For most Daggers fans a home match involves just a short bus or train ride to the ground but for me it is a mini adventure! So for our Bank Holiday Monday clash with high-flying Southampton me and my seven year old son Emerson set off from our home in County Durham at 10am to begin the long drive down the A1. After a short stop at Newark we arrived in Essex at 1.45pm and, after picking up my older sons Rees and Ryan from Romford, we reached the ground 45 minutes before kick off.
After parking in our usual place behind Golds Gym we made the short walk to the clubhouse, which was full of Saints fans enjoying the local hospitality. This is what football should be all about, both sets of fans drinking together with no sign of any trouble.
I had booked seats in the Family Stand for the first time so after picking them up from the ticket office we made our way to our seats. I have to say the view was better then I was expecting but with only one way in and out it was quiet a mission just to get from the entrance of the stand to our seats in the far corner next to the away stand.
The Saints fans were in good voice and while our lot on the Sieve might well have been singing their hearts out we couldn't hear them through the constant renditions of 'Oh When The Saints Go Marching In' and some nice songs about Pompey!
The match itself was an enjoyable encounter and we defended for our lives in the first half. On the rare occasions that we did get the ball forward, Bas Savage held it up well but he was far too isolated and we did not muster a single shot on goal in the opening 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, at the other end, our goal was living a charmed life. Robbo made two or three good saves and their forwards appeared to miss several decent opportunities, mainly with headers from set pieces. So 0-0 at half time was good for us in the circumstances, but the queue for food most certainly was not! After a ten minute wait we decided not to bother in the end and made the long trek back to our seats ready for the second half.
The Saints fans were busy mocking our club with a chant of 'Your ground's too small for us,' but perhaps if they hadn't been relegated so many times then they would still be visiting the likes of Old Trafford and The Emirates...And don't even get me started on the ten point deduction they suffered last season for going into administration...
The arrival of Gavin Tomlin to partner big, bad Bas was a positive move but after all our good work in the first half we fell behind within two minutes of the restart. Yes it was an acrobatic finish from Adam Lallana but it only came about due to some dithering at the back from Solomon Taiwo. Perhaps namesake Stacey would have done better...
To be fair he may have been carrying a knock as he limped off soon after, to be replaced by Peter Gain, and he immediately added a calmness to the midfield. However we were still not putting them under any real pressure and if anything they always looked the more likely to score a second.
But things began to change when John introduced Josh Scott for the tiring Bas with twenty minutes left. He suddenly gave their back four something to think about and he should have won us a penalty when he was bundled over in the area soon after coming on. But, in keeping with the luck we had all season, the referee decided not to give it and our frustrations increased when they broke out to add a second almost immediately. This time it was Will Antwi who dithered on the edge of the area and Do Prado was able to cut inside Abu Ogogo and stroke the ball calmly past Robbo.
That, it appeared, was that but we are nothing if not resilient and we staged a thrilling late rally that could, and perhaps should, have brought us a share of the points. We suddenly began getting some quality balls into the box and one, delivered from the right by Greeny, was met with a towering header from Josh with six minutes left and it was game on. Having not scored since the four goal demolition job on Morecambe in May it was a relief for him to finally end that drought and more importantly it gave us all hope.
With the ground now coming to life we thought we had snatched an unlikely point in the final minute. A superb free kick from Gav beat the keeper and hit the underside of the crossbar, apparently going over the line off the keepers backside. Several of our players ran off in celebration but from our seat at the opposite end of the ground it was impossible to tell for certain if it had gone over or not. But the only one with the view that mattered, the referee, decided it hadn't and then, just to rub salt into our wounds, they broke away to add a third from Ricky Lambert, who appeared to run through from an offside position.
Okay so overall we could have no complaints about the result but we just did not the rub of the green. I don't blame the referee for our defeat, they were better then us and deserved it, but there is no doubt some key decisions did not go our way. My main concern though is our tactics. Just hitting long balls into the corners will not work against the likes of Southampton.
However we should take alot of credit for our late rally. The Saints are a top, top side in this league but they were hanging on at the end. Yes, a team including the likes of Lambert, Lallana and the much sought after Chamberlain were hanging on for a win at little Dagenham! Happy days...
So, while most of our fans made their short journeys home my sons and I headed off to McDonalds to reflect on an enjoyable afternoon. After that I dropped the two older lads back home in Romford before me and Emerson headed back up the A1, finally arriving home in time to catch the Football League Show a mere 13 hours after we had left.
Who needs away games when you have home games like this?
No comments:
Post a Comment