[Phil Whalley]

Just in from the game, a very solid performance, more perspiration than inspiration, but a well-deserved three points. Coley went for a 5-3-2, with the midfield trio of Proctor, Brown and Harris positioned centrally. Though this appeared to leave us short of width on paper, we actually threatened the most from wide positions. The first goal was a gem, a swift one-touch movement with a pass out wide, a volleyed cross and a perfectly-placed, glanced header from McGivern, all executed too quickly for the home defence to react. The second goal was similar – another fast, direct cross from the right nutted home by an unmarked Proccy with the minimum of fuss. It was significant that our second came just after we had needlessly handed them an equaliser. Their right winger had put in a low cross that was on its way out beyond the back post, but Cav had committed himself and came steaming in, but didn’t have the room to direct his clearance over the bar and found the roof of the net instead. It was probably the first on-target effort on our goal, so that was a sickener, but it was a real boost for the lads to retake the lead so quickly, and definitely a downer for Dagenham.
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The thing that wound me up the most all afternoon was our attitude in the second-half, for we simply sat back and invited their pressure. Now, as we have become used to, Roberts was tremendous throughout, winning virtually everything in the air, and Rocky had a good one too. But why sit back with such abandon? When we won the ball at the back, we simply hoofed it in the general direction of Mullers or Leighton, and it didn’t take long for them to win possession back and pressure us again. The saving grace was the fact that Dagenham were so one-dimensional in attack, lumping long ball after long ball into our box. An attack with a bit more variation would have posed us far more trouble, and we got away with it when they did find a clear opportunity. They brought Benson on and he immediately had a free header that he fluffed, and this was followed by another near headed miss.
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Our third was, frankly, against the run of play and was due entirely to the energy and variation that D’Sane brought to the attack when he came on. Finally we had someone who could hold the ball and then take on the defence with pace. The chance emerged after Roscoe ran at them and unleashed a swerving 20-yarder that hit the bar, leaving a perfectly-placed Mullin with a simple head-in from the rebound. Roscoe should then have had one himself when Cav curled a perfect far post cross onto his shiny bonce, but he headed over with the goal gaping. Something to work on in training there.
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But even 3-1 up you weren’t completely relaxed about the result. The second-half tactics of sitting back didn’t make for that convincing a performance, and this against a Dagenham team that will struggle to stay up on this showing, they completely lacked penetration, and I’d say that this was probably the worst Dagenham performance of the four I have now seen between us and them at their place. On the upside, the whole team showed tremendous commitment and determination. Rocky and Roberts were excellent, and both Harris and Proctor were effective and industrious. It definitely helped them to have Brown alongside as an outlet, and though Browny struggled a little to find the through ball and was caught in possession every now and again, he played an important role nonetheless. Cav and Leam were solid though seemed unsure at times as to whether to come forward or stay back. Roscoe’s cameo thankfully took us over the finishing line, for it would have been a farce had we let such a misfiring team back into a game that we had controlled during the first half.
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Phil