Abu inspires sharp Daggers!!

Two great wins against Tranmere away and Plymouth at home last night sandwiched a slightly disappointing defeat at Victoria Road  to Southend on Saturday.

Not that I was expecting the Daggers to really get anything against their high flying Essex rivals, but it was just the manner in which we lost the game that left a bad taste in the mouth.

The truth is we were always in the game on Saturday until that fateful moment in the second half when Damien Batt decided he would forget everything he learned and was taught as a kid and blatantly handle the ball in the area and give away a stupid spot kick.  The penalty was converted and the game was basically dead and gone from that moment.

Handball!!

It's so true what people say in the game about thin margins and big decisions changing games, well Saturday's game was certainly proof of that fact.  Even though we conceded on the verge of half time to trail 2-1, I still believed we could get back into the game second half, mainly because the last thing that Southend needed was the break after scoring so late in the half.  If we had come out and scored in the second half,  Batt hadn't decided to to become a cross between a kung fu fighter and a fucking ballerina and if Wayne had decided to put Jodi Jones on about 15 minutes earlier, we may have salvaged something from this game.

Don't mess with Damien Batt's Tutu!!

At the end of the day there is a lot of if's and but's in that last paragraph but as I stated at the start I wasn't expecting anything from this game anyway but the disappointment stems from seeing how it all could have been so much different.  Oh well Southend were good value for their win and did what teams at the top of the league have to do to give themselves a chance of automatic promotion and that is to come to places like ours and get a win.

Last night however we were up against a team just outside the play-off places who came to our gaff hoping to not get beaten, Plymouth although they are in good form at the moment were always coming to Victoria Road to get a point or try and knick a 1-0 win but unfortunately for the Pilgrims they came up against a Daggers side who were hungry for victory.

Last night the Daggers did themselves justice and put in a dominant performance in a game they controlled for the majority of the 90+ minutes against a team who it had to be said didn't offer much of a threat in the attacking third, and any danger they did pose was dealt with professionally by our boys in red.  It was a very pleasing performance all round, it was also very pleasing to see captain Abu Ogogo back and showing everyone what a fantastic right back he is, I have said it so many times not only is he the best right back this club has ever had, he is without doubt the best right sided full back in the league, in that position he is good enough to play in the championship.  Abs was rightly given man of the match last night and he showed fantastic awareness and desire to get on the end of the chance in the first half to claim his 4th goal of the season.

Abs, best right back in the league

I would also like to give a mention to Luke Howell who I think after a shakey start has started to get used to his role in the team, he put in a good shift last night and even started taking up wide positions to support his team mates.  Whilst I am given players credit I must mention the legend that is Jamie Cureton, you just knew last night after he missed that chance when he took the ball down so well, that if he was to get another chance he was going to bury it.  Absolute class from this years player of the season elect, I really hope he has a contract extension clause that will keep him here for another year, the fact he has scored 15 goals this term at the age of 39 is incredible, long may it continue and hopefully he will reach 20 goals mark.

 Dr Monkatron and I were discussing Cureton last night at the  game and we likened his capture in the summer to that of the signing of Mark Stein, in a way though the signing of Jamie may have been a better signing as Steino was slightly younger and scored his goals in the conference, JC is still doing it in the league.

The only downside to last night in my opinion was the performance of Ashley Chambers, don't get me wrong I am not one to pick on our players but really, what was he doing last night.  If he only he had the impact that he did at the start of the season in the number 10 role I wouldn't mind, but too many times last night he was hiding.  When I was a kid and playing football with the school or whatever I remember there were games where I was just not up for it and would literally go hiding behind the opposition, Chambers was never showing for the ball and never supporting his team mates, the only time he looked threatening was when he somehow managed to pick the ball up and run at people, if he could have only made a decision instead of holding the ball for far too long and then losing  it or playing a pass to nobody we may have won last nights game by a lot more.  Even for Abu's goal he should have scored himself but he decided to come over all Forrest Gump and keep running, as for his attempt (and I use that term loosely) at goal in the second half it was so poor, but maybe we shouldn't be too surprised given his appalling miss against Stevenage on Boxing Day I think it was.  I hope Ashley can turn it round and re-learn and recapture the way he played in the role of number 10 in the early part of the season, he does have pace and he does have control of the ball when he is running with it, I just wish he would do fucking something with it, we would be such a better team if he could.

It was also nice to see Jodi Jones sign his first professional contract on Saturday and I really hope we confirm our safety soon so that boy can get a proper go at it, he is gonna scare the life out of defenders in the future.

Last night also so the return of the alternative stadium announcer, although his claims of liquid football may have been a bit far fetched it was a breathe of fresh air to have someone who is positive about things and really gets into the whole thing, fair play to you mate and I hope you are more of a regular fixture over Viccy Road in the future.  And whilst we are on the subject I wonder if the Daggers player commentator at the weekend is the Northern one who always seems to put a positive spin on the game and how we are playing and paints a picture so you don't have to think too hard about what is happening.  No offence to Stuart Smith who is a well respected commentator in his own right but I just find his commentary so negative and it seems that he always just wants to offer his opinion, don't get me wrong I know he is a fan of the club but sometimes I wish he would just give me the details of the game so I can just make my own mind up about things instead of being told we are shit all the time.

Anyway on to the next one and it is Stevenage away it is obviously going to be another toughy but hopefully it will be back to back wins and another step toward safety, although I would take a draw right now.

Come on you Daggers!!

Up the Daggers!!

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!!!

League Cup special

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Sunday sees Chelsea and Spurs fight it out for the first piece of silverware of the season.  This will be the second time that these two London rivals have met in the final, the last occasion in 2008 it was the North London club who took the spoils with a 2-1 win over the Blues.

A Didier Drogba 39th minute strike gave Chelsea the lead at Wembley that day but a Dimitar Berbatov penalty was enough to take the game to extra time where finally it was settled by a Johnathan Woodgate in the 4th minute of extended time.  It meant that the Blues were unable to retain the trophy they had won against Arsenal the  previous year.


Both Sunday's teams have won this competition 4 times each.

Tottenham in 1971, 1973, 1999 and 2008.

Spurs have been runners up on 3 other occasions, 1982 against Liverpool, 2002 to Blackburn Rovers and 2008 to Manchester United.

Chelsea's 4 wins came against Leicester City in a two legged final in 1965, 1998 against Middlesbrough, 2005 against Liverpool and in 2007 in the last final played at the Millennium Stadium against Arsenal.

Chelsea have been runners up twice in 1972 and 2008.

I am finding it hard to pick a winner in this game, both teams will have an array of talent on show on Sunday afternoon and on paper it looks like it might go all the way.

Both teams have top players in all positions over the pitch.  From the goalkeepers, through the defence and midfield and to the front line their are match ups throughout.

The biggest of these will be in midfield and the contest between Christian Eriksen and Eden Hazard.  One of these two players may hold the key to unlock the opposition defence which will ultimately win their side the game.

Hazard v Eriksen

The other heavyweight clash will be between the strikers.

Harry Kane is having a wonderful début season and leads the scoring charts in all competitions, his counterpart Diego Costa has also been enjoying his first season in the Premier league and he is joint top at the top of the League scorers table with Man City's Sergio Aguero on 17 goals apiece.

Costa v Kane

Spurs come into this final having recently beaten their rivals in the league by 5 goals to 3 in a thrilling match at White Hart Lane on New Years Day.

Chelsea will be looking to get revenge for that latest defeat and personally I think Jose Mourinho will come into this game totally focussed on getting the job done.

It is certainly going to be a close game and hopefully it will be a good one.

My prediction is a 3-2 win after extra time to Chelsea, with Eriksen  scoring a late equaliser in normal time to take us all the way.



The league cup has thrown up some great finals in the past with some surprising results.  Here are 3 of my favourites.

West Ham United v Liverpool 1981

This was the first ever league cup final I watched.  The final at Wembley finished in a 1-1 draw, both goals were scored in extra time.  Liverpool took the lead on 118 minutes, just 2 minutes from time with a controversial Alan Kennedy strike.  When the Reds left back let fly with his shot, midfielder Sammy Lee was in an offside position, however the diminutive chubby youngster laid on the floor as the shot passed over him showing the ref and all around that although he was offside he was not interfering with play.   Back in those days if you were offside you were offside so for the goal to stand at all was a brave decision from referee Clive Thomas, one that was greeted with disbelief and anger from the west Ham players and supporters alike.  Ironically Sammy Lee had had a fantastic free-kick goal disallowed for a similar offside decision in the first half.

Alan Kennedy's controversial goal.

The Hammers equalised with almost the last kick of the game, Ray Stewart converted a penalty after Terry Mcdermott handled an Alvin Martin header on the line.  These days Mcdermott would have seen red, I'm not even sure he received a yellow for the offence, I think a penalty kick was deemed as punishment enough back in those days.

Liverpool won the replay at Villa Park just over two weeks later.  Goals from Dalglish and Hansen cancelled out an early opener for the Hammers through Paul Goddard.  This result meant Liverpool lifted the trophy for the very first team,  This would be the first of four League cup final wins in a row for the reds.

http://youtu.be/UtFfkuCrD84  1981 final

http://youtu.be/OVHA12O9DEQ 1981 final replay

Oxford United v QPR 1986

A game between two teams that you would never think would contest a major cup final.  After beating Liverpool in the two legged semi final it was QPR who started this final as slight favourites.

This was to be QPR's second league cup final, the R's had previously won the cup in their only other appearance in the first final played at Wembley Stadium in 1967, they beat West Bromwich Albion by 3-2, it was first time the final hadn't been played over two legs.

In the end though it was the relegation struggling Oxford United who raised their game to take the big prize.  The U's managed by Jim Smith dominated the game and hardly gave their opponents a sniff, they took the lead late in the first half through former Southampton youngster Trevor Hebberd.
Oxford added a second goal through Ray Houghton early in the second half before experienced Welsh international Jeremy Charles pounced on  a rebounded John Aldridge shot to put the result beyond doubt with only four minutes remaining.

Man of the match Trevor Hebberd.

 It turned out to be a great season for Oxford who managed to also beat the drop as they finished the season in 18th position on 42 points.

http://youtu.be/5t5BKIlw8TU  1986 Milk Cup Final

Luton Town v Arsenal  1988

If Oxford beating QPR had been a shock 2 years earlier Luton Town beating the then holders Arsenal has to be the biggest League cup shock ever.

Arsenal were massive favourites, holders of the cup having comeback from a goal down to beat Liverpool the year before thanks to Charlie Nicholas' and Perry Groves' heroics, it looked like there was only to be one winner.

Although Luton took quite an early lead in the first half through Brian Stein the holders who may have been rocked but spent the rest ofthe half and much of the second half dominating the game.  Two quick goals in the 71st and 74th minute from sub Martin Hayes and then top scorer Alan Smith gave the Gunners a 2-1 lead with only 15 minutes to play.  The game could have been secured moments later when a blatant dive by David Rocastle resulted in a penalty which unfortunately for Arsenal Nigel Winterburn missed.  Luton goalkeeper Andy Dibble dived to his left to deny the young full back what would have surely been the winning goal.

Somehow in the very next attack Luton were level.  An untimely stumble by Gunners centre back Gus Ceaser caused confusion in the Arsenal box and Danny Wilson was the right man in the right place to keep his head in the ensuing chaos to tap home and give the Hatters an unexpected equaliser. With the game now somehow heading toward extra time there was still time for Arsenal to receive one more and final hammer blow.  A free kick was pumped into the box and eventually it fell to Brian Stein who made no mistake, scored his second goal and made history by giving the League cup to Luton Town for the first and only time in their history to date.

Steve Foster, Andy Dibble and two goal Brian Stein celebrate an amazing Luton victory.

Luton Town finished this season in  a very credible 9th position this season, Arsenal finished only 2 places and 2points above them in 7th, however the very next season George Graham's men went onto win the first division title at the expense of Liverpool with a last minute winner from Michael Thomas.

http://youtu.be/5t5BKIlw8TU 1988 Littlewood's Cup Final

Here's hoping Sunday's game is as good as anyone of these 3.

Enjoy the football.