Despite the blip of MK Dons, 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.
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".
Saturday 12th February 2011 - Yeovil Town - Home
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.
Meanwhile in Becontree...
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... ...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!
Nervous in the Sieve
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.
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.
Meanwhile in Becontree, Jerk' tries to ring me to find out how we squandered a lead so fast...
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 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!
Meanwhile in Becontree, Having heard we had scored again, Jerk' decided he had to somehow get to the game to see the end...
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.
a happier Sieve
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!
Oh yeah, Meanwhile in Becontree...
Come on you Daggers!
FxMxD Next - Jerk regales us with his tails of Walsall
I just couldn't sleep, I don't know why. 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! 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!! Saturday 5th Match – Oldham Athletic - Away
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!!!
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.
me - taking in the country air the view from the pub car park
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.
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!!
it's grim up north
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.
don't they have homework to do?
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!
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!
the gap where the Broadway Stand used to be
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.
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.
droooooool!
Another awesome day out, following the daggers!! FxMxD
Next - I watched us play Yeovil and Jerk ran a relay race from bed to bathroom!
Tuesday 1st February - Brentford - Home Words by JerkFromTheCoach
The bible is open to interpretation, and also, since being forced as a child to study it I have to admit much of it I have forgotten, so I shall have to fill in the blanks as I go along, please bear with me. The book is also comparable to Dagenham & Redbridge in some ways. Mainly because I have a beard and can walk through puddles without drowning (rumours I catch fish and share my sandwiches out though are unconfirmed), but also this little known tale below
Daggers 1-2 Shrewsbury - 2nd May 2009
The year was an unholy 2009, and The Daggers had ended the season in 8th position having gone into the final day needing only a draw against Shrewsbury to cement a place in the play offs for promotion to League One. The aim had not been achieved, Dagenham went down 2-1 at home and Shrewsbury pipped us into the final play off position (and, it is worth saying, managed to screw it up for themselves afterwards too). Nevertheless, after the previous seasons late escape from danger, the season had been a remarkable turn around for a club run on a shoestring budget, the mood was of disappointment (you’re never going to get that close and not feel disappointed) but also of great optimism for the future after such a good showing. As supporters, little did we know that the next time we had a home league fixture, the squad would look remarkably different.
the old Pondfield end
Come summertime, the family was broken, and certain members left for pastures new. The most significant change to the squad being the three players who moved on to Brentford for a total fee of £0 two of whom (Ben Strevens, and Danny Foster) have since transferred again, to Wycombe. So leaves our prodigal son of the tale, step forward please Mr Sam Saunders.
Whether you liked him, or he frustrated you (I never really got the latter myself, but you do sometimes hear it said) there is no doubting the ability of Sam Saunders, and likewise no doubting the countless shifts he put in whilst wearing Dagenham colours. Without him (and the likes of Matty Ritchie), I don’t think we’d have not gone into the aforementioned final day fixture aiming for a play off place.
On the 1st February 2011, it was our chance to say hello to Sam Saunders again. The return of the prodigal son! He’d missed the Boxing Day fixture with a broken nail, but I was pleased when it happened to be that his first appearance coming back from injury was to be at The Artist formerly Known As the London Borough Of Barking And Dagenham stadium. And what a game it was for him to return to!
Our home form this season has been frustrating when stood on the terrace. We’ve not often played bad, but we have been hit by late goals generally robbing us of points – and there have been occasions when many spoke of a curse on us scoring at a certain end of the ground. Myself, I think all this superstition is rubbish, but well, some people cant help but put their left sock on before their right in case their Nan has a coronary (weirdos!). I therefore think that a big win for us in front of our own fans has been long overdue, and what better way to get it than in a derby against a team that includes one of your old players?
When it comes to the actual game, Brentford were appalling from start to finish, and its easy to see why their supporters were so frustrated with how things were going. After a worrying start to the season which saw them in the bottom four they’d picked themselves up and made progress for a couple of months, but at the time of this game were sliding back towards danger. The kneejerk reaction since to sack Andy Scott was, in my opinion, not the best move for the club – but I guess the people in charge think they know what they are doing. Easy to forget the achievement of promotion in 2009 followed by survival the following year it would seem – survival being no mean feat, as im sure our supporters can testify that League One is far from easy.
Sam Wood, managed to rob himself of the chance to play a number of games this season since he broke his arm in the reverse fixture back in December, and was still absent for this game. Shame really, would have been nice to see his happy smiley “I cant tackle for shit” face trotting around during this heavy Brentford defeat. It’d certainly be a huge disappointment if he missed out on the Paintpot Trophy final, perhaps he could invest his time that day studying tackling techniques, or working out ways not to do a mischief to himself when advertising boards are nearby.
The deadlock was broken on 20 minutes when the ball seemed to strike Jon Nurse and roll in. Brentford stand in keeper Simon Royce looked every bit the player I remembered him to be. Numerous chances came and went, but come half time the two sides went in with the score remaining 1-0, we should have been out of sight but it wasn’t to be – it can be nerve wracking as a Dagger being 1-0 up this season at home. Thankfully come the second half femininely named Karleigh Osborne decided he felt great sympathy for the Dagenham cause and scored for us, which was nice. Cheers ‘Carly’…Jon Nurse made it 3-0 ten minutes later scoring his second of the day in a little more convincing style following Damien Scannells ball in. What victory this season is complete without a headed goal from Romain Vincelot? One wonders just how difficult it will be to keep hold of him come the end of the
season. Just a minute after the third, Vincelot pretty much assured victory with his goal. Disappointingly Charlie MacDonald grabbed a consolation at the death meaning we missed our chance of a clean sheet, but this was the only down side in an otherwise fantastic night, other than the paltry attendance of 1,907. For a local team, this really wasn’t great. Brentford’s travelling support was very insubstantial – but then, if you had to watch that every time your team went away, its got to be difficult to motivate yourself into going if you aren’t a die hard supporter.
In ‘The Prodigal Son’, the young man returns home a broken man after wasting his fathers money, and he is welcomed with open arms and generously looked after. But there was to be no ending like The Prodigal Son here for Sam Saunders, in fact the only thing biblical about this one is that someone ended up being crucified – and it wasn’t Dagenham.
Saturday 22nd January 2011 - MK Dons - Home words by FullMetalDagger
The day started as most football Saturdays do; 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!
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!
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!
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.
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!)
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.
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.
Bollocks!
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.
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!
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! FxMxD
Next - The best result in front of the lowest attendance, funny how things work out!
