Carved up by the Daggers ? You must be joking!

Slough Town

Slough Town

0
Dagenham

Dagenham

2
Fitt (34), Simpson (83)
League Tony Dennis
Many managers in Alan Davies' position would have complained bitterly about the goals that might have been after such a one sided 90 minutes of football.

Lady Luck certainly smiled on Dagenham who could only boast one real player of worth and come to Wexham Park, be carved up in all departments and still score two goals against the run of play.

But Davies remains in a spirited mood about a side whose best nine match unbeaten run in the league is second only to Hendon and glowing about a team that is consistently trying to play football- at any cost.

"We had so much of the ball, so much possession- that's why we're disappointed but still confident" he mused. " We have had the best start in the league for the second year running, this season.....it is up to us to make sure we don't let it slip again. They were a poor side and we should have done better, but when they come here and play five defenders at the back it makes scoring a little bit difficult" he reasoned.

"We played some good football, got round the back of them and got some good crosses in, but didn't put them in" said Davies.

On Saturday, that is exactly where the frustrations started and ended. As Davies said his team gave everything and were hard done by....there's no room for bitter recrimination. Slough have scored 11 times in the last seven games. They hit the post, had two headed off the line, several hacked clear in the six yard box on Saturday alone, so you can't even grumble. It's a shame but a fact that five corners don't add up to one goal in Vauxhall Opel League football.

Slough would have won 4-2 and the crowd would then be happy ! But in fact, it's a game that Slough could easily have won given the innumerable number of chances, but their finishing touch in front of goal deserted them.

As early as the fourth minute, Gary Dodd went close when he thumped a Keith White corner over the bar. The Rebels dominated the opening half hour with Dell also unable to polish off a Neal Stanley cross before the Daggers got one chance in the 34th minute and converted it.

Mark Simpson fired in a cross which Trevor Bunting failed to hold and John Fitt slotted home the rebound against the run of play.

Minutes later, Slough had three successive corners. A Tony Dennis shot was blocked, Stanley's saved by the 'keeper who then palmed away Thompson's rebound and sadly, Watt's final corner was then blasted wide by Trevor How.

In the second half, the play followed the same pattern with the exception of a fine reaction save from Bunting after Alan Day headed a Steve Wiseman cross - Bunting even palmed away the rebound while on the floor, his only real trouble all afternoon.

Tony Knight's frustration got the better of him on the hour when he tried to take the useful Mark Simpson out at the knee and play stopped for three minutes as the Rebels searched for inspiration.

It almost came when Steve Thompson pumped a fierce drive at the target after a familiar run down the left flank, but the Dagenham 'keeper did just enough to see the ball cannon against the upright and away.

As Slough piled on the pressure, Dagenham right back Robert Keyes denied another shot from Thommo and again from Chalkie White on the line with just eight minutes of normal time left

Then came the killer blow when in a moment of wanton panic, Dagenham pushed over the halfway line. The ball rebounded cruelly off Jeff Bateman from Tony Knight and fell to Mark Simpson who sent a soaring shot past the out-stretched arms of Trevor Bunting to take the match beyond doubt....but there's no doubt who were the better side.

Dagenham Lineup

Rebels

Slough Town FC is not responsible for content produced on external websites | Copyright Slough Town FC 2024