As Altrincham secured a deserved win over their eighth-placed visitors, Tom Crawford was both the hero and villain.

It was his goal that won the game in the 71st minute but it was also his poor mis-pass to an opponent which led to the penalty which allowed the visitors to equalise before half-time. Earlier Alty had taken the lead inside thirty seconds of the kick-off.

That opening goal came as Banks and Amaluzor got up towards the bye-line, right of goal, before Linney converted a simple chance in the centre of the goalmouth.

Altrincham, unchanged from Saturday's disappointment of conceding two late goals (and two points) to Boston United, went on to play some good football before, midway through the second half, Crawford gave the ball away some thirty yards from goal.

This allowed Umerah to get into the box and, as he attempted to round the advancing keeper, Ross brought him down to concede a penalty.

Pereira sent Ross the wrong way from the spot to make it 1-1 (40 mins).

The second half was a less open affair and neither side had a clear chance before the ball came to Crawford, left of goal, reaching him from Tylor Golden. The former Hartlepool midfielder finished well with a shot into the far corner to restore Altrincham's lead (71 mins).

The Daggers made several substitutions but could not create a clear opening before the final whistle.

SCORERS:

• 28 seconds: Regan LINNEY (Altrincham 1 Dagenham & Redbridge 0)
• 40 mins: Dion PEREIRA (penalty) (Altrincham 1 Dagenham & Redbridge 1)
• 71 mins: Tom CRAWFORD (Altrincham 2 Dagenham & Redbridge 1)

Altrincham were unchanged but, on the bench, Eddy Jones was displaced from the squad by George Wilson. One of Alty's most dependable players last season, Jones is now apparently fighting for a place in the matchday squad.

The Daggers started with Grego-Cox in place of Eastman and N'Guessan came into their squad on the bench.

ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 1. Ethan ROSS, 2. Lewis BANKS, 6. James JONES (c), 5. Jake COOPER, 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 10. Alex NEWBY, 9. Regan LINNEY. Subs: 19. George WILSON, 7. Oliver CRANKSHAW, 14. Matty KOSYLO, 15. Liam HUMBLES, 24. Joe NUTTALL, 29. Jake BICKERSTAFF, 30. Harvey RANDLE (gk)

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE (All yellow): 1. Elliot Justham (c), 19. Sam Ling, 30. Paul Kalambayi, 2. Luca Woodhouse, 3. Frank Vincent, 6. Harry Phipps, 7. Dion Pereira, 8. Josh Rees, 24. Junior Morias, 14. Reece Grego-Cox, 9. Josh Umerah. Subs: 11. Christian N'Guessan, 21. Oscar Rutherford, 10. Ryan Hill, 13. Josh Strizovic (gk), 16. Shiloh Remy, 18. Dylan Stephenson, 25. Ralph Vigrass.

The Daggers arrived in good form after three successive wins including hitting seven goals against the then league-leaders, Gateshead. In contrast, Alty had won just once in their previous seven matches.

However, in Alty's favour before kick-off was the fact that Dagenham had played away at Hartlepool on Saturday so had now endured two long trips in four days. It was a dry night after plenty of rain earlier in the week but the pitch was in excellent condition once again.

Altrincham kicked off towards the away end, where 52 of the Dagenham supporters gave their support, which was an all the more commendable turnout given their club's even more distant away fixture last Saturday. Alty fans have had to travel to Dagenham in midweek previously so they know how hard it can be!

Inside thirty seconds, Amaluzor and Banks got forward up the right and a low cross was calmly finished in front of goal by Linney in just 28 seconds from the start of the game. Having started the season being nurtured back to fitness after an injury lay-off, the striker has now found the net four times in the last six games.

Banks and Amaluzor were soon at it again with the latter being clattered, near the right bye-line, a corner being the referee's decision. After this Alty continued to press with Newby getting in a shot at the visitors' captain, goalkeeper Justham (5 mins).

Next, Dagenham got to the other end when left-winger Morias's cross was headed to Ross by Umerah in the centre of the box (7 mins). For Alty, Linney was playing more centrally than recently when he has often been deployed on the left. With Reddin occupying that left-side slot, Amaluzor was on the right flank.

Following a long throw from their right, Dagenham earned a corner which, in turn, won them another long throw from the same side (14 mins). Off the pitch, Alty boss Phil Parkinson was proving more vocal than of late as he kept his side on its toes.

Back on the pitch, Altrincham were having a mixed time, losing the ball from time to time from unforced errors yet looking lively as well, at other times. And, when Amaluzor threatened again on the Alty right, a foul on Amaluzor by Woodhouse earned the visitors' left-back a yellow card (20 mins).

Play was relatively even by the half-hour mark when Morias became his side's second player to be booked with Amaluzor again the unfortunate victim (24 mins). A clever three-man rehearsed freekick routine, involving Newby, Osborne and Amaluzor, saw the last-named get a crack at goal from a central position and his fierce, low shot was only inches wide (25 mins).

Next, Linney's cross from the right won a corner before Grego-Cox won a freekick but Morias's freekick led only to a home goalkick (30 mins).

Altrincham were now enjoying a good spell and, when the booked Morias fouled Banks near halfway, Crawford's freekick set Linney moving in on goal but his touch let him down inside the Daggers' box, though a corner was won. Following this, a Golden effort was blocked at source.

After Amaluzor had back-tracked to halt Morias, Alty put together a smart move involving Osborne, Newby, Amaluzor, Banks and Crawford before the former Hartlepool man's shot ran disappointingly to Justham's arms. "Superb" shouted Phil Parkinson from the technical area at the end of this move (36 mins).

Another impressive incursion, on the right and involving Newby, Banks and Linney, culminated in Banks's cross which just evaded Reddin (37 mins). Next, Amaluzor won possession and fed Reddin whose return cross was tapped into the net by Amaluzor, only for the linesman's flag to wipe out the "goal" for offside (37 mins).

Soon after Morias had won a freekick, his effort from the left went comfortably to Ross. But, with ball fed out to Crawford, left of centre and a few yards outside his own box, the midfielder mis-pased the ball which allowed Umerah to run diagonally into the box towards the left. As Ross came out, Umerah went down in the centre of the outer reaches of the penalty area, and a penalty was awarded (39 mins). Pereira stepped up and sent Ross to the keeper's right as the ball went into the net to his own right (40 mins).

So, despite being the better side, Altrincham found themselves pegged back, a rerun on a lesser scale of the final stages against Boston the previous Saturday.

And it could have got worse just before the interval when defender Vincent smashed a superb shot from a central position, 30 yards out, which took a slight upward deflection off Cooper's head, This meant that the ball rose slightly and smashed against the top of the cross bar rather then nestling in the back of the net (45 mins).

So Altrincham went off for their interval break feeling disapppinted that their first-half play had not earned a half-time lead, yet also relieved that they were not trailing.

After the Daggers had kicked off towards their supporters, an errant back-pass gave Altrincham the first corner of the second half (49 mins). Golden then got in a threatening cross but the second half was to prove a more conservative affair than the first forty-five minutes. However, a snap shot from 25 yards by Newby livened things up a bit but the ball went to Justham (56 mins).

Skilful play from Crawford soon earned Alty a corner, followed by another flag-kick, earned by Reddin, after which Golden hit a 25-yarder just over the bar (58 mins).

Dagenham increased the bookings' score to 0-3 when Grego-Cox saw yellow for a foul on Golden (59 mins).

The visitors won the game's next two corners. The first, taken by Pereira, was met by a downward header from Phipps which Ross had to be alert to help over the bar (62 mins).

Manager Strevens now made his first change with N'Guessan replacing the booked defender Woodhouse (62 mins).

The visitors were having a good spell just after the hour-mark and a freekick for a foul by Crawford, saw Morias fire wide (65 mins).

It was Altrincham who made the next change as Reddin was replaced by loanee striker Joe Nuttall, which meant that Linney moved to the right flank (66 mins). From a Newby corner, Nuttall immediately threatened but his well-hit shot struck the top of the bar (67 mins).

A quiet few minutes suggested the game might fade as a spectacle only for Newby to feed Golden, who in turn located Crawford near the left bye-line from where he hit a fine shot across Justham into the far corner of the net. This both rstored Alty's lead and atoned for his costly lapse leading to Dagenham's goal in the first half (71 mins).

Dagenham reacted by bringing on Hill for Grego-Cox (73 mins), after which Altrincham brought on Wilson, back from injury, in place of Newby (75 mins). This signalledg Alty's intention to hold what they had as the midfielder replaced the forward.

After a corner had been dealt with by Altrincham, Dagenham continued to get forward yet without creating an opening of note.

Each side made a further change with Crankshaw replacing Linney on the right and Stephenson coming on for Pereira (84 mins).

Crankshaw soon had a chance but his shot went comfortably to the keeper (88 mins). Play then stopped for the prostrate Rutherford to be treated and he had to given a chair-lift by the physio team to take him off the pitch. His replacement was Ling (90 mins).

Four added minutes were announced and, surprisingly, no further time was to be added after this late injury stoppage. Altrincham rode out the alloted time without undue alarm and moved up six places to eleventh as a consequence. This was an encouraging performance after recent disappointments.