Tuesday 27 December 2011

Daggers 3-0 Barnet, Festive Delights

Dagenham & Redbridge ended their losing hoodoo with a spectacular 3-0 victory over rivals Barnet on Boxing Day with emphatic goals coming courtesy of Cristian Montano twice and a superb Brian Woodall diving header. I'm afraid there are no pictures in this Blog due to them not being able to upload from my Blackberry camera to Blogger.

Ahead of the game I was quietly confident once more, the win in these encounters with Barnet always tends to go with the home side; especially when you take into account we've never lost at home to the Bees. Add to that we apparently looked a much better outfit against Burton last weekend; a game that I was unable to attend due to being struck by a last minute illness. I should apologise in advance for any grammatical errors in this Blog as I'm forced to write it on my Blackberry. You see some wonderful sod decided to hack through the BT cables in my area
 and those even nicer chaps at BT said they'll repair the service on the 5th January. Anyways; enough about that and onto the game!

I arrived at Victoria Road at around 12:40 as it was a festive 13:00 kick off. I performed the usual ritual of getting a programme and a 50/50 ticket before heading through the turnstiles and into the ground. I went straight up to the Sieve to get a burger and find my cohorts before getting in the mood for this Boxing Day encounter. The main threat was basically Izale McLeod if you asked me, if we stopped him they didn't score in my eyes. That leads us nicely onto the teams!

Dagenham & Redbridge: Lewington, Rose, Doe, Spillane, Femi, Green, Gain, Maher, Woodall, Montano, Scott. Subs: Hogan, Geohaghan, Cunnington, Bingham, Nurse.
Abu Ogogo was banned which meant that Dom Green replaced him in midfield whilst the rest of the team remained the same from the one that drew at Burton Albion last weekend.

Barnet Team: Brill, Senda, Borrowdale, Hector, Downing, Hughes, Byrne, Deering, Marshall, N'Diaye, McLeod. Subs: O'Brien, Saville, McCallum, Holmes, Taylor.

Just after the teams were announced they came out to a very good atmosphere and we were all set to go. Just after 13:00 Mr Stroud blew his whistle and we were off. The game started rather scrappilly if truth be told, with Barnet having an abundance of offsides go against them; mainly for McLeod. On 10 minutes however came the first corner of the game for Daggers, Maher's delivery was met with firm hands by 'keeper Brill to avert any danger.

On 13 minutes the Daggers took the lead in spectacular fashion. Josh Scott interchanged  passes with Montano before Montano shifted the ball onto his left foot. He unleashed magnificent 25 yard strike with his left foot which flew into the back of the net leaving Brill with no chance. A superb strike in this pivotal game to make it 1-0 Daggers.

The next few minutes I was very wary as in the previous home game with Port Vale we conceded directly after scoring. However it was Dominic Green who nearly  doubled the lead, his speculative effort going wide of the mark. However Barnet should have equalised on 20 minutes. A superb ball was crossed in by N'Diaye which found the head of league two top scorer Izale McLeod. I for one thought it was 1-1, but the former Charlton man contrived to put the ball wide of the mark to mine and several others shock. A real let off and a wake up call for the slack marking.

Barnet were beginning to come into the game a bit more and came close to levelling once more. A scramble in Lewingtons box meant the ball fell to tricky winger Sam Deering, luckily his shot didn't get any bend on it; meaning it flew harmlessly wide of the post. Just after that McLeod and Marshall both got shots away, the first was comfortably saved by Lewington whilst the second was blocked well by everyones favourite player, Femi.

During the 30-40 minute period of the game, the tempo settled down again with a variety of free kicks and corners to both sides, most of which were dealt with by defenders or claimed well by either Lewington or Brill. Then John Still was forced into a substitution on 37 minutes. Peter Gain who must have been carrying a slight knock was taken off as a precaution. his replacement was a player I'm particularly excited about, Billy Bingham. A like for like change.

Just before half time the Daggers doubled the lead thanks to another superb strike by Montano. Brian Woodall flicked the ball through to the Columbian before he unleashed an unstoppable strike into the far corner of the net leaving Brill with no chance. The Sieve went mental for a second time as the Daggers went into the break two magnificent goals to the good.

During the half time period I took the chance to have a read of the programme which featured a brilliant interview with John Still answering some questions. I hope this intervview will have convinced some doubters that Stilly is the man for this club.

The second half started with the Daggers attacking the Bury Road End and Lawrie Sanchez's Barnet side firing towards their own 500 odd fans in the Traditional Builders Stand. A decent turnout by the Bees supporters who had the rail strike to contend with. The second half started much like the first; several offsides and another corner going down Brill's throat to my annoyance. Barnet then made their first sub just over 10 minutes in, former Chelmsford striker Ricky Holmes replacing Mark Byrne.

One of the highlights of the game was undoubtedly when Sam Deering who reminds me of Orients Cox; unleashed a yelp when being tackled by a Daggers man. This meant everytime he got the ball for the rest of the match, everyone in the Sieve immitated his noise; great entertainment. The Daggers nearly added another goal on 60 minutes. Dom Green picked up the ball before running a few yards towards the Barnet goal. He then unleashed a powerful shot that left Brill with no chance, unfortunately it cannoned off of the bar and into the 'keepers hands.

On 62 minutes Brian Woodall etched his name onto the scoresheet to make it 3-0 and effectively seal victory. Cristian Montano crossed the ball from the right hand side and Woodall got down for a diving header which planted the ball into the far corner of the net. Another goal for Woodall who is now oozing with confidence; a superb header from a player who was plying his trade five leagues below the Conference last season we shouldn't forget.

Then came a flurry of changes for both sides. Charlie Taylor replaced tricky winger Mark Marshall for Barnet, whilst Josh Scott came off for Jon Nurse who has been confined to the bench in recent games. Minutes later Chris Lewington who was having a nice quiet game was called into action; palming away a McLeod shot to further increase the strikers frustration and 'keepers reputation. Charlie Taylor then missed a superb chance for Barnet. Much like in the first half a cross was floated into the box and the marking left a lot to be desired. However former Sutton United man Taylor couldn't keep his header down and it went over the bar and into the Bees fans.

Cristian Montano was then given a rapturous round of applause as he left the field to be replaced by Adam Cunnington who got the chance to make another cameo. His energy was evident from the off, chasing down loose balls and pressuring the Bees back line; which is what I want to see from a forward. The final chance of the game came nearing the 90 minute mark when another cross found McLeod. This time the former England Under 21 International got a firm collection and forced a great save from Lewington.

That was the end of the action and it meant that the Daggers had picked up a first league win since October, the first league clean sheet since August ad the first time we'd scored three since Carlisle at home the back end of last season. A decent performance made the victory even sweeter; although the marking needs to be tightened considerably.

Mark Arber may find it very difficult to get back into the side following the solid defensive partnership of Scott Doe and Mickey Spillane that has been formed. If Peter Gain is injured for Gillingham on Friday night; I would like to see Billy Bingham given a start. He's the perfect replacement and one that I've touted as a great midfielder for the future, such a shame injuries prevented him being a regular so far this season. I thought Richard Rose coped well with the pace of Deering and Kevin Maher ensures we play the ball on the floor which is a great influence to have.

A word for the crowd today as well, simply superb. The Sieve felt like its old self, plenty of songs and plenty of people getting behind the team which was great. Long may it continue!

Next up at home is Gillingham on Friday night, 19:45 kick off. I hope you have a enjoyable week and I'll speak to you again on New Years Eve oron the 6th when I get the Internet back!













































































4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  2. very good performance today. made my boxing day even better, instead of going home a bit frustrated. the squad looked balanced and competitive today, spillane and doe looked assured at the back and it was nice to see the ball being played around especially using the width with the full backs femi and rose. montano is on the watch list at west ham utd and he for me( as a west ham supporter too ) is starting to show why? two cracking goals.
    For me though i felt we played too deep at times, maybe this is because doe and spillane lack quality pace, but it seemed to work for them both!! arber is going to find it tough to get back in with these two!

    For me our game seemed to change when bingham came on for gain, now for me gain should start regular, he gets about, puts he foot in, barks orders, and maybe monday it was a blessing, bingham comes on we start passing more, he was supporting the front two, brilliant performance from the young man whereas for me gain and mayer, the game in the middle seemed to passing them both by!! Up front Woodall is definatly starting to show some quality, target man like, athletic, quick feet, pace..this man has got what it takes, its just the usual statement, the more he plays the better he will get. keep him in that starting xi alongwith with the improving josh scott and keep tomlin away from that squad, in fact just terminate his contract, he obviously dosen't want to be a dagger!! anyway same starting xi bar gain for bingham and another solid performance all over will bring another raucous crowd backing and win over the wannabes from kent friday!! COYD!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You even blocking Arnu's nice comments now.Blimey what did the bloke do,dare to disagree with you I suppose.Is it because you thought Tomlin would score 10 goals this season?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Basically; I feel that someone who is supposedly 50 years of age should have more credibility than to single handedly try and ruin my Blogs with a comment. If he grows up and shows his name as you have also failed to do then he's more than welcome too.

    ReplyDelete