to see much first half, and it was largely</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">uneventful nevertheless (what i could see anyway). The only point of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">note was a penalty shout for us, which seemed to see the linesman call</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">for a spot kick, only for it to be refused by the referee and see us</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">given a throw in. Not quite sure what went on there, but, shocking</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">officiating - as usual. The sides went in 0-0, and for the second</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">half we decided that we'd sneak upstairs into the seats to actually</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">watch the game.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">...I wish we hadn't have bothered. I wont pretend we looked useful in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">any way, and in my opinion the bright point came with the introduction</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">of Jake Reed. This game had all the feeling of two sides who come the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">end of the season will be struggling at the wrong end of the table,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">looking through their anus's at the bottom two places. Why do we come</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">out so negative away? After 60 minutes or so, i spent much of the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">game staring into the distance at Hereford Cathedral.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=IMG-20110903-00062.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/IMG-20110903-00062.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On the other hand, when looking at the teams, it can be noted that we</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">were missing the likes of Elito and Arber, who will be influential to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">how we finish come the end of the season. No sign of Dominic Greene</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">either - for reasons I am not aware of. Jon Nurse was away on</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">International duty.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So roll on 85 minutes, when a weak Hereford goal made the score 1-0,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">thus giving them their first league win of the season, and ensuring</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">our record of conceding late goals lives on. It's frustrating,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">because we could have so easily had something from this game -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hereford were bloody awful. I wouldnt be surprised to see them go</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">down this season.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=IMG-20110903-00060.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/IMG-20110903-00060.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>JerkFromTheCoach<br />
<br />
Next -</b> A Game no one cares about, apparently!FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-49263044963957810962011-09-08T16:27:00.000+01:002011-09-08T16:27:37.704+01:002 Halves, Hospitality and Headaches<i><b>Disclaimer –</b> When leaving for this match I completely forgot my camera and the memory card on my phone was full, therefore I have no photos from this game. But fear not, I shall replace the photos with shite stick-man drawings! YAY! – FMD (sorry)</i><br />
<b><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Are you coming to Romford with us then?”</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There are a couple of scenarios that ran through my mind as I that sentence reached my half asleep ears. The first scenario I envisioned saw me peeling myself from my comfy bed, crawling into the family car for the journey and then walking bleary eyed around Romford’s many shops (stopping for a Subway sandwich along the way) and then being dropped off at Vicky road in time for a pint. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The alternative saw me planting my face back into the warm crater I had imprinted in my pillow, falling back to sleep for about an hour, dragging my carcass to the couch to watch Soccer AM (on an hour delay due to the delights of Sky+) and then… well that’s as far as the plan went. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Would you mind if I didn’t” I mumbled before rolling over and falling back to sleep. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Bed 1 – 0 Outside world </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">About an hour later I was sitting on the couch watching SoccerAM and enjoying a cup of tea when my phone rang. It was Jerk’ finding out if I was going down to The Bell for a pre match drinky because someone he’d spoken to on “footballforums.net” was going to be there and what’s more he was going to drive down there and did I want a lift!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Lemme finish my tea and put some pants on!”</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saturday 27th August - Torquay Untied - Home</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The previous weekend had seen us take all three points from Bradford so I was quietly confident that we could do the same against the Gulls.</span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At The Bell I met the Torquay fan that Jerk’ knew (Alex) and his friend Paul (who I shall call “Torquay Paul” to save confusion between him and our Paul), both of whom were already well into their days drinking. Not wanting to be left out I got my pint and chatted with the two. I found both to be very good company and the banter was free flowing. Torquay Paul commented how we were the first metalheads he’d met on his many away days to which I said “count yerself lucky, Barking and Dagenham aint exactly swimming with us!” </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=337810_2276710711389_1057363696_2620511_830491387_o.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/337810_2276710711389_1057363696_2620511_830491387_o.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After about 4 pints and a shot of Vodka (courtesy of Torquay Paul) it was time to catch the 103 to Victoria Road. The bus rocked with the sound of 7 drunken Daggers and 2 drunken Gulls as songs were sung at each other and anyone else who dared get on the bus! But the bus driver was very understanding about the whole thing and even gave us a wave in response to “driver, give us a wave!” top bloke!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As we got into Fortress Victoria our yellow wearing guests made for the Marcus James and we made for the sieve. The game itself (as many are) was a game of two halves. Two very distinctive halves.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The first half saw us controlling the game but not finding that all important end product. I thought Tomlin was going to get his first of the season when he picked up Abu Ogogo’s deflected shot, sadly he fired it at the keeper who smothered the ball. It was Sam Williams who opened the scoring, Gavin Tomlin put the ball into the box for Nurse who lifted it on to Williams whose whipped header curled into the far corner. 1-0 to the Daggers. So far it had been a solid showing from the Daggers and a lovely little bit of link up between Williams, Tomlin and DJ Green nearly culminated in DJ getting his first but for a save , the ball made it back to DJ who took an ambitious cross/shot which Robert Olejnik just managed to tip it over the bar. During the halftime break whilst eating my burger I realised I was developing quite a nasty headache, not good!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=340694_2276711471408_1057363696_2620513_1630775280_o.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/340694_2276711471408_1057363696_2620513_1630775280_o.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The second half was a completely different matter, I don’t know whether Torquay came out of the traps or if we run out of steam or a mixture of the two. Whatever it was the second half did not make for comfortable watching. We started brightly enough but within 10 minutes Torquay started to box us in and Chris Lewington really came into his own with a couple of saves to keep us in it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Then the almost inevitable happened; Mark Arber tripped Billy Bodin in the box and the Ref pointed towards the spot Rene Howe stepped up and converted. 1-1. At this point I could honestly see us conceding again, maybe it’s just the cynic in me. But despite this we held on for the point. I hate to cast shadows over points but walking out I couldn’t help but feel it was two points dropped.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> In hindsight points are points and I shant moan.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=322868_2276712991446_1057363696_2620514_658808177_o.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/322868_2276712991446_1057363696_2620514_658808177_o.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We met up with the Torquay boys in the car park and jumped on the 103 back to The Bell and after a quick pint I decided that the pain in my head was too much to bare and I went home and quite literally laid down in a dark room and fell asleep.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
COME ON YOU DAG….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(shhh I have a headache!)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Come on you daggers!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>FMD</b></span><b><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
Next –</b> The land of Milk and errrr Beef! Hereford!</span>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-81482737262784680242011-08-30T21:00:00.000+01:002011-08-30T21:00:11.450+01:00I Don't Wanna Say i Told You So...<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
</b><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/1-1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>I think it's fair to say</b> the mood in camp was at best mixed and at worse, hysterical. Maybe.<br />
<br />
The loss to AFC Wimbledon had left a cloud over Vicky Road and a bit of a division in our fan base; pessimism vs optimism, ambition vs contentment. Despite this I was surprisingly optimistic about our chances in our next match against fellow league 1 dropouts Swindon Town. You see I have noticed a pattern with Daggers (especially last season); we seem to be a mirror for the teams we are playing. If we play a good team we step up and play well, if we are playing a less skilled opponent we'll play sloppy and concede soft goals (the only exception is cup matches were all bets are off). Even though Swindon had Paolo Di Cannio now installed as manager and should be aiming for promotion they were in the same boat as us with 1 win and 1 loss and like I said, I had a good feeling.<br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Tuesday 16th August - Swindon Town - Home</b><br />
<br />
I wasn't as organised as I would have liked so I decided with time running short I would forego a trip to the Bell and just have a quick pint in the clubhouse before kick-off. I got the tube from Upney to Daggy-East with the missus and her mate and we took the short walk to the ground. The car park wasn't amazingly packed so with 20 minutes to 7:45 I was optimistic I could get in the clubhouse and sink a nice cold Grolsh before kick-off. I marched off to the bar but just before I got to the door I realised no one had followed me. I walked back a short way to find MrsMD and Co' queuing to buy 50-50 tickets "arrrrrrgggghhhhh!". Now while I wholeheartedly support the 50-50 scheme and often participate (anything that gives money to the club is good in my eyes) but anything that holds me up from a pre-match beer is an inconvenience that must be eliminated. The clubhouse wasn't too packed, so a beer was acquired and imbibed with relative ease. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=2-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/2-1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Walking through the turnstile into the familiar air of the LBB&D Stadium I looked at the Marcus James which was about a third full. Not bad for a Tuesday night. The teams were just coming out as I found my usual spot.<br />
Early on Ollie Lee flashed a shot wide and new boy Brian Woodhall fired into the Swindon Keeper’s waiting arms. The Sieve was in good voice and ex-Hammer Di Cannio in the away dugout and Ex-Dagger Matt Ritchie on the pitch banter was aplenty. Town midfielder Etiënne Esajas fired from way out but rising star Chris Lewington collected nicely from a dive.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=4-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/4-1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Alan McCormack passed to the feet of Raffaele De Vita whose curling effort went wide of the far post. At the other end of the pitch Johnny Nurse whipped in a ball but Brian Woodhall’s header flew high over the bar. De Vita received the ball in the box and looked odds on for a good shot until he was brought down by Scott Doe. De Vita, Di Cannio and the Swindon fans all screamed for a penalty but the Ref waved it away as a fair tackle, looking back at the replay it could be 50/50 at best, at worse he got the man then kicked the ball away, so maybe a lucky escape. In response to Di Cannio’s outrage a rousing chorus of “Fuck off Di Cannio!” filled the air, that and a lot of bad Italian accents! “babba da booopi!”.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=3-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/3-1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
We had to wait till the second half for a goal and it seemed like it would come from Woodhall who latched onto Nurse’s pass and drove the ball low, hard and (only just) wide. The opening goal eventually came from a penalty; Tomlin received the ball from a throw on and made a dash into the box only to be tripped by Paul Caddis. The Ref pointed to the spot and Mark Arber Marked his return as the penalty taker with a nice clean strike into the net. 1-0 to the Daggers.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/THj34CnQsng" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />
The Robins desperately tried to fight back and I thought they were sure to score when we just couldn’t seem to clear it out of the box and it was nearly matt Ritchie who buried it, but instead he smacked it into Doe but not before handling the ball and conceding a free kick. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=5-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/5-1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
As the final whistle blew a cheer rose from the sieve. The kind of cheer we all needed, teams and fans both. As the red and blue mass shuffled toward the exit the team came round to clap the fans and we rewarded them with applause. My little troupe made our way to the bell for a celebratory drink and we encountered an amazingly drunk woman who told us her life story (a story of great riches, crippling poverty and arsehole children!). </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">2 wins out of 3 ain’t bad. Now all we needed was a goal from open play! </div><a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=6-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/6-1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Come on you Daggers!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>FMD</b></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Next –</b> We get drunk with some Torquay fans!</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" />FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-420744370588160092011-08-16T15:54:00.000+01:002011-08-16T15:54:15.074+01:00Oh, Did the football season start?<b style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Soooooo we're back</b><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">First a quick rundown</b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> of where your favourite hairy buggers have been. Well Jerk' has been doing a butt-load of overtime in a bid to become the richest man in Becontree and I have been doing a voluntary work placement in the hope that my 6 year absence from getting up at a ridiculous time of the morning to go to a job I hate can finally end, YAY! Other than that I have been running round like a crazy bastard trying to get my band together.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But don’t despair I still found time to go to some football (even if I haven’t found the time to write about it) first things first, the friendlies. In the interest of not giving our readers "World of Warcraft" levels of eyestrain I shall present my cliff notes versions of the ones I attended.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Saturday 23rd July - Orient - Home (friendly)</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pretty Boring but informative. Nice to see the new players and it was amusing to see how seriously the travelling "O's" took the fixture "bless!” 0-0</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<u><b>Tuesday 26th July - Wet Spam - Home (friendly)</b></u></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Actually quite fun. The Daggers looked lively and if it wasn't for Robert Green clawing out Jake Reeds shot we could have walked out with a Draw (we should have shot for Greens feet!). 0-1 to the Hammers.</span><br />
<br />
<u><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saturday 30th July - Stevenage - Home (Friendly)</span></b></u><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Was nice to see the fringe players run about especially injuries mounting. Overall, it was a pretty standard friendly. 1-2 to the Visitors.</span><br />
<br />
<u><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Monday 1st August - Thurrock - Away (Friendly)</span></b></u><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Probably my favourite pre-season game. Me the missus and a couple of fellow Daggers parked in between the dugouts listening to Wayne Burnett shout at everything in sight, simply awesome. Got to see Lee Goodwin being a manager and a lot of the trailists and fringe players looked pretty good. Ian Gayle (yes that one!!) Dwight Gayle, Osborn and Louis Dennis all impressed in our 5-0 win. <br />
Oh Paul Terry didn’t try to shag my woman! Thumbs up all round then!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With Pre-season over all eyes turned to the opening trip to Macclesfield.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
The night before I had requested an early wakeup call at about half 6 but at half 7 I was still glued with sleepy-time sweat to my pillow. Peeling myself from the bed I pulled on my brand new Daggers shirt, went through what I shall tactfully call "the morning routine!" and left for Vicky Road. We were greeted by the sight of about 100 or more early rising Daggers (hehehe that is officially my new term for "morning glory", BAD FMD!!! get your mind above yer navel!)</span><br />
<br />
<u><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saturday 6th August - Macclesfield Town - Away</span></b></u><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pleasantries where exchanged between people that hadn’t seen each other for 2 months and then we boarded the coach. The coach for today was a proper swish one and many of us spent a good 10 minutes playing around with the various features of the posh seats. "oooooh it goes sideways!!" the coach trundled up the motorway northbound and we watched "Paul" on the little flip down coach telly's The chatter on the coach reflected the optimism and nervousness a new season brings, I had a long chat with a relatively new Dagger who after last season is a self-proclaimed "life long convert". Good on ya mate!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now the thing is, I can’t eat in the mornings. I have to have been awake a good couple of hours before my stomach even realises it exists, so I left without having any breakfast. The upshot of this was a very grumbling stomach about an hour into the journey! So you could imagine my relief when we finally pulled into the M6 toll road services. Sadly they were the worst services to buy food at! I wanted some hot food and I fancied a coffee (you know the kind, one of the ones that is really hard to say and remain viewed as a heterosexual, "Caramel Latté please!")</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The two main food outlets were a typical service station hotplate convention and a burger bar called "The Burger Co". Burger sounded good to me so I opted for a "Bacon-Double cheeseburger" meal and the missus had a chicken Burger. My burger tasted like they had emptied the grease-traps into a bun and added ketchup, the 4 onion rings tasted like greasy cardboard. I was not impressed; you know one of those microwavable "rustlers" burgers? Yeah, it tasted about 10x worse than that. A bargain at £7 eh!!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After my disappointing meal I decided I couldn’t be bothered to join the mammoth queue for Costa, so instead I grumbled my way back to the coach and fell asleep. We rolled into Macclesfield and after a little confusion we parked outside Moss Rose. We bought our tickets then made for the Alfred McAlpine Stand which contains "Kieths Bar" Named for the late Kieth Alexander who died just before the last time we faced the Silkmen. Was a nice new looking (if a little cramped) bar and I sank a much needed lager.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Looking out of the bars window I could see both teams warming up and took in the ground. The first thing I noticed was the nearest stand to us the "Star Lane" end was an odd little stand, the front half was seating but the back half was Terraced, I’ve always had a soft spot for little quirks like that.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=3.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/3.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With kick-off approaching I picked up a programme and found a space in the tiny portion of the Alfred McAlpine Stand that was our allocation for today. An MC came out (no not the rapping kind ya silly kiddies!) and informed us that today was a family day and tried (unsuccessfully) to whip up the Silkmen....Silk..Women? Silkpersons!! yeah that's it. Tried to whip the Silkpeople into a frenzy. A smattering of polite unimpressed applause was his reward, but when he acknowledged the travelling Daggers we made more noise than the other 3 and 3/4 stands combined! Yay us!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Overall I have to say this felt to me like a shaky game, what felt like a new team was trying to find its collective feet and work as a unit, and The Silkmen took advantage of this with Waide Fairhurst coming close twice early on, but The daggers had their own chances with new boy Howell and fan favourite Johnny Nurse both having a go. With Robbo gone (oh yeah forgot to mention that!) Chris Lewington was our man between the sticks and did very well to keep out a Nat Brown header from close range. Elito nearly came close after a nice bit of headed back and forth between him and (our new number 7) Sam Williams. But all in all not a half to write home about but certainly not the worse I have seen. </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=4.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/4.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The deadlock was finally broken at 60 minutes (quick side note; my golden goals ticket had "59" for fuck sake!). The Daggers had looked better in the 2nd half so far so we were glad to see Gavin Tomlin's free kick guided home by Arber... no Elito.... no Arber...errrrrrrr... hmmmm it's been given to Elito, fair enough! Either way we went nuts and celebrated our first goal of the season.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lewington made game winning saves when he parried away Tomlinson’s volley and blocked an Emile Sinclair shot, but sadly his last contribution was a very controversial sending off for handling the ball outside of the box, which no one in the away end saw. We went absolutely fucking mental and the last 10 minutes of the game were an exercise in referee hatred. Bile flowed onto the pitch until the final whistle calmed us down. It now looks like there may have been a handball from the follow-up shot making the red card justified. But I stand by our outburst of contempt, we are here to support the boys and we didn’t think it was handball at the time and we made the appropriate noise.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I mean even the Macc's players were trying to tell the ref it was a header.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All in all I think we were a good crowd, in good voice and 3 points was a welcome start to the season. It wasn’t until the last few minutes of the match that the prophecy of rain was finally fulfilled. We walked through the rain to the coach and settled in for the (damp) journey home. </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=5.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/5.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
The Tuesday after The Daggers lost 5-0 to Bournemouth in our annual first round exit from the league cup. I myself didn't go and could only listen up to the third goal before an amazing wave of apathy washed over me (you know the kind, the kind that means you can decide not to care about your team receiving a battering) so I turned off the commentary and had a cry in the corner. I mean a beer.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Next on the horizon was our first home game against Football League newcomers AFC Wimbledon.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> I don't need to outline the Dons rise to league status here as every site/paper/sports show has already well covered it. Nethertheless here they were and they needed their first league win.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Saturday 13th August - AFC Wimbledon - Home</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saturday morning saw a welcome return to my home game routine. I sat myself on the couch and watched Soccer AM with a cuppa. I rang around my little posse and confirmed that our lot would indeed be making for The Bell, spot on!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">TV off and home shirt on, we made for the pub (via Tesco’s for a sarnie). It was great to have that match day feeling back. I love the way that nearly all the locals will wish us luck when they see us in the red and blue. I can’t be the only one to notice this. </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=6.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/6.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After a couple of pints kick off was approaching, so we jumped on the 103 and rolled on to Vicky road. Due to a couple of people dithering whilst trying to get on the bus we arrived about a minute after kickoff and before we had got through the turnstiles I could hear the Wombles in full voice. After wedging myself into my favoured spot in the sieve I took in the game.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The first half hour I thought we looked really good, we were getting the ball down and passing it about and we certainly looked in more control than we had at Macclesfield. Wimbledon hardly got a shot in and the Daggers came close so many times. Williams, Nurse and Lee all had chances that never became goals. Towards the end of the half the Dons woke up a little and this little rash of enthusiasm lead to a throw near our box. As the long throw came in Scott Doe controlled it with his arm in the box and conceded a penalty, which was deftly converted by Luke Moore.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=7.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/7.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At this point I decided to go for a burger and I watched the rest of the half from the back of the sieve with a mouth full of bacon cheese burger. I have to say I wasn't too concerned with the score at this point. We had controlled the game for the most had looked very threatening at times and I honestly thought we would get at least a point from the match.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But the second half was a different affair all together. We gave it a go don’t get me wrong, but when our defence let Rashid Yussuff take a superb strike from outside the box to make it 2-0 it was safe to say the writing was on the wall. The daggers heads dropped, our fans heads dropped and anyone to do with AFC Wimbledon were having a ball and it showed. I think as fans we were a little disappointing, not much song was in the air and I think the was an air of entitlement to the three points that were on offer than day. Sadly this is football no one is entitled to anything! </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=8.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/8.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=9.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/9.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Despite 5 minutes of us getting corners and Phil Walsh coming so close, the Wombles walked out with three points and a song in their heart. We filed out in silence with no points and a big doom cloud above our heads. There was no clapping after the final whistle and a few boos could be heard. The players walk around to clap the crowd was decidedly short and subdued and only a few stayed to clap them back. Daggers had made history once again, this time for being the first league club to lose to AFC Wimbledon.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=10.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/10.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the Bell afterwards the mood was a little grey and when I got home and flipped on my laptop the forum was ablaze with criticism, counter-criticism and mudslinging. But amongst it all I think we know this will be hard season. League 2 this time round is a much harder league but on the good side last year we beat two of the biggest sides in this league (Bristol, Swindon,)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And a top half finish is on the cards, honest!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
I really hope we beat Swindon, I really do! But we need to get behind the team and make some noise!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/?action=view&current=11.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/11%2012/11.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Chin up Daggers!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(That goes for you lot too)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>FMD</b></span><b><br />
</b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Next –</b> Swindon, and Dicannio returns to East London.</span><br />
<br />
FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-51955282127353285792011-06-14T03:10:00.000+01:002011-06-14T03:10:43.439+01:0010 Reasons to Look Forward to the 11/12 season<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So the fixtures are out on Friday and the waiting is starting to get to me, so to pass the time I present to you<br />
<b><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><u style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">FMD's TOP 10 reasons I’m looking forward to next season.</span></u></b><br />
<br />
<b>1 The Battle for Promotion</b><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=barnet_fc_club_crest.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/barnet_fc_club_crest.jpg" /></a>After a season of battling to keep our heads above water it will be nice to (in theory) have a battle up at the top of a table. Some good wins will energise the team and fans alike. I think it's a tougher league 2 than last time we were here but I reckon a playoff push is on the cards.<br />
<br />
<b>2 Barnet</b><br />
Der da'der der der der derrrrrrr who the fuck are BARNET!?<br />
Well Barnet managed to stay in the league by the skin of their teeth so our little derby day is back on. Good times. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>3 New Grounds</b><br />
AFC Wimbledon and Crawley are of course the two that a lot will be looking at. As well as those there is Morecambe's new "Globe Arena" and as it was a Daggers away crowd that joined the shrimpers for their last game at Christie Park it will be nice to say hello to the new gaff.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>4 The Cups</b><br />
A new season brings new cups to get kicked out of and the prospect of a tie with a big club or one of our rivals. The first stone in this year’s paths to the cups will be laid on Thursday with the <b>Carling Cup</b> draw, where we will of course draw Mk Dons away and get dumped out, probably. Despite all the glib pessimism there is always the hope of a big tie in the later rounds and it has been a while.<br />
<br />
Despite its tag of "tinpot" the<b> Johnstones Paint Trophy</b> is always a nice golden ticket for lower league teams to go to Wembley. An example of a cup no one cares about till they think they've got a chance of winning, funny that!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=fa-cup.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/fa-cup.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
The<b> Fa Cup</b> whilst also offering a chance at the big teams gives us the chance of some of a stab at some of the old non-league rivals as they endeavour to put together a cup run, I mean imagine Crawley and Boston in the same season! <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But all of this pales in comparison to the mighty <b>Essex Senior Cup</b>! As I have said before I genuinely like this cup. A chance to see our young'ins on the way up and ties against old local rivals. I would love to see more people turn out for these games and get some atmosphere going. Especially as we're one of the teams with the best chance of winning it!<br />
<br />
<b>5 Bristol Rovers</b><br />
As regular readers will know I have family in Bristol and both the home and away ties provide the perfect excuse for a reunion and some friendly banter.<br />
<br />
<b>6 Home games & The Burgers</b><br />
I can smell the onions now. Even when I’m not planning on eating the best cheeseburger in the league, the smell of the onions and the steam from the cooking food rising out of the front of the Sieve all add to the match day feeling. Tuesdays under the lights, the rain pissing down, that old guy moaning about us not “keeping it on the deck”. Man I want it all now! <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01272.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01272.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b><br />
7 Away days </b><br />
Away days to me are the best bit. Home is always great because it's home, our home! But away days they have the feeling of an adventure. It's like we're a group of pirates raiding the opposition for three points. The camaraderie at away games seems a little tighter, everyone is out of their territory and everyone wants to make their presence felt. Add that to the journey itself complete with songs, service stations, a game of "guess whose fans they are" and if you're in our car listening to Burzums "Daudi Baldrs" (Norwegian black metal is a must on away days!)<br />
<br />
<b>8 The Pub</b><br />
Before the game, after the game, at the clubhouse or at the Bell. The pub is the beginning and end of most home games. Will you be toasting another historic win? Or crying into your pint? No matter what happens, it will happen at the pub. <br />
<br />
<b>9 Crawley</b><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Photoshops/?action=view&current=fatbastard-1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Photoshops/fatbastard-1.jpg" /></a>Not so much the team, but the manager. Yep, St*ve Ev*ns. Every great story needs a villain, and boy is he ours. Even if he hadn’t been the man in the centre of "Bostongate" his constant torrent of gob-shite directed at any club or management that lays a challenge to whatever team he is managing would make him very dislikeable. <br />
<br />
Not seen at Victoria road since that bitter time Ev*ns is now in charge of Crawley and their massive wage bill and spending more money last January that the whole of league 2 has shattered any illusions of "non-league boys make good" (no matter what the poxy Sun says). Ev*ns will return to what I can only assume will be a very hostile reception. To help towards this atmosphere I have penned 2 songs for the occasion<br />
<br />
Ahem<br />
<br />
"Evans, wherever you may be"<br />
<br />
<i>Ev*ns wherever you may be, </i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Boston scum, or Creepy Crawley<br />
You always cheat, you dirty runt. </i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>You stupid f*cking loud mouth c*nt!</i><br />
<br />
"We wish we were there"<br />
<br />
<i>We wish we were there, <br />
We wish we were theeeeerrrre,<br />
When you cried in court,<br />
We wish we were there.</i><br />
<br />
I even designed a t-shirt, and if enough people say they want one I shall get some printed.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Photoshops/?action=view&current=cuntshirt-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Photoshops/cuntshirt-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />
<br />
<b><br />
10 My Fellow Daggers</b><br />
Yeah, that's right. You lot! Being in the Sieve surrounded by the red and blue army in full voice is one of the best feelings I know. I have always loved the way that the Daggers bring us together. Being a lifelong metal head I can appreciate a place that brings people of all different backgrounds and tastes together. Who says football is all conflict?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01349.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01349.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
ROLL ON FRIDAY!!!!<br />
<br />
<b>FMD</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Coming soon - The awards </div>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-14607590988474259222011-06-01T02:43:00.007+01:002011-06-01T03:12:29.334+01:00Now It's Our Turn<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b> </b></i><i>A little break from our normal offerings, not Daggers related but football related none the less. (and maybe it'll pass some time until the new season eh!) - FMD<br />
</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"> Now It's Our Turn</span><br />
(or "how to try not to suck in a football team")</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">THUD! </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That was the noise my outstretched body made as I hit the floor, kicking up a cloud of dust. I looked along my arm to my gloved hand and saw my fingertips ineffectually glance at the ball, which rolled past the make shift goalpost (my back-pack) and over the line. This wasn’t going to be as easy as we first thought, well maybe that's a lie, we never thought this was going to be easy! Forming a Five-a-Side football team with a bunch of unfit 20 somethings was always going to be a tough task. It was something that had often been bandied about during late night chats and even attempted once before with little success (This being due to the futsal league we wanted to join closing down) But this time we decided plain old 5-a-side was the way to go if we were actually to get this idea off the ground. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/MMFC/?action=view&current=me1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/MMFC/me1.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Let’s rewind a month...</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
The first thing to do was see if we could actually get enough people to form said team. We had decided that Dagenham’s Goals Soccer Centre was the best place to find a league to join and in their leagues a match day squad can consist of no less than 5 players (well, no guff!) and no more than 8 (which includes 3 subs) but a maximum of 20 players can be registered to our overall squad. So messages were sent, phone calls were made and interest was gauged. After about a week or so we had a preliminary team. That team was;</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Ben (Me) -</b> now many of you that know me know I am not exactly the owner of an athletic body, what many of you might not know is that I used to be quite svelte! But this was before a 6 year absence from work which encompassed a major spinal surgery and a good couple of years of recuperating. since then I have probably put on about 2 stone (maybe more, I daren't check!) and whilst my current physiotherapy is starting to give me back my full movement it isn’t exactly a way to get fit again. Now I am a member of my local gym, BUT!!!! I find standing/sitting in some machine in a room looking at the wall, running but going nowhere EXTREMLY FUCKING TEDIOUS!! But I do enjoy riding my bike around the park and playing football as a goalie. So this for me is the perfect outlet. In the Team I will be the Goalkeeper and the Manager.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>James -</b> A friend I have known nearly my whole life and also the guitarist in my band. It was just natural getting him on board; anything we set out minds too usually gets off of the ground. The fact he was pretty athletic in our younger days can’t hurt either eh?</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Nick -</b> You know him, he's the tall/loud bloke that I quite often go football with! Another friend for a fair few years who's love for football is second to none! He has pretty good tactical knowledge, he's loud, he's got a good pass and a sweet free kick on him. All this is why it was decided very early on he would be our Captain.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Abz -</b> A friend of mine and Nick's. He is very very sporty, he's in at least one other 11 a side team that I know of and over the years has done all sorts of stuff including pro-wrestling. A solid geezer with nary a bad word to say about anyone. His experience as an outfielder and goalie in proper teams is why he leads training, because you know... he's actually done this before!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Mark -</b> A friend of Nicks with whom he has played many games, got a right hard punt on him.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Chris - </b>A mate of mine who I know through my life as a musician. The lead singer of Hardcore-Punk band "Local Mad Man" and another really nice bloke (for a Milwall fan!) and built like a brick shit house, a very smiley amiable one!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So not a bad start really!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/MMFC/?action=view&current=skinnyme.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/MMFC/skinnyme.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">told you I used to be skinny!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Second thing to do was find a League, it was decided a Thursday league would be best as none of us watch teams that will be in the Europa League and none of us wanted to miss any vital Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday Games!! And seeing as Fridays only had a 1 division student’s league, Thursdays 3 division adult league looked the way to go!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Since then we have had a few training sessions in Mayesbrook Park and a match against some people we bumped into in the park. Despite losing said match (to some very athletic looking eastern European dudes!) we came away feeling our general organisation wasn’t too bad and the goals we had given away were more due to our own mistakes rather than them outright dominating us. So in theory if we keep practicing we'll win some! As well as the practices, smaller groups of us (mainly Me Nick James and Mark in various combinations) have met up for little kickarounds. With all this though I feel we have all improved a little and more importantly; started to feel like a team!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Sadly, Chris's new job has meant he will be on the other side of London and his band, practices on a Thursday (which can’t be moved - he tried). So in a very apologetic call from him he bowed out. Despite this he is being registered in our squad so if at any time he can make it there is always a place for him.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On the bright side other team members have brought new recruits, these are;</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Si -</b> Abs' brother</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Michael -</b> Marks cousin</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Our next step is a "Grading Match" which is essentially a friendly which will determine which division we are placed in. The general consensus is that we would like to start at the bottom and work our way up. This is the most exercise some of us have done in years so we just want to build up slowly. If it turns out (by some miracle) we're too good for the bottom division at least we'll be able to win eh! But before we could register for the grading match we had to pay our registration fee (thanks to Mark for covering that!) and give ourselves a name.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We had discussed names before, knowing we would need one eventually. Many joke names were made and trying to work in "Un-Athletic" and the like into names was tried. Someone (Mark I believe) suggested "the Misfits" or "Misfits FC" which was probably the best description of our little team. I myself had liked the idea of tying the team to location, which in my mind feel a little more real identity wise, something like "AFC Mayesbrook" or "Upney FC". So after one practice, sitting in my back garden When Mark said "what about Mayesbrook Misfits?" looks of agreement were shared and it became official. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">We are Mayesbrook Misfits FC!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/MMFC/?action=view&current=MMFCcrestSMALL.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/MMFC/MMFCcrestSMALL.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We had our team, we had our name, and we even had enough plain black shirts (that I had spare from when I last made a batch of merch for my band) which will act as our temporary kit. All we needed was a proper match...</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
...and now we have one</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><b>Mayesbrook Misfits FC vs. (Unknown Opponent)</b><br />
(5-a-side Grading Match)<br />
Thursday 2nd of June (20:15 KO)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Oh shit! That's tomorrow!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>FMD<br />
<br />
NEXT - </b>What will happen in our first match ? (spoiler - we're probably gonna lose!) and the Daggers Diary Awards are still to come!!</div>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-66055656175676634282011-05-28T01:11:00.000+01:002011-05-28T01:11:43.113+01:00All Good Things...<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So, our little league 1 adventure has come to an end. </span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The last game of the season was a weird day. 1005 roaring Daggers packed into the away end at Peterborough for a game that would decide our future. We rocked the terrace and made as much noise as ever, more so! We came so close. so, so close. But the writing was on the wall as goal number 2 found the net. For the last dying minutes of the game we threw everything at them but as the final whistle blew we we're on the wrong end of 5-0. Anyone that was there knows it wasn't a proper 5-0 loss, it was a battle. </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=Photo0135.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/Photo0135.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When goal three went in, the posh fans cheered for what seemed like 3 seconds. But we were still cheering on the boys. It was like the whole away crowd accepted relegation in a split second and this wasn’t the time to dwell on it, right now we had to show our lads on the pitch, show our management at pitch side and show the Posh fans, show EVERYONE "this is our team, and we are proud to be Daggers!". The next two goals rolled in with not much more than a whimper from the Posh end, all the while a one thousand strong Daggers army put on a collective brave face and sang. As the players came over to clap us I found myself really sympathising with them, I believe everyone tried their best this season and really believed we could stay up. I hope they can feel proud of the season, I can say I am.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=Photo0134.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/Photo0134.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As we filed out to the 10 waiting coaches it truly started to sink in, tears started to flow and sympathetic looks and noises were exchanged. We all knew how each other felt; I can say I have felt better. After many hugs, handshakes, goodbyes and "see you next season"'s me and my little troupe climbed into our coach, ready to be taken home. News filtered through that Barnet had saved themselves from relegation down to League 2 "Well" I thought to myself I look forward to losing at Underhill on a wet Tuesday"</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's easy to look over things that happened this season, results that didn’t go our way or ever thrown away and point them out as reasons we didn’t stay up. Believe me, as we had our post relegation drink down at the bell many were touted; that penalty at Orient, that fluff against MK, that 2-0 lead we let slip against Tranmere, losing Benno. All good points but all moot ones now. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At the beginning of the season I only found one publication that said we could stay up; The Guardians new season guide which said "Dagenham & Redbridge really delivered when it came to the crunch games last season. THey were outstanding under pressure, and can stay up." but everywhere else we we're dead certain to finish bottom, not only bottom but with the lowest ever points total! To go down on the last day by one point, while it may not feel like it, is an achievement. And I think deep down everyone knew it.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=DSC00043-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/DSC00043-1.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>So what now? </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We now know who our friendlies are against, we have started to see who will be leaving us and the excitement can start to build again. The fixtures for the 11/12 season will be released on the 17th of June and on the 16th we get to find out who we're going to lose to in the first round of the Carling Cup (it be cursed I tell ye!!). We'll get to see our new shirt and then buy it. Most importantly though, a new season means another bash at winning the Essex Senior Cup! You know you care about it, don’t lie!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As for us here at Lazy Bastards Corp. Yes we admit we let things slip at the end of the season, but some personal/family stuff came up on both sides and that combined with our hectic (to say the least) end of season schedule left us with a bit of a backlog. But don’t think we have just been ignoring this page, OHHHHHHH NO! We have some plans! Next up will be the 10/11 end of season Awards (not to be confused with the "End of year awards").</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So join me, let's look forward to the new season with renewed vigour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Come on you Daggers!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>FxMxD</b></span><b><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
Next -</b> The Daggers Diary 10/11 End of Season Awards!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=newsig2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/newsig2.jpg" /></a>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-40180034196252094242011-04-08T01:36:00.000+01:002011-04-08T01:36:10.282+01:00The Big Weekend<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>"call it half eleven man",</b> "no problem dude" "poxy call of duty lol" this was the text conversation between myself and Jerk as i waited for him to get his hairy arse in the seat of his car to drive me and the missus to the land of cheese and cider. "Im now running even later due to no hot water... ...wont be too late mate, just sorting my stuff out" "lol yeah yeah, enjoy your xbox time" at just before midday the bearded one pulled up outside our house and we loaded up the car with the supplies for a weekend for a weekend in the west country.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=IMG_0040.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/IMG_0040.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=IMG_0046.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/IMG_0046.jpg" /></a><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">King F*ck "the Daggers Duck" our official away day mascot!</span></i><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The journey up was pretty uneventful, but nether less filled with with all the classic witty and bollocks filled conversations that typify our road trips. The roads weren't to busy and the sun was bright in the sky, sunglasses were the order of the day. We stopped off briefly for some grub in the form of fried chicken at South Mimms services and stopped off for a game of Rambo and Guitar Hero further up the road. Today the main Musics for the road were some Burzum, some Dethklok and whatever my ipod shuffled up. The night before i had stayed up putting all my music back on the little silver box as it had recently crashed and corrupted all data. well it seems all this had been in vain as my little box of Steve Jobbs excrement was well and truely on the fucking blink! skipping songs half way through and refusing to play others. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=IMG_0053.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/IMG_0053.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We arrived in Weston-super-mare around five-ish and parked up in the Tesco car park. Jerk was spending the weekend with friends there but our journey still had one more leg. MrsMetal's cousin, Andy picked us up to take us to our destination in the small medieval city of Wells (the town they shot "Hot Fuzz" in) after an hour or so journey on the winding country roads we arrived. After some catching up Andy and his Dad took me out to participate in the local sport of skittles.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Todays skittles match was an away tie for Andy's team (top of the table) "Mendip Casuals" so we travelled to Shepton Mallet Town AFC to face (bottom of the table) "Cider Lads". For anyone who has never seen skittles it it like bowling without holes in the balls, gutters at the sides and everyone gets drunk, in short, it's pretty fekkin awesome. tonight I was an extra, thus was allowed to play but my score would not count towards the actual match. it was great watching everyone play with they're own individual styles and quirks and the atmosphere was friendly but competitive. When it was my turn to step up, a mumble went up as everyone wondered who this long haired Londoner in an ice hockey jersey was. in my first shot I took out most of the pins and after my three throws had scored a respectable 8, from then on every time i stepped up i was treated to shouts of "Come on Barking!!" (good to know if i ever join the team i have my nick-name already!) sadly the Casuals lost in a close fought game, but I set my self a personal record of 38, 2 points shy of (Andy's brother) Phil's personal record. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=brizzle1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/brizzle1.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"Barking" King of Skittles!!!</i></span><br />
<br />
after the game we sat down for cheese, bread and preserves to soak up the vast amounts of alcohol. When the locals found out I was a Dagger the first thing they all asked about was local boy Luke Wilkinson, i explained that what i had seen of him was pretty good, but at the moment he was on loan to boreham wood. we then left for home, where more beer was consumed and i embarressed myself by playing a dance game on Kinect then sang "My Own Summer" by the Deftones on Rock band. all in all a good night, but tomorrow was a very important game!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Saturday March 5th 2011 - Bristol Rovers - Away</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I woke up at 7:30 with a very dry mouth and a banging headache, the lake of lager i had drunk the night before had taken its toll. I downed the rest of the ribena i had taken to bed the night before. In need of more liquid i made for the bathroom, where I sat on the toilet drinking glasses of water and willing my headache to go away. Back in bed i opened up my laptop and perused the forums and facebook untill everyone started to wake up. I went downstairs in search of a paracetamol to kill this forsaken headache, Phil and Andy's mum Kathy presented me with a much needed cup of tea and a huge breakfast which was most definitely needed. With breakfast done we left for Bristol, our group consisted of; Me, the missus, Phil (rovers) and Andy (city) and thier dad Gary (also Rovers). <br />
<br />
We caught the bus from Wells bus station into Bristol, ipaid £7 for an "all day rambler" and a nice relaxing hour long journey through fields and villages later we pulled into Bristol bus station. A short walk to another bus station and then a nother short bus and we alighted close to the Memorial stadium. We ducked into The Royal Oak for a pint, then found out that all the daggers were heading to The Wellington just up the road. So we downed our pints and headed up the hill to meet our fellow Daggers. At the pub i introduced my adopted familys to eachother and we drank. Phil and Gary then said they're goodbyes as they wanted to get into the ground, Andy stayed with us because as a city fan he decided to join us in the away end and be a dagger for the day. With drinks finished we made for the Mem'. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=IMG_0059.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/IMG_0059.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Me & "Dagger for a Day" Andy</i></span><br />
<br />
I picked up a programme and we walked round the back of the Uplands stand to the far end of the open air terrace that is designated as the away end. The ground itself is definitely not a souless bowl, it's a bit of a melting pot of designs and looks a bit more like a rugby stadium (which it is) than a football stadium. In front of us was the DAS stand which bore a resembelence to Orients main stand.the terrace we were standing on stretched in front of the uplands stand, those of us who didnt want to stand where seated in one of the temporary stands next to the portaloos at one end of the pitch along with some Brizzle fans oppasite them was the Blackthorn stand, which is where Phil and Gary would be.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=brizzle4.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/brizzle4.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the match itself was definatly not pretty, both sides knew how important it was and there was a nervous tension in the air. News came through that Phil Ifil would be in for Abu Ogogo who had taken a knock in training, this was not welcome news as Ifil had become a bit of a target for criticism in his last stint at right back. More unwelcome news was that the daggers would be lining up 4-5-1 and those who had been at the Walsall game saw this as a bad omen. within the first 15 the worries of the travelling Daggers were nearly justified when a shot deflected off of Will Hoskins and nearly looped in only to land on the roof of the net, this was followed shortly by a cross which found the head of Danny Coles who nodded towards goal but an outstretched Tony Roberts fingertipped the ball out into the path of Rene Howe who kicked his chance straight back at Robbo but he couldnt hold onto it and it bobbled about in the box, Hoskins swiped at it only for it to hit the bar and bounce back to the head of Coles who nodded it straight into the welcome arms of our 'keeper. Everyone in the away end breathed a sigh of relief and i'm still not sure how they didnt score. Down at the other end Danny Green whipped in a cross which Solomon Taiwo got his head onto only for it to fly just over, gameon!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=brizzle2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/brizzle2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Damien McCrory went down with a knee injury with 10 minutes of the first half left and i must admit that having both of our current second choice fullbacks on made me a little nervous, especially considering Rovers where playing top scorer Hoskins as a right winger. It wasnt till right at the end of the first half that the deadlock was finally broken; Nurse put a good through ball into the path of Romain Vincelot who was tripped by (brother of our right back) Jerel Ifil, with Romain being the last man there was only one outcome and after a brief session of "handbags" (which included Gain getting all riled up and his shirt ripped) the red card was shown. Despite Danny Green placing the ball on the spot, the play was brought back to edge of the box for a free kick. Greeny stepped up and smashed the ball into the top corner (with a slight deflection off the wall) 1-0 to the daggers! We cheered and danced, including a nice little jig with me and Jerk. The wistle went for half time and with a man advantage you felt we had to come out of this winners.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=IMG_0094.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/IMG_0094.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So far it had been a nervous game and before the sending off and subsequent goal i couldnt honestly describe myself as confident. At times it seemed the 5 man midfield was causing a traffic jam, but the 1-0 lead was not to be sniffed at! As for the crowd, we had been in good spirits and sung for most of the game even if the open air terrace meant all our noise was somewhat dissapated into the cold bristol air. Being told we could only use the drum in moderation was quite funny though, i guess us using it for every chant and song must not be overdoing it becuase we recieved no complaints. There had been some top banter with the players warming up infront of us with rendisions of "he's got carrots on his feet" being met with applause from the pitch and special mention has to go to Phil Walsh for giving us a song as requested. After a quick trip to the toilet (conveniently situated right behind us) and a very tasty pasty (which i found out are only available in the away end) i was back in place ready for the second half.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The second half i have to say Rovers really stepped up their game and didnt let our man advantage scupper them. The Gas-Heads in the stand next to us had a chance to celebrate for about 1/10 of a second when Howe put a low cross to an offside Hoskins who netted but the linesman made the right call and no goal was given. And if once wanst enough it happened again, Hoskins danced past our defence and put a through ball into the box but Howe started his run prematurely and despite finding the net, was offside and for the second time The Gas found themselves scoring a non-goal. The Daggers switched things around and Darren Currie came off for former Bristol City man Bas Savage, straight away we started singing for Savage because we knew what would be coming from the home fans and sure enough for about 5 minutes all they did was sing their anti-Savage song (somehting about the way the Bristolians say "wankerrrrr" tickles me!). Bas nearly shut them up when Gains low ball deflected off of (the possibly fouled again) Vincelot and Savage got onto the loose ball and fired for goal. Sadly the Pirates on-loan keeper Conrad Logan got over well to save it. Danny Coles day ended prematurely when he went off injured for Rovers after tripping over Bas and injuring himself ,he had to be stretchered off. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=IMG_0092.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/IMG_0092.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We finally got the second goal to see us safe from a corner, Danny Green whacked it into the box and it was (who else but) Romain Vincelot who headed in into the goal. The home end started to clear and the walkway above and to the right of us was filled with Gas-Heads who wanted out! some clapped us others gave us the finger, we didnt care the points where pretty much ours and even someone remarking "remember Tranmere" couldn't fill me with any doubt. The final whistle went and we cheered the boys and the much needed 3 points they had earned. We clapped the lads and sang every player song we had, then spent about ten minutes trying to get Bas to moonwalk but he wouldnt, his moonwalks are saved for goals! So hurry up score Bas, we want another moonwalk! </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=brizzle3.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/brizzle3.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We then conga'd out of the ground a line of happy Daggers, I had to escape the Conga for fear of getting Conga'd onto the coach and getting a premature trip back to London. Everyone else got back on the coach but Me, MrsMetal', Jerk and (Daggers for the Day) Andy and (Jerks Friend) Fred went to meet Gary and Phil before heading to the bus stop. Whilst waiting for the bus i saw a Rovers fan scowling at me from the top deck, I smiled at him and he stuck 2 fingers up at me, "that's right" i thought "2-0!" and we threw some hand gestures back his way (not that i condone such behaviour!). We boarded a bus and stopped off for a pint in the city centre before going our seperate ways; us back to Wells, Jerk and Fred back to Weston, with nothing to look at but very very very dark fields i crashed out on the bus back to Wells.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Another very good day!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I woke up the next morining without the hangover of the morning before, but alot later. after tea and toast i was taken on a tour of Wells where i eagerly sought out and was showed all of the main locations from "Hot Fuzz" and acted like a complete tourist. I was offically christened as a citizen of Wells when i tripped and put my foot straight into the running water channels that line either side of all the roads. The cathederal is very nice, and I bought 2 little Catapults and a gargoyles head keyring fromt he gift shop. After a pasty it was time to go back and pick up our bags then onto Weston to meet Jerk for the trip home (with a drive through Cheddar Gorge as per my request).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=Image1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/Image1.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Me standing next to where Tim Messenger got "splatted"</i></span><br />
<br />
<br />
Jerk was a little worse for ware after what sounded like the second heavy night on the trott for him. So we slowly drove home with a few stops at services for food an coffee. Once again many pounds where pumped into fruit machines and games of chance and all prizes will be coveted as prizes of a great trip until the day they break or are lost. We got back home at about midnight and i had a giant cup of tea before retiring to bed and falling asleep watching "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" <br />
<br />
A third very good day.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Come on you Daggers!!! oh, and remember...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=kingfuck.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/kingfuck.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>FxMxD</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Next -</b> Colchester, let's see if it can finish with all player conscious.</div>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-44515921757350348412011-04-07T23:42:00.001+01:002011-04-08T11:59:58.098+01:00Undone By A Late Goal Again<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Saturday 26th February - AFC Bournemouth -</b> <b>Home </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Previous seasons have found us both</b>, as clubs facing various ups or<br />
downs - i remember a game a couple of years ago when a decent crowd<br />
came down for a game which was seen as a turning point in their<br />
fortunes - for a 1-0 win for them at our place gave them hope they<br />
could stay in the football league after a point deduction of 17 was<br />
administered before the season kicked off.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=Ballmouth1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/Ballmouth1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Then, looking at last season too, a great season saw Bournemouth<br />
promoted as runners up under the management of Eddie Howe, a ginger<br />
bloke who got sent to Burnley for stealing fruit buns...at least,<br />
thats a more friendly spin (read 'lie') on how things happened. The<br />
corresponding fixture ended up with The Daggers running out as 1-0<br />
winners. As we know, it transpired that both sides were promoted at<br />
the end of the season.<br />
<br />
This season Bournemouth have been flying high at the right end of the<br />
table, an amazing achievement considering that they only have four<br />
players and an elderly Yoda-like figure (Mr Fletcher). Indeed, they<br />
gave us a bit of a spanking back in the days when the sun existed, i<br />
think September it was. That ended up as a 3-0 home win. Fair play<br />
to them, it was deserved when looking back. In contrast we have, by<br />
no fault of our effort or performances, struggled to find our feet. I<br />
blame the occasional lack of concentration toward the end of games,<br />
and the worst bunch of match officials in history for our plight.<br />
<br />
With due respect to Bournemouth, i just dont think they are that good.<br />
Obviously the table doesn't lie, but i cannot say ive ever been that<br />
impressed with them - especially when considering who else is in this<br />
division (Southampton, Brighton, Huddersfield to name but three). I<br />
was therefore hopeful that we would be able to exact some form of<br />
revenge in this game.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=Ballmouth2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/Ballmouth2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
A notable change on kick off was Romain Vincelot starting the game at<br />
centre back, and a lack of Scott Doe. Obviously the fact that Romain<br />
is the leading scorer means it'd be favourable to have him playing<br />
further forward, but needs must - at least we have a player capable of<br />
filling in at times like this.<br />
<br />
Jon Nurse opened the scoring on 48 minutes, and it seemed as though<br />
maybe we were to get that revenge, in fact the best chance before that<br />
fell to us when a Danny Green free kick was fumbled by the usually<br />
reliable Shwing Jalingling - but it wasnt to be, goals from Ings and<br />
Robinson ensured the points went back to Dorsetshire. Worth<br />
mentioning is the manner in which we conceded the winner - another<br />
late goal, we really must put a stop to this if we are to remain in<br />
the division. Another even game lost to a late goal, and a brief<br />
appearance by a very aggressive Steve 'Yoda' Fletcher (Foul you i<br />
will, pull your shirt i have hmmmm). One really must look at these<br />
games and note that we are STILL missing a 20 goals a season kind of<br />
player. Where we'd be if we had one is anybodys guess.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
JerkFromTheCoach</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/?action=view&current=ballmouth3.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/daggersdiary/Website/ballmouth3.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>NEXT -</b> Bristol Rovers away, a real 6 pointer...</div>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-19673770463076501402011-03-26T22:34:00.000+00:002011-03-26T22:34:48.182+00:00It was nice not to lose by 5 goals this time!<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>I suppose that this offering may be quite brief </b>as for the life of me I cant remember that much about the day, let alone the game – and mores the point, I wasn’t drinking. Not that I can recall at least…i hope not anyway, because i drove!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I love Tuesday night games, there is something particularly special about them. Saturdays are all well and good, but it’s the rush home from work, the anticipation of going to the match during the working day and giving me something to look forward to and so on which really make it feel special. We all hate work, don't we?</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01384.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01384.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This fixture was no different. Though we are locked in a relegation battle, Huddersfield are at the extreme opposite and fighting for promotion…as usual. And fair play to them, Huddersfield (as we found out last season in the FA Cup) are a very useful team. Decent performances this season have seen them at the right end of the table with the end of season approaching, as well as a cup run ending at The Emirates against a load of French-African guys in red with a man who looks like a duck as their manager…..Arseholenal I think they are called, anyway that’s not important. What is important, was their game in ‘Theatre of Screams’ – The Londinium Boro Ein Barking Und Dagnam Ztadium.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I expected us to walk into this game very nervously. I have to admit i wasn't confident that we would walk away from this one with anything further than our dignity. But, I was wrong. Huddersfield are a strong team, with a credible turnout for such a long distance on a school night. This may have something to do with</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> the tickets having already been purchased when the game was meant to have been played on a Saturday (it was called off some months ago when white powder was falling from the sky), but I have a feeling the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> attendance would have been decent anyway.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01388.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01388.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To say that we were outplayed would have been a dishonour to us. We’re showing fight at just the right time of the season, and we showed that here. A blatant penalty was denied to us early on when Lee Peltier handled in the box. Another poor decision - one has to start to wonder about the eyesight of referees thesedays. I know it’s a long running issue, but these are the guys in the top few divisions of our country – there needs to be something done to address this and it needs to happen soon. I am definitely of the opinion, shared by others, that referees should be made up of ex-professionals. This season has been disastrous referee-wise. BUT….our time will come…</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On 28 minutes Tom Clarke finished Joey Gudjonsson’s mishit shot, and we found ourselves a goal down. Up until that point, though we had looked okay, the running was definitely being done by Huddersfield. On 30 minutes Femi was hauled off and replaced by Damien McCrory. Ive missed Damien since he was dropped prior to the Plymouth game. I think the issue this game with Femi was one of dropping confidence perhaps a little. Definitely a player that needs to be polished, but the potential is there.<br />
<br />
Half time came and went and we were treated to the usual dynamic entertainment on the pitch. At one stage I counted as many as thirteen people on the pitch kicking balls around in the interval. This makes a change from the usual fourteen players we see doing the same thing week in week out.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01394.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01394.jpg" /></a>It was during the interval that it struck me that we perhaps aren’t making ideal use of the space in the Sieve now. With the jump in divisions and the extra fans that this has resulted in, I think the tea bar at the back of the stand has had its day now. The queues stretch far beyond the exit at the back and often block it entirely. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With not much room to play about with, as soon as one of the heavyweight fans (I myself being one of them) begins to trundle their way toward the toilet area it becomes clear there isn’t enough room for someone to walk the other way. I wonder perhaps what could be done with the space outside the back of the sieve…you know where I mean, the area where we should be allowed to smoke cigarettes and purchase alcohol from. I would hate to see this become a health and safety issue, and for us all to be told we need to attend games in high-vis jackets and hard hats in future. Seriously though, it just seems there is some room out the back which could be used – especially now since the building of the new stand means we are unable to walk round the ground (should there be no segregation in future is our meteoric rise up the league goes catastrophic and we find ourselves aced with the army-like away support of Leigh one day again) the area at the away end of the Sieve could be used better – perhaps a home supporters bar….just throwing my ideas out there!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Onto the second half. We came out looking bright, and looking like we wanted to make something of the game. On 58 minutes, our earlier calls for handball were rewarded (should have been two penalties though!) when Mr Scott spotted a handball by Lee Peltier. Up stepped Danny Green to even things up for us. This is how the score remained despite a late rally from Huddersfield, we can again be grateful to<br />
the superb Tony Roberts between the sticks.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01390.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01390.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Looking to the future, and the fixture at The Galpharm in a few weeks, i am convinced we can go up there now and get a better result than the hammering last season which we received. Huddersfield are a decent side, but we are holding our own up here more and more as the season progresses - vitally at the right time. Other sides such as Oldham and Sheffield Wednesday have gone into freefall just as we are clawing our way out. Whatever happens between now and May, its sure to be an exciting time to be a Dagger.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>JerkFromTheCoach </b></div><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01392.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01392.jpg" /></a>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-45646283123145194332011-03-26T02:13:00.000+00:002011-03-26T02:13:20.254+00:00Interview - Shane Blackett<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=20052211411599.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/20052211411599.jpg" /></a><b>Name -</b> Shane Blackett<br />
<br />
<b>DoB -</b> 23 June 1981<br />
<br />
<b>Teams -</b> Dagenham & Redbridge, Peterborough FC, Luton Town.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>How are you, and how are things going for you at the moment?</b><br />
<br />
"yeah things are going well at the moment just on way back from a<br />
groin injury, the team's in a good position aiming for promotion and<br />
got a wife expecting in April."<br />
<br />
<b>What is the thing you miss the most about being a Dagenham & Redbridge player?</b><br />
<br />
"The club in general as it was a very close family club but mainly<br />
the Banter with the lads was unreal - we used to call ourselves the<br />
family!"<br />
<br />
<b>What do you consider the best three games of your career?</b><br />
<br />
"Daggers - Playing away at York when we turned up late on the train,<br />
nicked a 1-0 win then had to run to the train station to get home. Was<br />
like a proper robbery!<br />
"Peterborough - Pre season friendly against Man Utd, playing against<br />
some of the biggest stars in the game was unreal"<br />
"Luton - Away at Stevenage won 1-0! The rivalry between the two clubs<br />
was unreal but to go to their gaff and win felt great!"<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Who do you consider the best player you have played with?</b><br />
<br />
"Andy Drury - An all round talent well worthy of championship status"<br />
<br />
<b>And against?</b><br />
<br />
"Carlos Tevez - Quick, strong and never stopped running!"<br />
<br />
<b>Worst match you've played in?</b><br />
<br />
"Travelling all the way up to Gateshead (playing for luton) and having<br />
to come off after just 10minutes with an injury!"<br />
<br />
<b>What is your least favourite away day?</b><br />
<br />
"Accrington Stanley FC"<br />
<br />
<b>Why?</b><br />
<br />
"So far to travel and has a really poor pitch with the worst dressing<br />
room with only one cold shower!"<br />
<br />
<b>Do you have any before/after game rituals?</b><br />
<br />
"Not really, just like to prepare myself as much as possible for 3pm<br />
on a sat afternoon"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=20047271611599.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/20047271611599.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>Why did you sign for the Daggers? Was there anything in particular<br />
that sealed the deal for you?</b><br />
<br />
"I was approached whilst playing for Arlesey town and always wanted to<br />
play at the highest level I could at the time, and talking to John<br />
still about the club's aims and prospects made me sign"<br />
<br />
<b>What was your reason for moving on?</b><br />
<br />
"an offer came in from peterborough which suited all parties involved<br />
and it was a chance for me to challenge myself at a higher level"<br />
<br />
<b>Are you happy with how you career has fared since leaving?</b><br />
<br />
"Very happy, been involved in winning promotion in two successive<br />
seasons from league 2 and league 1"<br />
<br />
<b>What do you enjoy the most about being a footballer?</b><br />
<br />
"Doing what I love most for a living and being able to have the banter<br />
with the lads all day!"<br />
<br />
<b>What do you consider your biggest achievements in the game?</b><br />
<br />
"Gaining 3 promotion medals, many players go through their career without any"<br />
<b><br />
When you hang up your boots will you take another role in football?</b><br />
<br />
"May do some coaching with local kids initially but will have wait and see"<br />
<br />
<b>Best room mate on away days?</b><br />
<br />
"Keiran Charnock - we got on so well and had a lot of things in common"<br />
<br />
<b>Funniest team mate?</b><br />
<br />
"Anwar Uddin - would crack me up with some stuff he would come out<br />
with and make training a pleasure!"<br />
<br />
<b>Funniest moment in football?</b><br />
<br />
"After a great victory at the daggers when Sam Saunders decided to do<br />
some crazy dancing and then jumped head first into the bin in the<br />
changing room - I filmed it and think it's on you tube somewhere"<br />
<br />
<b>Best XI from all the players you have played with, and a brief<br />
reason why you chose each player</b><br />
<br />
This is so difficult as played with so many good players. The whole<br />
daggers team wouldn't be far off but here goes:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=shanesXI.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/shanesXI.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>Gk: Mark Tyler (Luton) -</b> They don't call him safe hands for nothing,<br />
best consistent goalkeeper by a mile with soft hands, unlucky not to<br />
be playing at highest level.<br />
<br />
<b>Cb: George Pilkington (Luton) -</b> the most steady and consistent centre<br />
half I've partnered with two great feet, should be playing a lot<br />
higher level.<br />
<br />
<b>RCb: Anwar Uddin (Barnet) -</b> My formidable centre back partner at the<br />
daggers. We had a great understanding and kept many a clean sheet.<br />
Great leader for the team, very strong and commanding.<br />
<br />
<b>LCb: Shane Blackett (Luton) -</b> What can I say, I'd love to play in this team!<br />
<br />
<b>Rm: Sam Saunders (Wycombe) -</b> His right foot is just magical when out<br />
wide, his crossing is outstanding an any striker would love his<br />
service, also likes to mix it up a bit not as clean cut as he looks!<br />
<br />
<b>Cm: Keith Keane (Luton) -</b> Fellow Luton lad who has bags of experience<br />
at such a young age at almost every level. Called a "dogger" as gets<br />
around the midfield and breaks up play well, very hard worker will<br />
give everything for the team.<br />
<br />
<b>Cm: Dean Keates (Wrexham) -</b> Small but big package, gets up and down<br />
the pitch all day long with decent left foot and contributes with<br />
goals. Great leader to have in the team.<br />
<br />
<b>Lm: George Boyd (Peterborough) -</b> So talented it's unreal, got a wand<br />
of a left foot and ties up full backs in knots.<br />
<br />
<b>Hole: Andy Drury (Ipswich) -</b> Special player, got everything with two<br />
great feet and can pick a pass anywhere.<br />
<br />
<b>St: Craig Mackail-Smith (Peterborough) -</b> Workrate second to none with<br />
blistering pace, also creating goals for strike partner.<br />
<br />
<b>St: Aaron McLean (Hull) -</b> Pure goal machine, rootless in front of goal<br />
and surprisingly good in the air.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Fave Film?</b><br />
<br />
"Too difficult but Anything with Robert De Niro, Will Smith or Denzel<br />
Washington in it"<br />
<br />
<b>Fave Band?</b><br />
<br />
"Boyz to men"<br />
<br />
<b>Fave holiday destination?</b><br />
<br />
"Las Vegas with the lads and Hawaii with the better half!"<br />
<br />
<b>Shuffle your ipod, what are the first 5 tracks? (no cheating!)</b><br />
<br />
"house of pain - jump around"<br />
"ub40 - Kingston town"<br />
"Rhianna - What's my name"<br />
"Jay Z - Change clothes"<br />
"Michael Jackson - Billie Jean"<br />
<br />
<b>Team you support?</b><br />
<br />
"Arsenal - hoping for some silverware this year!"<br />
<b><br />
What's next for you in football or life?</b><br />
<br />
"Next thing in life is to become a dad in April which I'm very excited about!"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=20052211351599.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/20052211351599.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Thanks to Shane for taking his time to do this interview, we wish him the best in all endeavours. More reports soon!</i> - <i><b>FMD</b></i></div>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-36893714671445732372011-03-21T00:53:00.000+00:002011-03-21T00:53:30.215+00:00A Bland Affair<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Tuesday 15th February 2011 - Walsall - Away</b><br />
<br />
<b>As a club, I really have little against Walsall.</b> Their fans have always seemed down to earth and realistic about their clubs position. I don’t have much positive to say about The Banks’ Stadium however. In a modern age where there is no need for supporting columns restricting view in newly built stands/stadiums, why was the cheaper option taken? What could be a decent little stadium is hampered by a poor view at times. Altogether, quite frustrating. Nevertheless a very decent and welcoming clubhouse exists at the stadium, numerous local beers on sale (such as the Hannibal Nectar) with hot and cold snacks available too.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The trip began with a morning taking photographs of various squirrels bottoms (I kid you not) and looking into a lake that had been drained. No away game is ever normal – why should this be any different? After our group of three had met up, we set off nice and early in the hope we’d arrive in Walsall to experience some of the ultra interesting things it has to offer, such as Morrisons and Comet – neither of which we bothered with in the end…I cant help but feel we missed out somehow.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The drive up was thankfully largely traffic free, which makes a nice change from the usual M6 nightmare. This meant that after attacking Guitar Hero at Toddington, and Paul touting for business on toilet doors, we arrived so early that the car park behind the away stand hadn’t even been opened. Being the experienced driver, Don decided to drive into it anyway – a wise move in the end owing to how busy it became afterward.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=IMG_20110215_140526.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/IMG_20110215_140526.jpg" /></a>Walsall. The coldest zone in the least popular of the Teletubbie themed football hotbeds, Poland. Also known as Birmingham. Walsall has never been an area ive associated with the word ‘interesting’. After a brief look online for interesting facts about Walsall, I found nothing. Literally…other than the fact they have a giant sign next to the M6 – the worlds busiest road. Wow. It seems to have a slightly melancholic edge to it, not just around the stadium but in general. The sky was grey, and a strange wet residue was falling from it onto our heads. This was solid evidence we had gone some distance North. I was well out of my comfort zone at this thought. Its bad enough knowing that the North of England exists, let alone having to actually go there. At some stage peoples voices change n dey awl tawlk loyk deeees. It can be frightening at first, but you soon get used to it. Something was said to me about a ticket for the car park whilst I was having a cigarette outside the clubhouse, but im not sure what it was as I couldn’t understand the fellow and wasn’t listening anyway.<br />
<br />
Just prior to kick off, news had reached us that our Spartan-like away following was deemed so insubstantial we were to be relocated to the corner of the Walsall Bite Size Stand rather than housed in the Dains Stand usually offered to visitors. The latter is located opposite what is easily the most impressive stand of the four, complete with (I’m told) a decent bar in the middle level – which may explain why we didn’t see that many home supporters in the clubhouse we were in.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSCF0233.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSCF0233.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
I have to admit, I didn’t sample any of the food on offer at the ground. The usual seemed to be on offer though, pies, burgers, chocolate bars – and the standard vegetarian option was available from the taps. Its always nice to see clubs doing their best for<br />
vegetablists.<br />
<br />
The game was a bland affair. A disappointing Daggers performance and another late goal saw that we left Walsall with no points. The rain had made playing conditions a bit treacherous, and it looked at time as though there was a chance that if the rain didn’t ease the game<br />
could have been in danger. Walsall deserved their win, it has to be said. It appeared we came out too negatively, as if we were looking for the draw, and the good run we had had prior to kick off was put right to the back of our minds in the 81st minute when Grigg scored<br />
the winning goal. Walsall had threatened all match, despite my obvious bias there is no way I could hand on heart sit here writing this report and say that the game should have ended any other way. As far as the result seemed to effect the standings at the bottom of the table Walsall continued to make decent progress in their attempts at avoiding the drop and things still appeared glum for The Daggers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=IMG_20110215_134303.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/IMG_20110215_134303.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>not actually written by our Paul BTW</i></span><br />
<br />
Still, onward and upward!<br />
<br />
<b>JerkFromTheCoach</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Next -</b> A spirited encounter with Huddersfield </div>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-88216257056112699512011-03-16T13:05:00.002+00:002011-03-16T13:23:41.755+00:00Winning Ugly is Better than Losing Pretty<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Despite the blip of MK Dons,</b> we'd had quite a good run of results leading into this Saturday and as I was sipping at my tea that morning I must admit to feeling a little confident. We had managed an away win against Yeovil and although our home form hadn't been great this season I really felt we had enough about us to see off the Glovers and put a bit of a streak together.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But there was bad news, my fellow reporter in the trenches Mr 'FromTheCoach, had come down with a bad case of explosive gut rot and without wanting to be graphic was *ahem* "indisposed". </span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saturday 12th February 2011 - Yeovil Town - Home</span></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01347.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01347.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I'd been up late writing the night before, so did not really have the energy to get out of the door early to embalm myself in the Bell. Besides I had imbibed a brewery’s worth of alcohol a couple of days before at a gig and I was probably still a little hung-over. After breakfast, Soccer Am and sitting around for a while, we got a lift down to the ground. After a quick drink in the clubhouse I picked up a programme and went through the turnstile. Looking west towards the away end Yeovil had about half filled it which wasn't a bad turnout. I reached my normal spot near the food-hole in the Sieve and said hello to my fellow Daggers. After relaying the sad news about Jerk's wobbly guts, we looked pichward as the teams came out of the tunnel.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Meanwhile in Becontree...</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=wig-makeup-toilet-man.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/wig-makeup-toilet-man.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Back in Vicky road things were looking a bit shaky and Dagenham were under the kosh. all daggers in attendance collectively shat a brick when Darren Currie made a terrible aimless back pass from just shy of the halfway line, which rolled right into the path of Sam Williams was now one on one with Robbo, luckily he fluffed the shot wide! With it looking like We’d used all of our luck in that one bit of bad play, it was up to Tony Roberts to keep us in the game. While all around him was chaos Robbo was a tower of Zen like calm gracefully flying to palm away each attempt at goal... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> ...NA! That’s bollocks, he was actually flinging himself like a man possessed using any body part he could get in the way to stop the ball going in, then standing up and yelling at anyone in sight to stop letting Yeovil shoot. It was beautiful, in a shit yer pants kinda way! Oli Johnson Had come close when he danced past Abu and Doe into the box and looked certain to score but somehow Robbo got a leg in the way and kept it out. Luck played a part again when Andrew Williams nodded the ball down to Andrew Tutte who slammed the ball against the bar. Our first real chance came from (with Danny Green still on a ban of course) a Darren Currie Free kick which Scott Doe nearly managed to head in, but just knocked it wide. He let out an audible "ARGGGGGGHHHHH" whilst he jogged back to his half, don’t worry Doey, you'll get that goal soon enough! </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01349.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01349.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Nervous in the Sieve</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Back down at the dangerous end of the pitch Tony Roberts made 2 brilliant saves in a row. First; a Yeovil shot whizzed across the box towards the bottom corner but Robbo dived to his right to keep it out, Currie chased it to the corner but could only clear it as far as Tutte who sent in a curved shot from the edge of the box, Robbo flew to his left and palmed it out to safety.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With the time coming up to half hour Dagenham were awarded a corner, Currie Stepped up and hoofed it into the box and waiting on the other end was the one, the only Romain Vincelot who ran forward, jumped up and with a "stitch this!" buried the ball into the net with his head. 1-0 to the Daggers, very much against the run of play! The lead didn’t last though and 3 minutes later I got to see the crowd in the Marcus James Stand cheer and applaud a goal. Johnson received the ball on the edge of the box from a low long through ball, took a touch then caressed it into the net. 1-1, bugger! And that's how the score stayed till half time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Meanwhile in Becontree, Jerk' tries to ring me to find out how we squandered a lead so fast...</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=man-on-toilet.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/man-on-toilet.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The second half was marginally better, Yeovil seemed to slow down while we seemed to be trying to pick up the pace, even so the Glovers nearly scored when Oli Johnson headed a corner kick over the bar! The real change seemed to happen when Marvin Morgan was subbed off for Bas Savage. Within 2 minutes of the lanky fella being on the pitch he was holding the ball up </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">in front of the Carling stand, he looked up and passed the ball into the box to the feet of John Nurse. Nursey controlled the ball in the corner of the six yard box, turned on a gnat’s bollock and fired from that tight angle. The ball zipped past Stephen Henderson and nestled into the back far corner of the net! The Daggers fans exploded into cheers! Somehow in this absolute bastard of a game we were leading for the second time! Nurse must have felt the same as he ran to the Sieve to celebrate with the crowd and received a yellow card for his troubles (pathetic!) but still 2-1 to the Daggers!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Meanwhile in Becontree, Having heard we had scored again, Jerk' decided he had to somehow get to the game to see the end...</span><br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=car-toilet.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/car-toilet.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I can’t really remember anything about the next half-hour, apart from the fact it crawled slower than a legless tortoise! I spent the whole time bobbing from foot to foot and from heel to toe, then anxiously glancing at the scoreboard willing the clock to move faster. When the Whistle finally blew the Sieve let out a collective sigh, then a cheer, then clapped a thankful clap. We had all just made it through a tough storm and come out on top.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01350.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01350.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>a happier Sieve</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We had done the thing we had been struggling to do, win the ugly ones! After Clapping the team I decided a pint was in order, so me and a couple of others made for the clubhouse. I couldn’t stay long though as I was due round at my sisters for a visit. So after a nail biting couple of hours at Victoria Road I had a nice chilled out night with my sister and my nephew, relived to know 3 more points were safe!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Oh yeah, Meanwhile in Becontree...</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=final.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/final.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Come on you Daggers!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01352.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01352.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>FxMxD</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Next -</b> Jerk regales us with his tails of Walsall</span>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-80836180092927323842011-03-11T03:32:00.001+00:002011-03-12T00:19:08.384+00:00A Game of 2 Halves, In a Ground with 3 Sides<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>I just couldn't sleep, I don't know why. </b>I often have trouble sleeping but when you are planning on travelling to the other end of the country some sleep is preferable. The hours just melted away through the night until the sun started to poke mockingly through the curtains. Well that was that no sleep tonight. No matter, tea is my savoir!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I jumped into the shower and got myself ready for the long journey ahead. My stomach wasn’t up to food really but I managed to get 2 slices of bun loaf down me followed by more tea. Jerk Pulled up outside, the journey was on! Oldham here we come!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Saturday 5th Match – Oldham Athletic - Away</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I jumped in the back of the car said hello to Jerk' and Don, I took our scarves and trapped them in the back windows so our colours could fly behind us as we burned up the country. It was a grey cloudy day and you knew going north the weather wasn’t going to improve. The music for this journey would include Japanese black metal band "Si", an interesting band to say the least! We made our first service stop for some grub, where I indulged in a KFC big daddy burger, named after the classic wrestler of the same name (maybe). Also KFC gravy is the best side order ever! Fact! DO NOT DOUBT ME!!!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01315.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01315.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Back on the road the next stop en route to Oldham was the scenic winding road of the Snakes Pass and a couple of hours later we were there and even on a wet misty like this it was very nice and a reminder that not all England is grey concrete. By now the rain had started to piss down and rumours that the game might get called off and as we got deeper down the pass phone reception became nonexistent. We stopped off at a river to take in the view for a while before continuing up the pass. Half Way up was a little pub called The Snakes Pass Inn which we pulled into for a quick pint (not for the driver obviously). It was a lovely little pub and the locals didn’t seem too put off by the rag tag mob now occupying the window table with the nice view. back in the car it was time to navigate past Manchester and onto Oldham and the satnav was telling us that despite our diversions we would make Boundary Park in good time and with phone signal restored it seemed that our game would be one of the only in the area that would still be on.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=me.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/me.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>me - taking in the country air</i><br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01318.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01318.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>the view from the pub car park</i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We pulled into the car park and found a space. From the outside Boundary Park looked every one of the 100 or so years old it was, it was safe to say it had seen better days with its missing north stand. I would have quite liked to have seen it in better days. We walked up a grassy hill and round the back of the Rochdale Road stand to the away entrance.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01319.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01319.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
The typical hole in the wall was serving the normal array of pies and burgers as well as some bottles of beer I helped myself to a couple of lagers and we stood around contemplating the match ahead. Despite the brilliant result against Brentford earlier in the week no one in our group could be described as "confident of points" and with this being the second match in Danny Greens suspension we knew this would be tough. Thirst Quenched we made for our seats, we had been given the last block on the left hand side of the Rochdale Road stand. To our right was an empty block of seats then a small wall and trench on the other side of this was a section of home fans and this section seemed to be filling with kids! As far as the eye could see all there was were pre-pubescent loud mouths. And with zero sarcasm I knew; this was gonna be fun!!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01320.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01320.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>it's grim up north</i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The wet conditions didn’t make for the most beautiful game of football and from the off it was clear this was going to be a three way battle between both teams and the elements. A lot of the game was spent bogged (almost literally) in midfield. The hosts had the first real chance on goal when Filipe Morais couldn't quite nod Aiden White's cross home instead it bounced just wide and a little later from the other wing Oumare Tounkara's cross was headed just over by Chris Taylor. At the other end of the field the Daggers continued to battle and only some great goalkeeping from Ben Amos stopped John Nurse from scoring a volley from a Billy Bingham corner. As the half time whistle went it felt like a game we could just nick but at the same time a goal at the wrong end could send us back south with nowt! As expected being so close to the home crowd had meant banter had been full on throughout and after being asked "who the fucking hell" we were and us telling them about all the different leagues they'd managed to fuck up it was safe to say things were quite boisterous. The low average age in the block next to us had brought out the poet in many of us as classics such as "sit down, or go to bed with no tea!" were flung with glee across the stand.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01322.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01322.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>don't they have homework to do?</i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After another lager and a chilli chicken pie (not the best, to be fair) I was back at my seat and ready for the second half. Early on Johnny Nurse nearly gave us something to cheer about when he ran on to the ball in the box only to slam it into the side netting. Then it happened, Chris Taylor got the ball down the left wing as the Dagger's defence backed away, he put the ball into the path of Dale Stephens who struck the ball. As soon as it left his feet you knew there was no way Robbo was going to save it, this thought was punctuated by a rippling net and a thousand pre-pubescent kids screaming in delight and then gloating at us. Weather we stood there stoically like defiant monoliths against the northern tirade or fell to our knees with our heads in our hands and sobbed, I can’t quite remember! One thing I do remember was a rousing rendition of "only scored one goal, only scored one goooooal, how shit must you be, you've only scored one goal!". Then I think we reminded them of all the leagues they had been relegated from, gracious in defeat as always! </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01321.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01321.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It was looking like a long journey home and would have been worse if not for a fine save to keep out shots from both Taylor and Morais. The ball went out for a throw halfway inside the Oldham half; Nurse took the long throw quickly into the box, the ball bounced in front of Romain Vincelot who deftly nodded it past Amos and into the net for an equaliser, 1-1!! Our little crowd exploded as the home crowd descended into silence. We were on for a point now; we just had to hold on. Despite it feeling very tense neither side came awfully close to a goal, but Peter Gain managed to get himself sent off after going in high on one of the Oldham players. Then something really weird happened, the ball went out for a throw on our far left, inside the Oldham half. When I suddenly realise there were now two balls on the pitch, one of which was being taken by an Oldham layer towards our goal. Realising the confusion the Daggers defence got back and managed to put it out for a corner which was played in, knocked into the air, caught by Robbo then spilt, before Roberts pounced on it to make it safe. Needless to say anyone in the away section would have been very upset to concede a goal there as it didn’t seem to be just us caught out by the extra ball!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01324.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01324.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>the gap where the Broadway Stand used to be</i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Finally the whistle blew and The Daggers had secured another point against another former Premiership team. It was a point that more than justified the long journey. We gave the lads a round of applause as all the kids that had been taunting us filed out in begrudging silence. We said farewell to the Daggers who would be getting the coach home and made our way back to the car. It took a while for all of the cars to squeeze out of the car park but we got out eventually and started on the long journey home. As the long dark roads rolled beneath us my earlier lack of sleep started to catch up with me and the thermoses of coffee became my savoir, even so every so often I would nod off only to be woken by my own snoring.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01327.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01327.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Further south it was decided we should stop for some dinner and my gurgling stomach most definitely agreed, after a brief discussion we decided it was time to sample the delights of the OK Diner. So the next half hour was spent peering into the darkness trying to find one on the southbound side of the motorway, A cheer went up in the car as we spotted the neon lights in the distance. We pulled into the car park and entered the palace of hot food; it was a nice chain diner with all the American regalia you could hope for strewn across the walls. I ordered an obscenely huge hotdog with chilli, cheese and onions on, with curly fries and a chocolate and peanut butter milkshake. All were superb and I couldn’t clean the plate for fear of exploding! Fully fed we hit the road for the rest of an uneventful journey and when I finally stepped through my door my bed was all I wanted and it didn’t take long for me to completely zonk out. </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01331.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01331.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>droooooool!</i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Another awesome day out, following the daggers!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>FxMxD</b></span><b><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
Next - </b>I watched us play Yeovil and Jerk ran a relay race from bed to bathroom!</span>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-88660146030777421712011-02-22T18:08:00.000+00:002011-02-22T18:08:52.827+00:00Interview - Mark Arber<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Another first here at daggers diary, a video interview with Dagger's skipper; Mark Arber</span>.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QXTsH3qGkLw" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
<b>FxMxD</b>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-24761278842533859782011-02-22T17:59:00.003+00:002011-02-22T18:10:09.048+00:00The Return of The Prodigal Son<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b> Tuesday 1st February - Brentford - Home</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Words by JerkFromTheCoach</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The bible is open to interpretation,</b> and also, since being forced as a</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> child to study it I have to admit much of it I have forgotten, so I</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> shall have to fill in the blanks as I go along, please bear with me.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The book is also comparable to Dagenham & Redbridge in some ways.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Mainly because I have a beard and can walk through puddles without</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> drowning (rumours I catch fish and share my sandwiches out though are</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> unconfirmed), but also this little known tale below</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC00188.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC00188.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Daggers 1-2 Shrewsbury - 2nd May 2009</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The year was an unholy 2009, and The Daggers had ended the season in</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> 8th position having gone into the final day needing only a draw</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> against Shrewsbury to cement a place in the play offs for promotion to</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> League One. The aim had not been achieved, Dagenham went down 2-1 at</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> home and Shrewsbury pipped us into the final play off position (and,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> it is worth saying, managed to screw it up for themselves afterward</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">s too). Nevertheless, after the previous seasons late escape from</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> danger, the season had been a remarkable turn around for a club run on</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> a shoestring budget, the mood was of disappointment (you’re never</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> going to get that close and not feel disappointed) but also of great</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> optimism for the future after such a good showing. As supporters,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> little did we know that the next time we had a home league fixture,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the squad would look remarkably different.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC00190.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC00190.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>the old Pondfield end</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Come summertime, the family was broken, and certain members left for</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> pastures new. The most significant change to the squad being the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> three players who moved on to Brentford for a total fee of £0 two of</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> whom (Ben Strevens, and Danny Foster) have since transferred again, to</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Wycombe. So leaves our prodigal son of the tale, step forward please</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Mr Sam Saunders.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Whether you liked him, or he frustrated you (I never really got the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> latter myself, but you do sometimes hear it said) there is no doubting</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> the ability of Sam Saunders, and likewise no doubting the countless</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> shifts he put in whilst wearing Dagenham colours. Without him (and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the likes of Matty Ritchie), I don’t think we’d have not gone into the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> aforementioned final day fixture aiming for a play off place.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01301.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01301.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On the 1st February 2011, it was our chance to say hello to Sam</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Saunders again. The return of the prodigal son! He’d missed the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Boxing Day fixture with a broken nail, but I was pleased when it</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> happened to be that his first appearance coming back from injury was</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> to be at The Artist formerly Known As the London Borough Of Barking</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> And Dagenham stadium. And what a game it was for him to return to!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our home form this season has been frustrating when stood on the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> terrace. We’ve not often played bad, but we have been hit by late</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> goals generally robbing us of points – and there have been occasions</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> when many spoke of a curse on us scoring at a certain end of the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> ground. Myself, I think all this superstition is rubbish, but well,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> some people cant help but put their left sock on before their right in</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> case their Nan has a coronary (weirdos!). I therefore think that a</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> big win for us in front of our own fans has been long overdue, and</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> what better way to get it than in a derby against a team that includes</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> one of your old players?</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01302.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01302.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When it comes to the actual game, Brentford were appalling from start</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> to finish, and its easy to see why their supporters were so frustrated</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> with how things were going. After a worrying start to the season</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> which saw them in the bottom four they’d picked themselves up and made</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">progress for a couple of months, but at the time of this game were</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> sliding back towards danger. The kneejerk reaction since to sack Andy</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Scott was, in my opinion, not the best move for the club – but I guess</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> the people in charge think they know what they are doing. Easy to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">forget the achievement of promotion in 2009 followed by survival the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> following year it would seem – survival being no mean feat, as im sure</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> our supporters can testify that League One is far from easy.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01303.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01303.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sam Wood, managed to rob himself of the chance to play a number of</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> games this season since he broke his arm in the reverse fixture back</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> in December, and was still absent for this game. Shame really, would</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> have been nice to see his happy smiley “I cant tackle for shit” face</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">trotting around during this heavy Brentford defeat. It’d certainly be</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> a huge disappointment if he missed out on the Paintpot Trophy final,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> perhaps he could invest his time that day studying tackling</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> techniques, or working out ways not to do a mischief to himself when</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">advertising boards are nearby.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The deadlock was broken on 20 minutes when the ball seemed to strike</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Jon Nurse and roll in. Brentford stand in keeper Simon Royce looked</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> every bit the player I remembered him to be. Numerous chances came</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> and went, but come half time the two sides went in with the score</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> remaining 1-0, we should have been out of sight but it wasn’t to be –</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> it can be nerve wracking as a Dagger being 1-0 up this season at home.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Thankfully come the second half femininely named Karleigh Osborne</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> decided he felt great sympathy for the Dagenham cause and scored for</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> us, which was nice. Cheers ‘Carly’…Jon Nurse made it 3-0 ten minutes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">later scoring his second of the day in a little more convincing style</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> following Damien Scannells ball in. What victory this season is</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> complete without a headed goal from Romain Vincelot? One wonders just</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> how difficult it will be to keep hold of him come the end of the</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01304.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01304.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">season. Just a minute after the third, Vincelot pretty much assured</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> victory with his goal. Disappointingly Charlie MacDonald grabbed a</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> consolation at the death meaning we missed our chance of a clean</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> sheet, but this was the only down side in an otherwise fantastic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">night, other than the paltry attendance of 1,907. For a local team,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> this really wasn’t great. Brentford’s travelling support was very</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> insubstantial – but then, if you had to watch that every time your</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> team went away, its got to be difficult to motivate yourself into</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">going if you aren’t a die hard supporter.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In ‘The Prodigal Son’, the young man returns home a broken man after</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> wasting his fathers money, and he is welcomed with open arms and</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> generously looked after. But there was to be no ending like The</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Prodigal Son here for Sam Saunders, in fact the only thing biblical</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">about this one is that someone ended up being crucified – and it</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> wasn’t Dagenham.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01305.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01305.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>JerkFromTheCoach</b><br />
<br />
<b>NEXT - </b>An adventure in Oldham.<b> </b><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4hFq550ZNhg" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-11764729059058072852011-02-11T18:08:00.000+00:002011-02-11T18:08:46.843+00:00There's nothing quite like losing to MkDonalds<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saturday 22nd January 2011 </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> MK Dons - Home</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>words by FullMetalDagger</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
The day started as most football Saturdays do;</b> I dragged my carcass out of my bed and refuelled with tea whilst watching soccer AM. I was looking forward to this game and not just because it was a chance to finally get something from a match with the franchise and not just because the missus was bringing her father along for a family day at the game, no, the main reason I was looking forward to this match was I had a ticket to sit in the Marcus James stand for only the second time since its completion because today was the "no segregation" experiment and cheap ticket day!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01269.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01269.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Now I ain’t gonna bring up the old topic, but I really like the MJ; it has comfy seats and a bar. I have a theory about the MJ stand; I think it's better for making noise, I’d put this down to the shape of the stand and it's flatter shed type roof which all combines to project the noise made by (usually away) fans where as the sieve has gable roof and I feel that while inside we could be hosting a concert by Disaster Area (generally held to be not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind at all.) but the noise would get trapped and no one outside of our north terrace would be able to hear anything. Ok maybe that's a little tinged with hyperbole but you know what I mean!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">MrsMetalDagger's Mum kindly gave us a lift down to the ground and dropped us off at Pondfield Park. We made our way up the newly laid ramp towards the car park. I grabbed a programme and ducked into the club shop after picking up a nice new wet jacket I took a peek inside the supporters club bar and it was *ahem* “rammed to the point of buggery” but not to worry I had found out from my former college buddy in the shop (hello Dave) that the MJ bar (heeeeheeeee) was open and waiting for my custom. We went in through the turnstiles and into the bar. It was empty; I’ve seen more people at the first round of the ESC. I can only assume that everyone had squeezed themselves into the club house while me the missus and the father-in-law propped up the bar. I sent a text out to Jerk and the rest of our little mob telling them to meet us in the sparse bar. Chugging down my ice cold beer in the ice cold bar I did feel a little jealous of away fans, it might be freezing in that bar but it has beer!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01272.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01272.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> With everyone now present talk turned to the match ahead, I think we were all quietly confident, I have no idea why because MK are somewhat of a bogey team for us but as a Dagger you have to remain positive! We downed our drinks and made for our seats. I do enjoy the view from the MJ and it's amazing how close to the ground the rest of the ground looks from up in the ivory tower of the away end, but the new stand does have its downfalls; for one it can get very cold up there, being the tallest stand makes it very open to the elements and I for one will laugh on a cold windy day as we huddle together in the sieve for warmth while the away fans slowly freeze themselves in the footballing equivalent of cryogenics. The second downfall of the MJ is you don’t feel as close to the action, the thing I love about the sieve is how close to the pitch you are and if every stand was like the MJ we would definitely lose some of the intimacy that makes Vicky Road so special.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01271.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01271.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The teams walked out onto the pitch and the ref got the game underway. Early on we had a good chance when Marvin Morgan wrestled the ball off of an MK defender in the box then put a low cross in front of goal looking for Tomlin but MK defender Mathias Doumbe cleared it for a corner. Shortly after Mark Arber put a long ball forward and once again Morgan battled past the defence to peel of a shot which was parried away by MK keeper David Martin. It was around about this time, like a little kid asking to go out and play, I enquired to the missus and her dad weather it would be considered rude if I buggered off to the back of the stand with my mates as I was feeling a little isolated from the noise. Once told I was free to go, I scampered to the back climbing over seats. Once I was there I was glad I did, the view was about the same but I could see the Dartford crossing! Which leads me to believe the MJ is the highest point in Dagenham. At the back of the MJ in the middle is what I can only describe as a pulpit and being the loud mouth attention seeker I am, I planted myself there and proceeded to lead some "digger dagger" chants. Back to the game, we were really taking it to MK and looking like we really wanted the points and as the Whistle blew for the end of half time I was convinced we should come out with points, I should really learn to tell my brain to stop thinking, because it's cursed! (I remember the same feeling at county!)</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01273.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01273.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After a quick pint in the MJ bar (luxury!) we filed back into our seats (which were never actually sat in! props to the stewards for that!) the second half was a little less impressive than the first but we still looked sure to get something out of it and our mob were enjoying the atmosphere up in the back of the MJ. Mk had their first proper attempt at goal when Chadwick made a sweet back-heel pass to Peter Leven, who took a swipe which came very close. At the over end of the pitch Daggers were awarded a free kick, which Danny Green Dually smashed into the first man and then (out of what I can only guess was frustration) lead into the MK defender with his elbow. He was carrying a yellow already and even from the other end of the pitch I could tell he was going off but I thought it would be with a second yellow. Jerk nudged me "it's a straight red! He didn’t get another yellow". I feel for Greeny I really do, he has a lot of pressure piled on him and I think it got to him a little and he snapped. That was the reason I and the others around me clapped him off the pitch, he is one of us and despite his mistake, he is appreciated. The red card made what had been a very average MK turn up the heat a bit and Jabo Ibehre's ball across goal should have really been met by a foot for a goal.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Daggers weren’t done yet though! And a cross from Johnny Nurse just missed Morgan’s head and Femi's foot! Robbo made a very good block to keep out an Ibihre shot when the ball just wouldn’t get out of our box, but sadly the lot of a goal keeper is "hero one minute, villain the next" and when Mark Carrington took a speculative shot from somewhere in Hornchurch a nasty little bounce and maybe Robbo diving a bit early saw the ball awkwardly flop into the net, 1-0 to the Dons in the 93rd minute.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Bollocks! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
as soon as the ball went in it appeared we were surrounded by MK fans, who had been pretty quiet throughout (that's not a dig, I think the lack of segregation left them a bit unsure of themselves) but now they were cheering, this included a little mob in the sieve was too far away to see what happened but it looked like it got a little rough in there. I don’t mean to put a dampener on the no segregation idea but people don’t like having people rub a loss in their face right next to them, especially in the sieve.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01276.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01276.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The final whistle blew and that was that, another game where a late goal was our undoing against a team that didn’t really deserve the result, well definitely not all 3 points! We grumbled our way out of the stand and into the club house, where much grumbling was done. But overall I had had fun, I had been the preacher to the converted from my little pulpit and a day at the football is always better than no day at the football!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01277.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01277.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So the next match was Brentford at home on a Tuesday night and I ain’t gonna lie, I wasn’t feeling confident. But luckily I’m quite often wrong eh!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>FxMxD</b></span><b><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
Next -</b> The best result in front of the lowest attendance, funny how things work out!</span>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-75561670795301916592011-01-31T16:44:00.001+00:002011-01-31T16:45:51.853+00:00Interview - Sammy Saunders<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>It's Interview time once again here at Daggers Diary</b>, and today it's Mr Sammy Saunders (doo doo, doo-doo). <b><br />
</b></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=sammy.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/sammy.jpg" /></a><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">thanks to Sammy for this pic</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Name -</b> Sam Saunders</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
DoB -</b> 29/08/83</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
Teams -</b> welling, Ashford (Kent), Carshalton, daggers, Brentford</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
How are you? How are things going with Brentford? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Just recovering from a hamstring injury, it took a while for me 2 break into the team finally got a run of games and was really enjoying it. So hopefully be back fit and playing soon.</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
What is the thing you will miss the most about Dagenham?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Easy the boys! Every player would give u everything every week the conference winning year was one I will never forget, the boys were so tight that's what won us the league. Miss them all</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What were your best three Matches?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Game 3</b> York away we turned up at 3.15! Went 1-0 could of crumbled but we dug in grafted and won 3-2 remember finishing the game running straight into the showers and then straight to the train station so we never missed the train home, remember sitting on the train on the way home thinking only at Dagenham this would happen, loved every second of it!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Game 2 </b>Darlington away 2-0 down at half time we looked doomed to get relegated somehow won 3-2 remember waiting on the pitch with all the boys and staff by the travelling fans waiting for Mansfield result to come in. The buzz when we found out they lost and we had stayed up was unreal that was a good journey home!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Game 1</b> Aldershot at home to gain promotion never wanted to win a game so badly the build up was unreal all the hard work was down to that game are dreams of becoming league footballers become reality</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=Sammy1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/Sammy1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What are the Best Three Goals you've scored?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Goal 3 </b>Free kick home to Yeovil for Brentford it was my 1st goal for the club was a frustrating season and my celebration showed it. I hadn't scored all season so it was a relief</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
Goal 2</b> Notts county got in on the right wing remember hearing Gainy say 'go on go at him' so I run inside taking him on and curled it in the top right hand corner with the left from 25 yards</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Goal 1</b> Away to Southend overhead kick with my left foot it got me on soccer am Christmas Special showboat so I was buzzing with that!</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Which keeper did you find hardest to beat?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Schzhney (don't know how 2 spell it) when he was on loan to us from arsenal unreal goalkeeper in training unbeatable</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Best player you've played with?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">very tough to pick one player would say CMS (Macca) would just nick it unreal energy strength and now has added goals season in season out great attitude to the game works hard doing he's extras deserves everything he gets out the game.</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Best player you've played against?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Nicky Bailey, 1st come up against him when I was at Carshalton and he was at Sutton. Mutual respect for each other he has done really well</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Worst match you've played in?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Carshalton away to maidenhead lost 4-0 massive hill trains going past every 5 mins cold wet horrible horrible day never wanna go back!</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Least favourite away ground to play at?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Accrington pitch stadium atmosphere and the changing rooms never had a warm shower there!!!!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=sammy2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/sammy2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Any before/after game rituals?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">No</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Why did you sign for the Daggers, was there anything in particular that sealed the deal for you?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Well it wasn't the money that's for sure! Haha just john still giving me a opportunity to train every day and improve that sold it for me</span>.<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
What do you enjoy the most about being a pro-footballer?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saturday at 3.00 the buzz and day in day out doing what u would do for free with all your mates</span>.<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
What do you consider your biggest achievements?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Easy the promotion, we was just a pub team from Essex after all</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Best roommate on away days?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Danny Foster; my best mate in football</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Funniest team mate?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Gainy one word for him 'legend'</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Best XI from all the players you have played with, and a brief reason why you chose each player</span></b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=SammysXI.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/SammysXI.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><u>GK </u> - Robbo</b> ever reliable good character</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><u>RB </u>- Danny Foster</b> Mr 7 out of 10 underrated but not from the boys and the management good pro loved playing in front of him</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>CB</b></u> <b>- Anwar Uddin </b>was the leader skipper driving force in the conference winning season great lad</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>LB</b></u> <b>- Scotty G</b> great ability when he's not away with the fairies got a lot of time for Scotty</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>RW</b></u> <b>- Myself</b> just so I could play with the lads again!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Centre Mid</b></u> <b>- Dave Rains'</b> great driving force good in the dressing room big reason why we won the league (penalty taker)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Centre mid</b></u> <b>- Glen Southam</b> great ability left or right foot technically best in the team just edges out peter gain who deserves a mention</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>LW</b></u> <b>- Matty Ritchie</b> hammer of a left foot scores and creates goals</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>In the hole</b></u> <b>- Ben Strevens</b> great football brain links play well good awareness enjoy playing with him works he's socks off too</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Striker</b></u> <b>-</b> Mr rags to riches <b>Paul Benson </b>cracking goal scorer right place right time, work rate and gets on with all the lads, funny guy, did u know he was 3 years into a 5 year accountancy course? Haha</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Striker</b></u> <b>- CMS </b>pleasure 2 play with infectious work rate nightmare for defenders!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
When you hang up your boots will you take another role in football?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Yes would love to be a manager. Love watching attacking football</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Favourite Film?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Snatch</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Favourite Band?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Kings of Leon</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
Team you support?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Spurs</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<br />
<b>What’s next for you in football or life?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hopefully have a good few more years in football and do my coaching badges</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Any final words for the Daggers fans?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Don’t boo me when I come back! Haha</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">thank you very much to Sammy for his time and good luck in whatever he does in life</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">FMD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">once again thanks to Simmo and eveyone at Digger Dagger for the photos</span>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-11790240537710552752011-01-25T17:26:00.000+00:002011-01-25T17:26:37.709+00:00Interview - Mark Janney<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>It's Interview time again,</b> and in the metaphorical chair is former Daggers winger Mark Janney.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=Janney1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/Janney1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Name -</b> Mark Janney</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>DoB - </b> 2 December 1977, I’m 33. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Teams -</b> Tottenham, Brentford (loan), Dagenham & Redbridge, Braintree (loan), Heybridge Swifts, Thurrock, AFC Hornchurch</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hello Mark, How are you? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’m good thanks. And how are things going for you at the moment? On a personal note things are going well, on the football front things are not so good. I haven’t played since February last </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">year because of a ruptured hamstring.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What is the thing you miss the most about being a Dagenham & Redbridge player? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I don’t really miss being a Dagenham & Redbridge player to be honest, I just really appreciate the time I had there, it was a very special time with many great memories.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What do you consider the best three games of your career? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Exeter at home in the FA Cup, Hednesford at home in my first season in the conference (both Dagenham) and Borehamwood away in the FA Cup for Hornchurch a couple of years back.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What are the Best Three Goals you've scored? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A chip in the above mentioned game at Borehamwood, a 25 yard left footer away to Barnet with Dagenham and a header for Brentford at Gillingham with my first ever touch in league football!</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=janney2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/janney2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Who do you consider the best player you have played with? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’d have to pick Robbo for pure consistency, still performing week in week out as he has done for the last twenty years!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And against? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Easy, Dennis Bergkamp in a reserve game against Arsenal when I was at Spurs</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Worst match you've played in?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Not worst actual matches but the worst feeling after a game is a tossup between Chester at home for Dagenham in the ‘Boston’ season and the Play Off Final against Doncaster, don’t think I need to explain why!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What is your least favourite away day? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I always hated Leigh RMI, awful pitch and no atmosphere.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Do you have any before/after game rituals?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> At Dagenham I always used to go onto the pitch third, at Hornchurch this changed to last for</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">some reason!?</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Why did you sign for the Daggers? Was there anything in particular that sealed the deal for you? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> I had been released by Tottenham the previous season and after unsuccessful trials at Colchester and Southend received a phone call from then manager Ted Hardy asking me to come training, the rest as they say is history! The ground was was round the corner from my house which helped as well!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What do you enjoy the most about being a footballer? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> It’s a bit clichéd but being paid to do something that you absolutely love and the dressing room banter which is something special.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What do you consider your biggest achievements? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My England semi pro cap was a very proud moment. The cup runs at Dagenham and also finishing third in our first conference season when no one fancied us at all.</span><br />
<b><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When you hang up your boots will you take another role in football?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Am looking to start my coaching badges very soon, I definitely want to become a manager in the future.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Best room mate on away days? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Paul Terry, he used to get up far too early though!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Funniest team mate? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tolo Mas, Tim Cole, Tony Roberts……all as mad as they come!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Funniest moment in football? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Telford away with the daggers in the first match at their new stadium. Dickie the physio arranged a secret sweepstake on the way up about how many times Garry Hill would say ‘spoil the party’, we sit down for the team talk and the first words out of his mouth were ‘we are here to spoil the party’ All the lads were burying our heads in our tracksuits! Ash (Vickers), Coley and I had a great time at Stevenage once as well, not that we remember much of it!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Best XI from all the players you have played with, and a brief reason why you chose each player<br />
</span></b><br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=JannersXI.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/JannersXI.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">GK Tony Roberts -Class act who was far too good to be non league.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">RB Lee Goodwin -Hard as nails and so reliable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CB Lee Matthews -Inspirational captain</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CB Tim Cole -Great timing in the air and could play as well</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">LB Ashley Vickers -Such a nice bloke but once he crossed the line</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> steer clear of him, this included training!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">RW Tarkan Mustafa - Great engine and pace getting up and down the right side</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CM Steve Heffer - A real dog in the middle of the park.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CM Paul Terry - Great energy covering every blade of grass, great passer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">LW Jason Broom - A living non league legend, didn’t mind an injury though…..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CF Mark Stein - Give him the ball in the box and he would score, simple. Loved a moan if my crosses didn’t land within an inch of him though!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CF Paul Cobb - Another unbelievable goal scorer, created a few as well though,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Favourite Film?</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Recently I’d go for The Hangover or Kickass</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<b>Favourite Band?</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Kasabian, The Killers, U2</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Shuffle your iPod, what are the first 5 tracks? (No cheating!)</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">1 Slide Away by Oasis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">2 Stay Young by Oasis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">3 Girl With One Eye by Florence and the Machine</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">4 It‘s Not Fair by Lily Allen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">5 There Goes The Fear by Doves</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Team you support?</b> <br />
West Ham unfortunately!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What's next for you in football or life? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hopefully back playing for next season and I’m moving to my girlfriends in Cambridge next month so</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> a bit of a new life!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Thanks for sparing us this invasion into your private life! All the best!</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My pleasure, thanks and good luck to The Daggers for the rest of the season.</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">More interviews to come! one is in my inbox as you read this!</span> - <b>FMD</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>thanks to all at <b style="color: black;">DiggerDagger.com</b> for the photo's </i></span></div>FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-21992083971575906682011-01-24T22:00:00.000+00:002011-01-24T22:00:08.835+00:00Stelling, What's the score?<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>A match report, by JerkFromTheCoach, for the grand occasion</b> of a contest of football played out between the two sides from Hartlepool (represented by Hartlepool United Football club) and from Dagenham (represented by Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club), the spectacle having taken place on the 15th January of the year 2011 at The</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Victoria Ground, located in Hartlepool.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(which is Jerk's way of saying;)</span></i></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Saturday 15th January 2011 - Hartlepool United - Away</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>words by JerkFromTheCoach </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As a football supporter, I love away fixtures. Its hard to say I love them in the same way as I love home games, but nevertheless I love them – and certainly not to a lesser degree. But, one might be excused for saying that the effort required to haul yourself to various unattractive parts of the country is far greater than jumping on a bus to the pub and then onto the ground and returning home on a Saturday in time for tea. These games are where the feeling of being the twelfth man really spring to life.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I set my alarm on the morning for a mind bogglingly early 6am, and finally awoke at 7am (whoever invented alarm clocks really needs a ticking off) just in time to throw on some hastily prepared clothes, and get out and on the road for what was to prove to be an epic, yet</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">fruitful slog.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By 7:30 I was out of my door and in need of fuelling for the journey up. As I was preparing to leave the petrol station I noticed the coach travelling over the A13 flyover toward Barking, and the hunt for them hastily began…and may as well have ended. Whoever was driving</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">that thing must have been doing some speed, because even at a ‘snippet’ over 70mph (read 70mph exact if you are a law enforcement officer….if you cannot be so kind as to do that, then my name is John Stimson, and Barnet FC can pass on my details) I was unable to catch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">them. Our journeys must have parted, as I decided that I was bored of the M11 as soon as I got on it, and elected therefore to make my way along the M25, and onto the A1 after a cheeky stop off at South Mimms. Anyone who has travelled with me will know by now, that I have a bizarre magnet pull from Motorway Service Stations. This day was to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">prove no different.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=igtigamerainbowriches.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/igtigamerainbowriches.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I decided that Peterborough was a fine place to have a short stop for breakfast, so my journey was broken there too. With Sausage & Egg McMuffin enthusiastically consumed, I decided against further stops at least until I had reached Gods own Country. To be perfectly honest, the service stops at both Cambridge & Peterborough aren’t really up to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">much for one main reason – lack of Rainbow Riches machines. ‘Extra’ Service Stations, take note – get this issue rectified!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It was shortly after setting off from Peterborough that I noticed the one major foreboding aspect of the day. The wind. Now, I have to admit, I love driving. I like to be in control of something I can travel in at speeds I was never before able to reach. I like the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">nervous twitch that your belly does when you are passing a lorry that cant seem to stay in its own lane. I like seeing the other motorists and wondering where they are going, and I like to look out for odd cars – old ones, American ones, whatever isn’t the standard norm. This wind though, was something else. My car was literally being pushed sideways by extremely strong gusts. Brief respite was afforded to me when passing lorries, but as soon as my vehicle was again exposed it was the same story.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">However, I managed to travel as far as Wetherby before stopping again. This was to be my longest of stops, as I knew that beyond this was only around an hours drive further. Disappointingly this season, when driving to away games, I have noticed a lack of away supporters in Service stations – Wetherby was to be the exception though, as it was literally teeming with Altrincham supporters on their way to Blyth Spartans for their FA Trophy fixture, a game the BSP strugglers lost 2-1. Potentially a league fixture next season? I have fond memories of Altrincham in our non league days – if im honest, I don’t like to see them struggling, but its becoming an increasingly often occurrence these days and in previous seasons they have hung onto BSP status only at the loss of other clubs for financial reasons and so on, and with the current crop of ‘bigger’ teams now plying their trade at that level, it looks likely they wont be able to hang on forever. Regardless, best wishes to them for their season, they struck me as a decent group of committed fans…reminded me of us.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The rest of the journey was uneventful, and after leaving the A1 for the A-somethingorother which was to lead me pretty much to the stadium thankfully the wind was behind me, so I was almost pushed straight into Hartlepool. Sadly though, it wasn’t possible to avoid</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Middlesbrough entirely. Some places are good, some places are bad – and then, there is Middlesbrough, the dirty spoon amongst the cutlery drawer, the grubby face of the impoverished child in a school photo where his classmates have all been cleaned up by a parents spittle on the corner of a handkerchief. Really, I cannot say enough about Middlesbrough. Its like a modern day polio colony – I say modern day, theres not a lot modern about Middlesbrough seemingly. I was pleased that the road took us up a height and over the city. What a dive.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I arrived into Hartlepool some twenty minutes after the coach (I did briefly overtake them as they stopped at Ferrybridge and I ploughed onward to Wetherby) and the site that awaited me was a little alarming, if not somewhat humorous. As the coach had parked up, the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">driver had reversed it into a lamp post with an advertising board attached. Glass being glass, the window has shattered, and the driver was busy knocking the rest of the shards out. All credit to Swallow, and to those involved (Russell Elmes, Russell Powis…) for hastily</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">arranging a replacement coaches for the trip home. The Daggers away contingent were to be handed over relay-style at Ferrybridge Services to a new Swallow coach, after help from a Hartlepool based company. God only knows how they’d have all fit into my car…</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=hart1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/hart1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So, to the actual point of the report – the game. Not too much to shout about really. The burgers were abysmal first off, but they were made more bearable when washed down with what was quite possibly the largest hot god to grace the planet. Not only was this huge, but it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">was also a real steal at £2.50. Well done Hartlepool. As usual, there was a vegetarian option available from the taps in the gents free of charge. Those lucky vegetarians NEVER have to pay, its winding me right up…</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=hart2.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/hart2.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The previous mentioned wind was playing havoc with the game, any long passes seemed to drift endlessly off of the field and into the Cyril Knowles Stand. Numerous times their keeper attempted a long clearance only to see it disappear into the seats. It seemed he was never going to learn. The Daggers fans were in full voice, making an impressive racket in the Rink End. It has to be said that the warnings we had received about the stewarding being OTT were thankfully not an issue. What we received were a couple of high spirited, decent, and sensible stewards who lets us stand up to watch the game without draconian seating policies coming into play. I think they enjoyed the renditions of ‘Oops Upside Your Head’, ‘YMCA’, and ‘Lets Pretend We’ve Got Tourettes’. Half time came after not too much action, Hartlepool did have a couple of decent efforts, one coming crashing back off of the upright after about ten minutes. Much of the same it has to be said in the second half, plenty of banter for us to enjoy with Robbo, but the wind generally spoiling things (our usual sleek passing game should have been employed methinks…). The pivotal introduction of the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">game has to have been Jon Nurse, whose ball on 86 mins found Gavin Tomlin, whose usual high work rate was today rewarded with his second Daggers goal. Particular mentions have to go to Scott Doe, whose defending was terrific throughout, and to Femi who could easily have been sent off early on had it not have been for a moment when the referee played advantage – he calmed down suitably and didn’t receive further inspection from the short ugly bloke in black. Finally, a mention to Mr Monkhouse of Hartlepool – when in future you lunge out at goalkeepers feet first do not accuse them of doing the same, clean up your play young man, and stop crying when your reward is a foot in your own face (nearly!). After a bizarre decision was given to pay 4 mins stoppage time (my biased cap tells me that it was closer to 11 seconds) it was of great relief when the whistle was blown and it was certain that the three points would be coming back to Essex with us, for our third away win of the season.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=hart4.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/hart4.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After shaking hands with my comrades and being wished a safe journey home, I made my way back to Dagenham in high spirits, my mood only dashed by finding out that Yeovil had also managed to win.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">More of the same at home please now Dagenham – should it come to May and we go down, nobody can say the effort isn’t being applied on the park, and indeed, on the terrace. We are fighting like we always do.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=hart3.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/hart3.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">No surrender. Time to believe again!</span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zriGd7KI-5k" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
<b>JerkFromTheCoach</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Next -</b> there's nothing quite like a MKdonaldsFullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7199519625286903440.post-76003284865522265042011-01-21T16:30:00.000+00:002011-01-21T16:30:12.497+00:00I Should Have gone for Scissors!<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Me, Jerk', MrsMetalDagger and the rest of our little mob </b>are sitting in The Bell in Rainham after losing in a drab game to Rochdale (sorry for the spoiler there). I looked up from my pint "so who's writing this one up then?" Jerk' looked at me with a face that said "do we have to?" I held out my fist in the international sign that this would be decided in a game of "paper, scissors, stone"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">1.2.3 Both played paper</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">1.2.3 Both played scissors</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">1.2.3 I played rock, Jerk' played paper, paper beats rock.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">...bugger it!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saturday 8th January 2011 - Rochdale – Home</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I was tempted to just post this picture as a report<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=matchreport.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/matchreport.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">my text to Jerk summarising that Saturday</span></i> <br />
But I like to think I am a tad (and I do mean a tad) more professional than that...maybe.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This story begins where it ended, at the pub. I was running a little late but got to the bell with about an hour to get some drinking done. I was handed a pint and watched the arsenal game on the big screen. A lot of the talk turned to our new signing Marvin Morgan who had endeared himself to a lot of Daggers before even setting a foot onto the pitch by wishing death on Aldershot fans. There was definitely a feeling of this being a "must-win" game, but we knew it wouldn’t be easy. Rochdale have acted like the champions of league 2 they should have been and have held their own well in league 1. Arsenal drew 1-1 with Leeds to take the tie to a replay at Elland Road, this was our cue to down our drinks and head for the bus stop. We waited for the bus and sang songs at the council contractors that were taking down the Christmas tree, the 103 arrived and it was off to Vicky road. </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01130.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01130.jpg" /></a><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rochdale fans in the MJ</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After a short bus ride we were walking through the gates, I grabbed a programme and walked to the back of the Sieve. Looking around it seemed there was a little drop in attendance though this could have been down to a relatively small away crowd. The match itself was a little frustrating, Gavin Tomlin had a really good chance in the opening minute when Danny Green put a lofted through ball to his feet but Josh Lillis came out well to smother the ball. Rochdale’s resident predator look-a-like Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro received the ball on the edge of the Daggers box but put his shot wide but Robbo was forced into making a very good save when he tipped Nicky Adams dangerous long range effort over the bar. Overall the first half was looking like a bit of a bust, until the last 10 minutes when we could have scored about 5 times. Gavin Tomlin nodded the ball past the 'keeper and Savage just got a toe to it, for it to bounce just wide. When the Whistle blew to end the half there was an air of confidence in the crowd, maybe we could come out of this with some points.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01133.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01133.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Conceding late goals has been our weakness this season and sadly it would prove to be the downfall of the Daggers once more. The goal that would deny us any spoils came in the 74th minute and it was delivered by Chris O'Grady who dashed into the box and shot from an angle that I’d swear always produces a goal. I think we all knew, we don’t tend to comeback after conceding that late. We had a couple more goes but nothing came of it. Special mention has to go to Robbo who came up for a late corner and managed to get his head to the ball, but sadly it looped over and a little wide but still closer than some had come that day! The final whistle came with numbing inevitability and we moaned and groaned our way out of the Sieve. I think everyone felt like they were starting the long walk back to league 2 (even just for a moment). On a good note Morgan looked like he puts himself about well and hopefully we'll be seeing him hit the net soon.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01135.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01135.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We trudged out and jumped onto the bus back to the pub, where we sank pints and ate chips. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And now our story has come full circle</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/?action=view&current=DSC01139.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j142/immoralminority/webstuff/DSC01139.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Keep the faith people!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">FxMxD</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
<br />
Next -</b> Jeff Stellings face is a picture!</span><br />
<br />
<br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" />FullMetalDaggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318492408276355830noreply@blogger.com0