Match Report

SUMMARY:

Taylor nets the Daggers' first goal.

After playing well in the first half, Alty were second best in the second half of a game played in very warm conditions which tested the part-timers. Following a short corner, Taylor headed the Daggers ahead (11 mins). But a fine goal from 20 yards from Little levelled things (21 mins). Little was unable to convert two other chances, but Alty deserved to reach the interval level. Dagenham stepped up a gear after the break and Southam put them ahead, converting a rebound after Acton had done well to parry a shot from the left (58 mins). A silly foul by Munroe gave the Daggers a penalty which Moore converted (81 mins). It was the third successive Saturday that the central defender had conceded a penalty. Saunders made it 4-1 when his low shot went in off the post (88 mins).

SCORERS

REFEREE: Mr D Phillips

Val Owen, Stuart Coburn and Chris Senior were still out, injured, but Stephen Rose returned from suspension. Rod Thornley started up front with Joe O'Neill shifted to right midfield. With the first-team squad for the experience was Reserves' and former Alty Youth player Ben Deegan. He had been invited along as kitman Dave Mitten had been taken ill with pleurisy before the team travelled to Essex and so there was a spare bed at the pre-match hotel. We wish Dave a speedy recovery.

For the Daggers, Tim Cole returned to the side, as captain, whilst Jamie Taylor made his first start.

Alty and Daggers' games normally produce plenty of goals. The Essex side had won 5-0 at Moss Lane for two years running whilst Alty had won 4-2 at the Glyn Hopkin last spring. Altrincham were in search of a final three points to secure survival but had won only one of their three previous games, whilst Dagenham had slumped to two defeats after securing the Conference title.

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE: (Red shirts and socks, white shorts). 1.Tony ROBERTS; 19. Danny FOSTER, 6. Jake LEBERL, 2. Tim COLE (capt), 12. Scott GRIFFITHS; 7. Sam SAUNDERS, 8. Glen SOUTHAM, 11. Dave RAINFORD, 3. Sam SLOMA; 26. Jamie TAYLOR, 18. Ben STREVENS. Subs: 30. Nicky EYRE, 10. Paolo VERNAZZA, 17. Bai Mas LETTEJALLOW, 18. Ben STREVENS, 23. Chris MOORE.

ALTRINCHAM:(Pale/dark blue shirts, pale blue shorts and socks) 13. Richard ACTON; 20. Stephen ROSE, 17. Karl MUNROE, 4. Peter BAND, 11. Warren PEYTON; 12. Joe O'NEILL, 7. Robbie LAWTON, 6. Steve BUSHELL, 14. Lewis CHALMERS; 9. Colin LITTLE, 10. Rod THORNLEY. Subs: 2. Steve ASPINALL, 3. Gary SCOTT, 5. Gary TALBOT, 18. Pat McFADDEN, 22. Andy SCOTT.

Altrincham substitutes:

Daggers' keeper Tony Roberts clears from Peter Band

After forming a guard of honour for the Conference champions, Alty kicked off on a very warm April afternoon with the sun on their backs but in front of a disappointing crowd, given the home side's recent accomplishment. Foster had the game's first shot, but it was well off target (6 mins) but Dagenham then won three corners in succession. From the third, from their right, Alty were slow to respond to a short kick by Sloma and, when the ball was crossed into the box by Saunders the unmarked Taylor, one of the game's shorter players, was allowed to head home (11 mins).

Alty responded well to this setback but, at the end of a good attacking move, in which Chalmers’s excellent pass got Thornley into the penalty area, Little sliced his shot wide after Thornley had pulled the ball back from the by-line, left of goal (15 mins). Next, Dagenham won another corner when an effort sliced off an Alty player onto the roof of Acton's net (16 mins). However, Alty then won a corner after the lively Little fed Thornley, whose shot was deflected out. Though Peyton's corner was cleared, the ball was soon fed up the middle from Thornley to Little and Alty's leading scorer smashed a superb drive past Roberts from 25 yards in a central position (21 mins).

Alty were now more than holding their own and, from one of several freekicks conceded by Dagenham - mostly by Rainford, Little ran at goal but the Alty striker was headed off by defenders (25 mins). When Sloma was hurt, the players took the opportunity to have a drinks break (29 mins). Next, Saunders cut in well from the right and it took a scramble by Alty's defence to clear their lines from inside the heart of the box (31 mins). At the other end, Rose's cross earned Alty a corner which was cleared before Band got up well to nod a Chalmers long-throw, narrowly wide (33 mins). Moments later, from O'Neill's pass, Thornley's first-time volley from 20 yards cleared the bar. Little spurned a simpler chance after 35 minutes when, from the right, he missed the target from Lawton's feed. Alty were playing well but the game went through a scrappy period of successive throw-ins as half-time loomed (40-43 mins).

However, there was time for an ambitious 50-yard lob by Dagenham which cleared the Alty goal comfortably but it amused the crowd as the ball wedged itself in the netting which was strung behind the away terraces to prevent the ball going out of the ground (44 mins). Conference leading scorer Benson, who had a quiet game, headed over the bar before Peyton conceded an unnecessary corner in the two minutes of added time. But Rose cleared the corner and half-time arrived with Alty deservedly on level terms.

Before kicking off the second half, Dagenham went into a huddle and whether coincidentally or as a conseqence of this bonding session, they now went at Alty with more determination than they had shown in the first half. But Alty kept them at bay and even managed an ambitious shot at goal by Thornley which comfortably cleared the bar (53 mins). Soon afterwards Thornley did better when his lob forced Roberts to tip the ball over the bar for a corner, which came off Band for a goal-kick (55 mins). Soon afterwards Little's pass would have set O'Neill free but was just cut out by a defender. But with the game drifiting Dagenham now went ahead when Sloma got free up the left and fed Benson, whose shot was well stopped by Acton, but ran loose to Southam, who drove the ball home to make it 2-1 (58 mins). Immediately Strevens came on for Sloma (59 mins).

Thornley then chased a ball into the Dagenham box, before going down for treatment which gave everyone another drinks-break (61 mins). A Dagenham corner came and went before McFadden replaced Thornley (64 mins). Alty were still in the game as Roberts fumbled a throw out for a corner on the Robins' left. Roberts soon erred again, allowing a ball to go out before gathering it and, so, he conceded a corner. Next, Moore replaced Taylor for Dagenham (69 mins) and another home sub, Vernazza came on five minutes later for Benson (74 mins). But, despite trailing, Alty were still in the game as a throw from Chalmers, from the right, was almost headed into his own goal by Leberl, to give Alty a corner, which was cleared (76 mins).

Band won Alty another corner (78 mins) before a moment of madness by Munroe decided the game. The central defender unaccountably pushed over Strevens, who was going nowhere in the far left of the Alty box. Referee Phillips, who had a good game, had no alternative but to point to the spot. It was the third penalty conceded by Munroe in a fortnight and his indiscipline was to cost Alty dear as Moore beat Acton from the spot, to make it 3-1 to Dagenham – though the Alty keeper touched the ball as it entered the net (81 mins). In the aftermath of the penalty, referee Phillips had to have words with the Alty bench.

After an Alty corner had been and gone (85 mins), Rainford played the ball over Rose to Moore on the left and from his feed, Strevens's fine low shot cannoned off the far post and rebounded luckily straight into the prostrate Acton's arms (86 mins). Alty were less lucky soon afterwards. After Little had seen his shot blocked, the Daggers counter-attacked up the left and Saunders's shot from that side came back off the same post that had been struck moments earlier but this time it rebounded across goal into the net (88 mins). Damage limitation was now the requirement for Altrincham as Aspinall and Talbot replaced Munroe and Bushell (89 mins). The referee awarded five minutes of added time for Alty to endure, which they did successfully. So, Alty move on to Tamworth, seeking a win to ensure survival in the Conference. There was no shame in Alty's part-timers losing to the full-time champions but the needless penalty conceded by Munroe settled their fate.