Game 25 & 26 – Daggers stutter along

Following a fantastic victory at the back end of 2008 over Aldershot, the Daggers have found life to 2009 a little bit trickier.

The manager of the month curse struck immediatly into 2009 as Rotherham grabbed a last minute equaliser in game 24 to deny the small club from Essex a place in the automatic promotion positions.

Next up was a trip to Barnet. A trip that on paper looked like it could only result in a Daggers win. Nevertheless, every club has a ground and a place where they tradionally don’t do very well. Underhill provides that place for the Daggers and whilst a draw doesn’t look like a stand out result, even the optimistic Daggers fans will accept it as a point gained rather than two points lost. Considering that Daggers were missing the spine of their team in Magnus Okuanghae, Peter Gain and Paul Benson, it once again typified the fighting grit of the Daggers squad.

However, all good runs have to come to an end. That was the case when Exeter City visited in the rearranged midweek game. After leading 1-0 in the previous game, the floodlights prevented the Daggers from possibly completing a victory. It seemed fate didn’t want the Daggers to win this game. In an entertaining game, the Daggers never hit top form but could point to the fact they had 2 very good penalty appeals turned down whilst hitting the woodwork 5 times as signs that they were very unlucky not to pick up at least a point.

With Peter Gain out for the forseeable future, a major talking point of the last few days has been the capabilities of Glen Southam to fill the large void left in the midfield. After an uninpressive performance against Exeter, many fans remain unconvinced he is good enough for the football league. The absence of Paul Benson for the last two games has also reminded fans how much they rely on their top scorer. Supporters will be hoping the new dad will be back for the home match against Rochdale on Saturday.

So, is this merely a small blip or the start of the Daggers decline?

With the next month seeing the Daggers play nearly every Saturday and Tuesday, we will be much clearer in the coming weeks as to whether the Daggers have the depth in their squad to cope with a rather packed league program!