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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 07 December 2006 |
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Dagenham face another difficult away task this weekend, with a long trip to Exeter City. City are on the fringes of the play off race at the moment and will be looking for a win in their last Conference game before Christmas.
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| | | Nationwide Conference
St. James Park
Saturday 9th December 2006
3:00pm |
| Preview | | Dagenham will be hoping to get back to the form they have produced to win at Rushden and York, rather than the below par effort they produced against Southport last week.
OPPOSITION
Exeter are now in their 4th season in the Conference. In most of their previous seasons they have threatened to mount a serious promotion charge, but have fallen away late in the season. Last season the Grecians made a storming start but eventually finished outside the play off positions. The season before they found National fame after holding Manchester United to a draw at Old Trafford in the FA Cup, before bowing out in a replay at St James's Park, live on the BBC. Their recent form has been mixed, with their last league game ending in a 1-0 defeat to Nigel Clough's Burton Albion.
PAST MEETINGS
In the last few seasons the Grecians have held the upper hand when the two sides have met. Last season Exeter found a late equaliser to gain a point in an early season encounter at Victoria Road. Later in the season however Exeter eased to a 3-1 victory at St James's. In 04/05 the meeting at Victoria Road was a thriller. The Grecians swept into a 2-0 lead before the Daggers fought back to level in the second half. Exeter were reduced to 10 men but Chris Moore had a penalty saved before the men from Devon found a later winner. Later in the season a Tony Boot goal gained the Daggers a point in the away match.
In the 03/04 season a Tim Cole header earned the Daggers point in the game at St James's. It was no more than the 10 men of Dagenham deserved (Alan Kimble having been sent off early on), in a game screened live on SKY Sports. Before that the only meetings between the two clubs were the FA Cup ties in late 2001. In another game screened live on SKY Sports the Daggers battled hard at St James's Park to earn a 0-0 draw and force a replay. In the game back in Essex the Daggers tore into the then League Club from the off. Goals from Mark Janney, Junior McDougald Ken Charley scored the goals as Daggers romped into Round 3 with a 3-0 victory.
GROUND
St James's Park is one of the nicest grounds in the Conference. The Old Main Stand houses the club's offices and changing rooms but is showing it's age these days. On the far side of the ground, behind the dug outs, is a fairly new all seated stand. The home terrace behind the far goal is impressive and large for this level, while the terrace at the near end of the ground leaves a little to be desired!!!! Daggers fans will either be housed on this terrace (as we were for the cup game 5 years back) or in the first block of the Old Main Stand (as we have been for most of the league games).
CROWD
Exeter still get pretty decent crowds, even though they have now been part of the Non League World for a few seasons. Crowds of around the 3,000 mark are the norm, and with Daggers flying high, and many Grecians fans saying the game is a must win for them, the crowd could well be up towards the 4,000 mark. Daggers fans will probably number around 100, as with most long distance games these days.
TRAVEL
For Daggers fans this is one of the longest trips of the season, being a round trip of around 450 miles by car. The drive from the Dagenham area will probably take around 4-5 hours, as will the Supporters Club Coach (which still has a couple of spaces I believe?). The Upminster Daggers will be traveling by train, despite the problems of two weeks back!!! It is safe to say I won't be looking after everyone's tickets this time!!!! Journey time by train is around 3 hours from London, and we have again picked up some good value fares (providing we don't have to pay again for the journey home!!). Cheapish tickets are still available on the Trainline.com
PREDICTION
It's a tough one to call yet again!? The Daggers are in pretty good form despite the poor result last week. Their style also appears to suit these kind of away games more than tight home games. However, Exeter will know they need to get some sort of result to take them into the Christmas Period. Therefore (in true Trevor Brooking mode once more) I will go for a 1-1 draw.
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| Previous Meetings | (A) |  | | | | | | 2003/04 | 1-1 | Report | | 2004/05 | 1-1 | | | 2005/06 | 1-3 |
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