Match Report

SUMMARY:

Above: Ouch! Val Owen contests an aerial ball against Dagenham.

Alty picked up no bookings today but that was about the only positive feature of today's game for the home side as the Daggers ran out 5-0 winners at Moss Lane for the second successive season. Alty conceded two carbon-copy goals in as many minutes to trail 0-2 as early as the 12th minute. And apart from a brief spell after the half-hour mark when Little got round the keeper but was driven too far right to score, Altrincham never looked like making a contest of the game. The Essex side took the lead just after Talbot had headed narrowly over from an Aspinall corner. The ball was then punted upfield and Aspinall had to concede a corner on the visitors' left. Saunders's corner came off Owen to Rainford who found Coburn's right corner.(10 mins). Southam made it 2-0 from virtually the same spot after two Alty headers in their own box had failed to clear the ball (12 mins). Referee Waugh then allowed play on after a simple long ball had set Mackail Smith free, only to be fouled, but the ball ran to Benson, who crashed a shot against the underside of the bar, which came out to Saunders who struck it into the net (67 mins). The fourth goal came when Scott allowed Mackail-Smith to get free on the Daggers' left and, though Coburn saved well from his shot, the ball came out to Benson to score (70 mins). And the fiffh arrived after 74 minutes when Bushell's pass in midfield went to Sloma whose resulting cross from the left was headed in at the near post by Mackail-Smith. An afternoon to forget got worse as Band was withdrawn with what looked like a shoulder or arm injury, after falling badly.

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr. Jock Waugh

Torrential rain in the hour or so before kick off was well absorbed by the Moss Lane pitch. The corresponding fixture last season had seen the Daggers win 5-0 at Moss Lane but Alty had got some revenge by beating the Daggers 4-2 at their ground.

For Alty, Peter Band was back after his hamstring and knee problems and Gary Scott was also fit despite limping badly to the conclusion of last Monday's match. So Karl Munroe dropped to the bench, whilst fellow defender Stephen Rose had picked up a dead leg for the Reserves so his place on the bench went to Lee Hendley, back from injury.

Dagenham were without defender Shane Blackett (knee injury) but midfielder Paul Bruce had recovered to be on the bench. However, captain Tim Cole and Lee Goodwin remained sidelined. But the Daggers included their four recent internationals, Craig Mackail-Smith, Scott Griffiths, Tony Roberts and Glen Southam. Also in the side were new signings, midfielders Dave Rainford and Sam Sloma, acquired from the Conference South.

ALTRINCHAM ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks.) 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Steve ASPINALL, 5. Gary TALBOT, 4. Peter BAND, 3. Gary SCOTT; 7. Robbie LAWTON, 6. Steve BUSHELL, 8. Val OWEN, 11. Warren PEYTON; 9. Colin LITTLE, 12. Joe O'NEILL. Subs: 10. Rod THORNLEY, 14. Lewis CHALMERS, 15. Justin BOWLER, 17. Karl MUNROE, 19. Lee HENDLEY.

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE (Pale blue shirts, dark blue shorts and socks): 1. Tony ROBERTS, 19. Danny FOSTER, 6. Jake LEBERL, 15. Anwar UDDIN, 12. Scott GRIFFITHS; 7. Sam SAUNDERS, 11. Dave RAINFORD, 8. Glen SOUTHAM, 3. Sam SLOMA, 14. Paul BENSON, 10. Craig MACKAIL-SMITH. Subs: 9. Cliff AKURANG, 16. Shaun BATT, 22. Paul BRUCE, 17. Bai-Mas LETTERJALLOW, 27. Dave HOGAN (gk).

REPORT

The torrential pre-match rain had stopped before kick off but there was a blustery wind for the players to contend with and this was blowing against Altrincham as Dagenham kicked off towards the 20/20 End. Scott blocked the Daggers first incursion before Alty won the game's first corner when Owen's shot was deflected out of play. From Peyton's corner the ball came via Bushell, out to Owen, who lashed a shot high over the bar (3 mins). Dagenham soon began to settle but Griffiths saw his crack at goal deflected by a team mate and drop just over Coburn's bar (6 mins). However, following a Daggers' handball in midfield, Aspinall's freekick yielded a corner kick through Little's efforts. From this, Talbot headed over the bar. Then, a punt up field saw Aspinall forced to concede a corner on the Dagenham left. Saunders's corner was half-headed away by Owen, but the ball came to Rainford who drove it into the net, to Coburn's right, the keeper's sight-line not helped by a Dagenham player who neatly got out of the way of his team-mate's shot to let it enter the net (10 mins). And just two minutes later, Dagenham punished Alty again for failing to clear the ball when a cross from their left was headed ineffectually by two Alty defenders in the box before falling for Southam, who rilfed home from about 12 yards out, in a similar position to Rainford for his goal (12 mins). The visiting fans taunted Alty with chants of "You're not really any good"

Alty continued to struggle to get their game together and possession was repeatedly lost as the ball went into the Dagenham half. Dagenham went close again when Benson fired across the face of goal after Grifftihs had got past Aspinall (21 mins). Soon Benson got past Aspinall but this time Band covered well but Alty boss Graham Heathcote was irate with his team when a Saunders freekick from the right found Uddin unmarked at the back post but he sliced his effort wide. "Another free shot, you're half asleep" shouted the Alty boss to his defenders. Next Griffiths' 30 yarder had to be tipped over by Coburn as Alty struggled to get into the game (26 mins). Though the corner was cleared Dagenham threatened again when Rainford fed Saunders but he curled his shot well wide (28 mins).

But as the half-hour mark arrived, Alty belatedly upped their game and the upswing started in bizarre fashion when Coburn rushed over to his right touchline to clear, calmly passing the ball forward and it soon came to Little who got past the onrushing keeper Roberts. But Little was driven to the right of goal. Though he recovered to pass the ball across goal for Bushell at the back post, the Alty captain's shot was blocked by a covering defender, which gave Alty a corner on their left. After this the ball came to Lawton, who was looking one of the better Alty players on the afternoon, and he lashed a low ball across goal from the right, which just evaded the incoming Peyton at the back post (32 mins). Next Lawton fed Little who elected to shoot early when he might have taken longer and he lifted his shot over the bar from 22 yards (33 mins).

Alty's improvement was brought to an end as Dagenham won a corner off Scott (36 mins) and then another, a few minutes later (40 mins). But then, after Band had recovered his own error to get the ball back off Mackail-Smith, Aspinall played a long ball diagonally to Peyton, who in turn played it back to O'Neill on the right. He found Lawton whose cross came off Rainford for an Alty corner on the left (41 mins). Alty continued to battle as half-time approached with Lawton feeding Peyton in the opposition box but the ball was cleared. Next, Dagenham went close as the one minute of added time started. The dangerous Saunders got to the by-line, right of goal and his low cross evaded Coburn, but Aspinall cleared. Half-time came with Alty trailing 0-2 having barely started to get going till after the half-hour mark.

No changes were made at half time and soon Dagenham won the half's first corner (49 mins) then a second, two minutes later. But the visitors had a misfortune soon afterwards when a routine kick by keeper Roberts saw the keeper injure himself and though he limped on after treatment, he had to be substituted after 55 minutes by Hogan, the reserve keeper. This signalled a brief upsurge in Alty's performance but the nearest they got to troubling the new keeper was when Little allowed the ball to run away from him as he was about to shoot at the end of a good build up. But Alty then had an injury misfortune of their own as Band and an opponent clashed near half way on the touchline, the Alty man falling awkwardly over the touchline and hurting his shoulder or arm. After treatment he came back on but Dagenham soon won another corner. When this had been cleared, Aspinall was subbed by Justin Bowler which prompted Peyton to move to left back and Scott to switch to right-back (61 mins).

Alty's midfield continued to struggle but the Robins had a great chance to get back into the game when Uddin dawdled on the ball on the edge of his own box and was dispossessed by Little, but the Alty striker pulled his left-foot shot badly wide (65 mins). Now Alty brought on the yellow-booted Hendley for O'Neill, who had had an unhappy game (66 mins). But almost immediately Dagenham scored the killer third goal. Again the defending left a lot to be desired as a long ball found Mackail-Smith free on the left. As he advanced and cut in towards the penalty box, he was fouled by Bushell but the referee allowed play to continue as the ball ran to the right to Benson. His well-hit shot cannoned out off the underside of Coburn's crossbar but fell to Saunders, arriving from the right and he found the net efficiently (67 mins).

Alty had failed to test the visitors' stand-in keeper at all and things got worse for the hosts just three minutes later as Scott dallied to the right of the Alty goal, allowing Mackail-Smith to get possession and force a fine one-handed save from Coburn, low to his left. But the keeper could only push the ball out to Benson who made it 4-0 to the Daggers (70 mins). But it got even worse when Bushell's slack attempted pass just inside his own half was confortably intercepted by Sloma. He advanced towards the corner and put in an excellent cross which Mackail-Smith headed in at the near post to make the score 5-0 and equal last year's haul at Moss Lane for the Daggers (74 mins). Alty were looking in a sorry state and soon afteraards Sloma fired over from 20 yards before Griffths won them another corner from which Peyton hoofed the ball high over the Popular Side into the allotments. Akurang now came on for Dagenham, replacing Benson, who was congratulated by his manager, John Still, as he left the pitch (78 mins).

Bowler was seeing very little of the ball on the Alty left but when he got it his shot was deflected over the bar for an Alty corner. This was cleared before Lewis Chalmers came on for BAnd, whose arm was still troubling him (82 mins). A minute later Dagenham's Bruce came on for Sloma. Alty tried to gain some consolation in the closing stages but to little effect. As the final minute ticked away, Southam shot narrowly wide and then Rainford went close, too (89 mins). Three minutes of added time were played during which Alty fans at last had something to cheer as Chalmers, who had slotted into the back four in place of Band, expertly witheld a challenge and cleared the ball. But it was too little and too late for an Altrincham side which had produced a very poor performance in front of their own fans.

Altrincham could have no complaints at the score as they scarcely threatened the opposition today and too many midfield passes went astray, whilst the defence struggled against The Daggers' mobile players who took all the chances which came their way. Up front O'Neill got little change out of his markers and Little seemed to lack the sharpness which brought him 17 goals last season. At least, Graham Heathcote and Dalton Steele have a chance to raise the team spirits this Wednesday with a break from Conference football in a Cheshire Senior Cup tie against Chester City. Steve Bushell was named the Alty Man of the Match with Sam Saunders winning the away team accolade.