Report A large(ish) crowd of just under 1900 turned down the prospect of further turkey sandwiches to come and see the Daggers take on the Chavs at Victoria Road. There was a very subdued atmosphere at the ground before kick off which I personally was not expecting and could not explain. It was only when the officials started prancing around on their warm up that the reason for the gloom was revealed - the referee for the day was the continually dire Mr Ward !!
The game kicked off bang on 3 which I think surprised our usually excellent announcer as he was still churning out his war cry 'Let's make some noiiiiiiiise for the boyyyyys!!!!!' as the was being played forward! The first ten minutes passed without a great deal of incident, mainly because the inept Mr Ward failed to notice the freakishly tall and useless Chav Ath right back - Sheku Kamara - climbing all over Benno and CMS at every available opportunity. To make matters worse for the Daggers it was very difficult to break down a Chav side who had come for a point - honestly didn't they used to have some forwards?? The Chavs started with just one up front, and that was the terminally pikey Canveyite Lee Boylan.
The first chance came on ten minutes and amazingly it was for the visitors, however the above mentioned caravan dweller scuffed his shot wide of the upright. Shortly afterwards CMS was given a lovely ball down the channel from Glenda and a well struck effort was saved quite comfortably at the near post by the mercenary Ashley Bayes. The half continued with the Daggers not putting enough pressure on the Chav side resulting in long periods of very dull play interspersed by continued fouls from Kamara who managed to go over half an hour before the boy in black Ward decided to actually call a foul on him - he then pointed to various parts of the pitch where Kamara had committed fouls that Ward hadn't blown then rightly booked the lanky waster!
There were a couple of chances for the Daggers late in the half as they actually started to press the ball and commit men forward. Sam Saunders struck a volley over from 15 yards and Bayes had to be alert to save a CMS shot - giving the Daggers their only corner of the half.
The second half began with the Daggers looking a lot more positive, good movement from the front two leads to Benno breaking free alone in the box with only Bayes to beat - his placed shot is poor however, so the game continues at stalemate. Sam Saunders continued to look like the midfielder with the most purpose in the match - he has another volley pot shot - this time from distance but this is again saved by the Chav stopper. Sam Sloma provided one of his only meaningful contributions around the hour mark with a curling shot that made Bayes scramble but in the end the save was comfortable.
After this initial exertion the Daggers seemed to lose their way after the hour mark with another sustained period of mediocrity from both sides. The only further real action in the match coming in the final 10 minutes. First Ashley Nicholls had an overhead kick well saved by Robbo - he's still class. Then Benno had a great chance to win the game as Saunders cross was well struck and Bayes saved. Another Saunders cross shortly afterwards found the excellent Big Cliff whose header went narrowly over the bar.
Somehow Ward and his other fast track officials decided that despite all the time wasting in the game from Chav Athletic there would only be three minutes injury time and after a minute of this Chav came very close to stealing a very undeserved 3 points when a cross from Glenn Poole struck the bar before being cleared by the ever reliable Scott Griffiths.
The match ended 0-0 and was not a very festive affair. The only real points to come out of the match were:
Firstly Mr Ward - despite being a Premiership linesman should never be allowed to referee higher than the Conference. He has so little common sense that it is embarrassing to watch. If ever there was an argument for referees to have played football at some level then he personifies it. Arrogance is good in people who are the best at what they do - like Thierry Henry, Shane Warne or perhaps Timmy Cole but it is not good when someone is so utterly useless that they cannot even see an elbow from 5 yards.
Secondly, if the Daggers are going to take their place in the football league next season we are going to have to stop letting poor sides dictate the pace of the game. Chav Athletic were decidedly second rate and yet the midfield (with the exception of Saunders) were happy to let them play and this led to us dropping too deep and not winning the second ball. Much as all the players have played well this season performances like yesterday do not do much to inspire confidence in someone like Rainford who was second to every challenge and didn't win a header all afternoon - I'm sure this is a blip though and he will be back to his battling best against Halifax on Saturday.
Thirdly, when things are not working as with this game why does it take 70+ minutes to make a change? Big Cliff did very well when he came on but with less than 20 minutes on the pitch what chance has he got to make a difference?
Finally, if and when CMS leaves us for the Posh who is going to pressure the opposition back 4 when they are in possession? He ran tirelessly today with very little support. Without that energy it will be tough to break down these sides that come to Dagenham these days happy with a 0-0.
Upminster Daggers Man of the Match - Scott Griffiths
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