Daggers do enough to deflate Pools.

Since my last post about the Daggers which was after the home game against Portsmouth, Wayne Burnett's men pulled out a fantastic away win against Morecambe only to follow it up with 2 defeats against Burton at home and Mansfield away.

To be fair I didn't expect us to get anything against the Brewers even though we took the lead in that game, but I was quite hopeful of at least a point at Mansfield, so to lose there was a bit disappointment.  Last night however was the perfect chance for us to get back to winning ways.

Hartlepool United currently lie rock bottom of the league 2 table and it is starting to look desperate for them even despite coming into last nights game on the back of a brilliant victory at home to AFC Wimbledon at the weekend.

Jeff Stelling and his mate were rumoured to be in attendance last night.

According to the bookies before last nights game the Daggers were only slight favourites to win based basically upon home advantage, but there weren't much in it, which I felt was a bit strange considering the gap of ten points and 4 places between us and them in the league.

I had mentioned in my last post about how I was looking forward to playing Hartlepool at home and that I was expecting us to do a number on someone soon and win by a large scoreline.  Having said this I was aware that last night was not going to be that night after Saturday's result.  As I walked to the ground I was confident of the win but my hopes of a big win from a few weeks ago had all but diminished.  If we had got a positive result on Saturday I think the momentum would have carried through and the Monkey Hangers could have been on the end of a good pasting, unfortunately the defeat against the Stags made it clear to me that there would be no 5 or 6 goal trouncing come the end of 90 minutes last night.

The game itself wasn't much of a spectacle at times but in the end the better and stronger team which were the Daggers won through with a deserved 2-0 victory.

New loan signing from Brighton Shamir Fenelon made his first start for his new team, he wore the recently vacated number 9 shirt which was going spare since Rhys Murphy's move to Oldham.  The new boy started quite brightly and looked quite comfortable on the ball, he played one fantastically weighted pass to Ashley Hemmings in the first half that ultimately set up our first goal.  As the game wore on though he began to tire a bit and looked to fading out of the game, which is understandable as it takes a bit of time to settle in.  What I saw of him though was quite good and but for a couple of inches he could of opened his goalscoring account when his second half header flashed by the post with the Pools goalkeeper stranded.  All in all it wasn't a bad home debut and hopefully he will make a telling contribution up front with Jamie Cureton during his time here.

New loan signing Fenelon

The game was won from the Daggers man of the match Billy Bingham on 66 minutes when he curled a powerful left footed free kick into the top corner in off the woodwork.  Me and mate discussed the fact that if that goal was scored in the Premier league it would be shown time and time again from every angle, unfortunately at Victoria Road there is only the one camera and it is on the wrong side of the pitch to truly do this goal justice, even so take a bow son, you should be very proud of your effort.

Daggers celebrate Bingham's great strike.

Before the game Abu Ogogo had been replaced in the starting line up by Damien Batt for what must have been an injury in the warm up.  Batt was brought in and Ian Gayle was promoted to the bench.  It would have been nice if someone had told the Stadium announcer though before the game as he was still under the impression that Abs was in the team and wearing the armband even though Scott Doe lead the team out.

Batt didn't put in a bad shift at right back in the captains place, and although Scott Doe didn't have his best performance in a Daggers shirt last night I am always pleased to see him as skipper.  Personally I have always been a believer that he should be this teams captain and that the only reason Abs got the armband was to keep him at the club.  Doey for me epitomises what a lot of people have been saying has been missing from the club lately, the closeness of the players and fans, the roll your sleeves up and get stuck in and the "what it is to be a Dagger" spirit.  As I walked out of the ground last night, there was Scotty at the front of the players clapping the supporters just like he is every week, at one point he ran over to the Bury Road End to sign a few programmes for a few young fans.  Scott's attitude is the same week in and week out, he is a throw back to the days of Lee Matthews and Timmy Cole and in my opinion as long as he is at the club it will still have that " Old Dagenham" feel to it.

Doe has the Daggers spirit.

Saturday sees us on the road again and a tough encounter with Tranmere Rovers.  Tranmere are 22nd in the league and 6 points behind the Daggers so hopefully we can take the momentum and a bit more confidence into this game and get revenge for the 1-0 defeat they inflicted on us back in December.

I'm going for a win for us and with the upcoming fixtures in March if we can pick up some points and not drop too many then come the start of a very tough April we could be all but safe and hopefully playing with a bit more release.

You never know if we have nothing to play for come 14th April and the visit of John Still and his happy Hatters, we may just put a hefty dent in his promotion dreams and give our own fans a performance to cheer for.

Up the Daggers!!!