Another season over and another season of league football awaits the Daggers next year.
There were times last season when even the most positive of supporter feared for our continued participation in the fourth tier of English football, but although the team spluttered a bit at times and struggled and underperformed in certain points of the season, the Daggers managed to defy the odds again and stay up. And in the end stay up with quite a lot to spare.
Looking at our final position of 14th and our tally of 59 points it seems to me that we are very close to being a team who can challenge for the play off's. If only we had not made those unforced errors in certain games, if only we could have improved our home form slightly, especially at the start of the season and if only we had put 3 wins together during the campaign, you never know we may well have been sitting here now looking forward to a play off semi final.
For me although there has been some disappointments I have seen plenty this season that has given me reasons to be positive.
Jamie Cureton has been a revelation this season and his 20 league goals are one of the main reasons we have finished the season where we have. This season Jamie has been fantastic in front of goal, he has been an absolute pain in the arse to opposing teams defences. The fact he has scored as many goals as he has at the ripe old age of 39, and the fact that he has played as many games as he has at this time in his career is an amazing achievement and the best thing of all is that he has signed a new contract and will be leading the line next year as a 40 year old. Cureton in my opinion totally deserved his player of the year award again because goals at this level are so important.
Mark Cousins was so close to winning player of the year this season but had to settle for runner up. Mark has been great between the sticks this year and some of his saves in certain games have been as , if not more important than Jamie Cureton's goals at the other end. Since Tony Roberts retired in 2011 it has been very difficult to find someone to fill the popular Welshman's boots, but I think in Cousins we have found a very talented keeper. Injury at the start of the season meant Cousins had to wait patiently for his chance, after getting his opportunity though he has stepped up to the plate and cemented his place as the Daggers rightful number 1.
For me this has been one of the best seasons performance wise for Scott Doe. I really think the 26 year old has come of age this season. With an injury to club captain Abu Ogogo earlier in the season Doey eventually got the armband that I personally would have given him about two seasons ago. For me Scotty epitomises everything that is good about this club. He has been here since was a youngster, he has vast experience, he lifts other players around him, he has good pace, he doesn't panic on the ball but most of all when he walks off the pitch he leaves everything out there. I think Doey has been colossal at the back for us this season and I think for us to keep progressing as a team it is absolutely imperative that we get him signed as soon as possible for at least another season or two. With the inevitable departure of Abu Ogogo the need for Does experience is more important than ever. Hopefully he will stay with us and be our skipper next season.
The emergence of some of the youngsters this season has also been pleasing. Jodi Jones obviously gets most of the plaudits and at only 17 became our youngest ever player and our youngest ever scorer when he netted against Accrington Stanley in the 4-0 drubbing at Vicky Road in what was our last home game of the season. I saw Jodi play in a couple of the Essex Senior cup games and straight away you could see he had something about him, he scored in both those games but his goal against Concord Rangers was one of the best goals I have ever seen at any level. I have said it before when your good at whatever level your good. If the boy has got his head screwed on right he can very, very far in this game. He is only a kid and has lots to learn but the fact he will continue to learn from the likes of Cureton and have a coach like Darren Currie helping him next season I can only see good things from him next term.
It is also nice to see Frankie Raymond get his chance in the team, he really impressed me with his performance against Accrington on his home debut and I think he could be an important part of our midfield next season. This will all depend on who stays and who goes of course but if we were to play a 3 in midfield I think he could fit in nicely alongside Bingham and Boucaud if of course they both stay. Frankie certainly had a memorable home debut, assisting two goals and scoring an unstoppable free kick to open his goal scoring account for the club. Hopefully he gets a chance next season and hopefully he can push on. He has already given us another option at set pieces so lets hope we will see what other attributes the young midfielder has in his locker next time round.
Another young man who has not really featured yet for us is Bradley Goldberg. Bradley had a great season out on loan at Bromley last season and has been out on loan again this year. I have seen him only fleetingly in pre-season games and Essex senior cup games but whenever I have seen him he has looked like he has got some potential. I think he is out of contract in the Summer and it will be interesting to see if Wayne has seen enough improvement in the lad to give him a new contract and ultimately give him a run in the side. I think if he hadn't been on loan for the whole season he could well have played some part at the end of this campaign. I could see him playing in a wider position alongside Cureton with either Hemmings or Jones on the other side. It is obviuos that the boy can score goals because he did at Bromley and if I am not mistaken that was the sort of position he played. Again we will have to wait and see, for me though it would be a shame if he went without us seeing what he could do.
Of course there has been negatives this season as every season has its ups and downs, but for me I am pleased to see it end with us in pretty good form, granted we lost our final game away to Exeter and we failed to put three wins together again, but I really think if Wayne and his team can keep the spine of this team and maybe add a few again who will improve the squad then who knows where we can go next season.
I think Wayne and his management team deserve credit for the turn around they have produced at the back end of this season. The disappointment of going out of the FA cup to Southport may have been the catalyst for this change in form. Burnett was lambasted from some quarters of our fan-base, I could understand peoples frustrations at the time but like some others I could see what he was trying to achieve at the club and was hopeful there wouldn't be a knee jerk reaction that would trigger his dismissal. Don't get me wrong there were times in the season when I didn't agree with some things that he did or said, but on the other hand there where times when I was pleasantly surprised by some of the things he did, for example his decision to change to playing wing backs. Wayne is still learning as a manager and in many ways that suits our club because at the moment we have a group of players and staff who have youth and experience in equal amounts. I was very pleased that Burnett signed a new deal and I look forward to seeing him take our club forward in the future.
My prediction for next year is that we will win more games at home, we will eventually break that hoodoo of 3 wins in a row and we will better our overall finishing position in the league.
I can't wait for the season to start already.
Come on you Daggers!!
Up the Daggers!!
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