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Bury 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 2 |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 29 December 2007 |
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| Bury
0
| Football League 2
Gigg Lane Saturday 29th December 2007 |
Dagenham & Redbrige
2 Strevens 21, 62
| Dagenham secured a fine and much needed away win at struggling Bury to go some way to erasing the memory of Boxing Days poor performance at Barnet.
John Still made instant changes from the performance on Wednesday. Jon Boardman was suspended so skipper Anwar Uddin moved to his more accustomed position at centre half, Danny Foster returned at right back. On the left, Marlon Patterson didn’t figure where Scott Griffiths was rushed back from injury after 70 minutes in the reserves at Hornchurch on Thursday. Paul Benson didn’t travel after suffering a mouth injury at Barnet so Ben Strevens returned to partner Jon Nurse in attack. There was a recall to the bench for Chris Moore after his goals for the reserves in the week.
A downpour before kick off would have put other fixtures in doubt but the playing surface at Bury was excellent and soaked up all the elements had to throw at it. The Daggers seemed keen to use one of the bigger pitches in the league to their advantage, spreading the ball wide at every opportunity. After only 5 minutes, Nurse hooked over from a Saunders cross before Saunders had an even better chance, Nurse's cross was stepped over by Strevens but Saunders steered wide on the run. Strevens himself headed over another decent cross from Saunders as the Daggers seemed intent to put the Barnet performance behind them. It wasn’t all Dagenham, Bury were afforded plenty of space going forward but only had a number of corners to show for it. The Daggers had started the better and got their rewards on the break after 21 minutes. A slick counter attack from a Bury attack saw the ball worked out to Saunders on the Dagenham right. Bury's full back forced the Dagenham man back onto his left foot where he dinked a delightful cross onto the head of an unmarked Strevens 6 yards out who did the rest. It was no more than the Daggers deserved.
Having got their noses in front, the Daggers readied themselves for an onslaught from the home side. Although not quite the Alamo, Bury should have been level by half-time but it was from mistakes by the Daggers rather than Bury creativity. First, Nicky Adams found himself in acres of space down our left and chose to shoot rather than crossing. Roberts was to pull off the first of a number of excellent saves. Then it was the turn of the impressive Andy Bishop, spinning too easily off of Magnus Okuonghae and firing in a low shot that Roberts was equal to. Right on half time however, Bishop really should have put Bury level. Okuonghae's weak header found Buchanan who released Bishop through on Roberts. He dinked the ball over the on-rushing keeper but it drifted wide and the Daggers went into half-time in front.
Conditions worsened during the interval but it didn’t seem to effect Dagenham as they looked to increase their lead from the restart. They had the ball in the net immediately, Strevens put Saunders through, Provett saved his effort only for Nurse to turn in the rebound. The linesman’s flag though rendered the goal void. At the other end, Bishop escaped the attentions of Uddin and Okuonghae but slipped when through in the box and Roberts smothered. The game had become very stretched and it was from a Bury corner that Nurse should have done better. Holding the ball up well on the half way line, he should have released either the on-rushing Southam or Saunders but over-hit the pass and the chance was lost. Bury came back, Hurst finding space in the box but Roberts came out bravely to thwart him. The ball was hacked up field and within seconds, Dagenham were 2 in front. Strevens expertly controlled the hurried clearance on the half-way line before releasing Saunders down the right. He over-hit his cross but caught Provett off guard and as he parried the ball down, Stevens were there to tap home and finish the move he started.
Casper, the Bury boss made a series of changes to try and get back into the game. Before being replaced, Hurst stung the palms of Roberts with a shot on the turn from 18 yards. Nicky Adams also drove against the post for the home side but in between, the Daggers could have killed the game as Saunders effort was hacked off the line. There was still time for Roberts to make the save of the match, brilliantly turning over Andy Parrish's close range volley.
Chris Moore came on to help run down the clock as the final few moments of a brilliant away performance were conducted down by the Bury corner flag. The perfect response from the whole squad, one for the critics and hopefully the stepping stone to a strong 2008.
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