House of Flying Daggers

[CFuller]

Romford watch: 2031/2032

Having just overseen Romford's worst season for 13 years, manager Tyrone Mears was under pressure from the start of this campaign. Was he still the right man to guide the Boro forward?

 

Conference South: 9th

Romford showed promise very early on, holding highly-fancied Boreham Wood to a draw before beating Welling United away from home. However, things quickly went sour, with five defeats and three draws leaving the Boro in 23rd place by late September. Although they would beat Sutton United and Newbury in two of their next three games, they were very much in a relegation battle. A 3-1 defeat at Bath City on 25 October was the final straw for chairman John Walker, and after over seven years in charge, Mears was relieved of his duties.

 

Coach Dominic Shimmin was appointed interim manager, but after a 2-0 win at Heybridge Swifts in his first game, he was given the job on a permanent basis. Although Romford went on a three-match winless run in the league afterwards, victory at Oxford City saw them turn a corner. The Boro lost just two games in December and January as they stormed up the table to 13th place. Had they left it too late to launch a play-off challenge, though?

 

Failure to win any of their three games in February proved fatal for Romford's promotion hopes. Starting with a 4-0 thrashing of Newbury, the Boro took six wins and four draws from their final 10 games, conceding just four goals in the process. Alas, that late-season surge only took them up to 9th - seven points adrift of the play-offs. Nevertheless, 44-year-old Shimmin had shown that he had the capabilities to take Romford back in the right direction.

 

FA Cup: Qualifying Round 3

Romford had an easy starter, putting five unanswered goals past ninth-tier side Corinthian-Casuals in Qualifying Round 2. Their next tie - at eventual Conference South champions Chelmsford City - was rather trickier. The Boro went down 3-1, thus ending their hopes of a money-spinning tie in the proper stages.

 

FA Trophy: Qualifying Round 3

Romford were given a potential banana-skin tie away to Northern Premier League outfit Clitheroe. The long trip to Lancashire ended in heartbreaking fashion for the Boro, as they suffered a 3-2 defeat.

 

Essex Senior Cup: Round 4

Romford opened their Essex Senior Cup defence in Round 3, brushing London APSA aside by 3 goals to 1. In the next round, however, they ran into Dagenham & Redbridge Reserves. The Daggers prevailed 3-0, and their county cup story would go on to have a happy ending.

 

Best Players

Romford's highest-rated players were their centre-backs Ruben Coombes and Roger McClurg, each in their third season at Ship Lane. They helped to shore up a defence that included the inconsistent goalkeeper Jack Dyer, and two full-backs in David Mansell and Tom Worthington who picked up 24 yellow cards between them. At left-wing, meanwhile, Steven Mulligan stepped in for the departed Russell Brooks and provided eight assists.

 

Gareth Coe and summer signing Martyn Swailes were the Boro's top goalscorers with 11 goals apiece. Mansell was their top assist-maker, getting 10 from right-back, while right-winger Marc Meredith was quite effective as well during a three-month loan spell from Bromley. Another loanee who fared well at Ship Lane was AFC Bournemouth striker Nigel George, who got six goals in 10 games.

 

The Future

An excellent run-in bodes well for Shimmin as he heads into his first full season as Romford manager. That said, you have to feel that he really needs to sign a prolific goalscorer and/or a playmaker if the Boro are to launch a serious promotion challenge.

[gibbo11]

Had a feeling Tyrone would be getting the sack from Romford. Well done on keeping the fight going until the final couple of games, hopefully a better start in the league next season will give you a better platform to work from.

[CFuller]

21 hours ago, gibbo11 said:

Had a feeling Tyrone would be getting the sack from Romford. Well done on keeping the fight going until the final couple of games, hopefully a better start in the league next season will give you a better platform to work from.

Mears had been on borrowed time for a while, to be fair. I'm glad, though, that Romford replaced him with one of my old coaches, albeit the only one who's still there. I'm feeling quite optimistic about my former team's chances of promotion next season.

As for my team, the top six has to be our target. That awful start was arguably what killed our play-off hopes last season, but I'm taking a different approach to pre-season to try and stop that happening again this time around. You'll find out more on Monday.

[CFuller]

2031/2032 season round-up: Part 1

Premier League

Manchester City began their new era under Rogier Molhoek by snatching the Premier League title back from rivals Manchester United. 30 of City's 97 league goals came from German powerhouse Martin Klonz, while left-winger Domenico Papa notched up 22 assists following his big-money move from Empoli. United finished four points behind the new champions, though they did end a 24-year wait for UEFA Champions League glory. A dramatic shoot-out win over Juventus would prove to be manager Moanes Dabour's last hurrah before he departed Old Trafford.

 

This season's surprise package was West Bromwich Albion, who finished 3rd and secured Champions League qualification for the first time. Inspired by 24-goal hero Terry Grayson, the Baggies even looked like launching a serious title bid until very late on. Clive Johnson's Arsenal won the FA Cup took the last remaining place in Europe's elite, with Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.

 

Wolverhampton Wanderers reached the Champions League knockout stages, and famously beat Barcelona in the first leg of their Last 16 tie, but their league form suffered badly. Wolves' 10th-place finish ensured that they wouldn't be back in Europe next season. Fulham will be, though, as a shock UEFA Europa League triumph over Valenciennes more than made up for the Cottagers' dismal league placing of 14th.

 

Southampton ended the Premier League campaign with just 24 points - less than a quarter of their Championship points haul from last season. The Saints' tally of 29 goals was only just bettered by Aston Villa, who likewise slipped straight back into the second tier. Last to fall out of the Premier League were Blackburn Rovers, with Everton and Huddersfield Town narrowly escaping the drop.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C/CL  Man City               38    24    8     6     97    49    +48   80
2.    CL    Man Utd                38    21    13    4     67    33    +34   76
3.    CL    West Brom              38    22    8     8     65    50    +15   74
4.    CL    Arsenal                38    20    9     9     67    43    +24   69
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.    EL    Chelsea                38    19    8     11    76    54    +22   65
6.    EL    Liverpool              38    16    7     15    68    61    +7    55
7.    EL    Tottenham              38    14    11    13    55    52    +3    53
8.          West Ham               38    12    16    10    56    48    +8    52
9.          Norwich                38    13    12    13    57    54    +3    51
10.         Wolves                 38    14    9     15    55    57    -2    51
11.         Brighton               38    13    12    13    49    54    -5    51
12.         Sunderland             38    15    4     19    49    52    -3    49
13.         Nottm Forest           38    13    9     16    54    60    -6    48
14.         Fulham                 38    11    15    12    47    53    -6    48
15.         Burnley                38    11    12    15    55    64    -9    45
16.         Everton                38    10    10    18    53    69    -16   40
17.         Huddersfield           38    9     13    16    38    55    -17   40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.   R     Blackburn              38    8     12    18    46    70    -24   36
19.   R     Aston Villa            38    8     6     24    30    75    -45   30
20.   R     Southampton            38    4     12    22    29    60    -31   24

 

Championship

Derby won the Championship title for the second time in three years, with Rams legend Brad Gaunt helping them secure an immediate return to the Premier League. Newcastle United will also be back in the top tier after narrowly beating Reading to 2nd place on goal difference.

 

Reading's heartache continued in their Play-Off Semi Final, which they lost 7-3 on aggregate to Stoke City. Leeds United also fell short in a thriller, losing to Sheffield United by the odd goal in nine. There was only one goal in the Final at Wembley - and Joe Pritchard-Ellis scored it in the 61st minute to shatter Stoke and send the Blades up!

 

Peterborough United and Crystal Palace were unlucky to miss the play-offs, as were Crewe Alexandra, who matched their best ever second-tier finish of 9th. Meanwhile, Notts County were fortunate not to be relegated, although Ian Neary's total of 32 Championship goals was matched only by Billy Murphy of Stoke.

 

A run of no wins in 19 league games saw Bolton Wanderers flatline and drop into League One. Middlesbrough must also get ready for life in a lower division, and so too must Wigan Athletic. Next season will be the cash-strapped Latics' first in the third division since 2002/2003.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Derby                  46    28    10    8     89    44    +45   94
2.    P     Newcastle              46    26    10    10    95    53    +42   88
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Reading                46    26    10    10    81    50    +31   88
4.          Leeds                  46    23    10    13    78    53    +25   79
5.    P     Sheff Utd              46    22    13    11    67    43    +24   79
6.          Stoke                  46    20    13    13    71    55    +16   73
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Peterborough           46    20    13    13    56    49    +7    73
8.          Crystal Palace         46    21    9     16    62    64    -2    72
9.          Crewe                  46    18    15    13    73    60    +13   69
10.         Dag & Red              46    19    11    16    66    57    +9    68
11.         Watford                46    16    19    11    69    59    +10   67
12.         Northampton            46    16    16    14    64    51    +13   64
13.         Doncaster              46    16    10    20    55    68    -13   58
14.         Bradford               46    15    10    21    65    76    -11   55
15.         Millwall               46    14    13    19    54    66    -12   55
16.         Cardiff                46    13    15    18    58    68    -10   54
17.         Plymouth               46    13    13    20    47    59    -12   52
18.         Luton                  46    12    14    20    61    76    -15   50
19.         Colchester             46    12    13    21    49    67    -18   49
20.         Hull                   46    12    12    22    58    93    -35   48
21.         Notts County           46    10    15    21    63    84    -21   45
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.   R     Wigan                  46    13    6     27    66    93    -27   45
23.   R     Middlesbrough          46    11    11    24    51    88    -37   44
24.   R     Bolton                 46    8     15    23    39    61    -22   39

 

League One

Ipswich Town finally came good after three play-off disappointments on the trot. The Tractor Boys - helped by 25 goals from Luke Boot - took the League One title just ahead of a resurgent Wrexham.

 

The Play-Off Semi Finals were fairly one-sided, with Charlton Athletic and Scunthorpe United respectively beating Wycombe Wanderers and Oxford United by four-goal margins. It was a very different story come the Final at Wembley. A single goal from Thomas Millington was enough to end Charlton's 12-year absence from the Championship.

 

A very disappointing Fleetwood Town team fell into the Football League's basement for the first time in 15 years. Rotherham United, Portsmouth and Morecambe were also demoted, with Oldham Athletic very thankful that they hadn't suffered the agony of back-to-back relegations.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Ipswich                46    26    11    9     74    46    +28   89
2.    P     Wrexham                46    25    12    9     70    45    +25   87
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Oxford                 46    24    9     13    75    54    +21   81
4.    P     Charlton               46    22    12    12    75    57    +18   78
5.          Wycombe                46    22    12    12    69    57    +12   78
6.          Scunthorpe             46    21    10    15    69    55    +14   73
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Rochdale               46    19    13    14    57    42    +15   70
8.          York                   46    19    11    16    60    55    +5    68
9.          Swansea                46    17    16    13    58    53    +5    67
10.         Coventry               46    18    10    18    57    53    +4    64
11.         Leicester              46    18    10    18    54    56    -2    64
12.         QPR                    46    16    14    16    52    59    -7    62
13.         Dartford               46    17    9     20    57    60    -3    60
14.         Barnsley               46    15    15    16    57    64    -7    60
15.         AFC Telford            46    16    10    20    56    65    -9    58
16.         Stockport              46    15    12    19    53    61    -8    57
17.         Shrewsbury             46    12    17    17    54    60    -6    53
18.         Kidderminster          46    14    10    22    51    62    -11   52
19.         Oldham                 46    12    15    19    43    55    -12   51
20.         Cambridge              46    13    12    21    51    66    -15   51
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Morecambe              46    12    13    21    48    57    -9    49
22.   R     Portsmouth             46    13    10    23    42    65    -23   49
23.   R     Rotherham              46    10    18    18    61    71    -10   48
24.   R     Fleetwood              46    9     13    24    44    69    -25   40

 

League Two

Chesterfield stormed to the title in convincing fashion, and Birmingham City finally ended a five-year exile in League Two, but the real story was at Corby Town. The tycoon-backed Northamptonshire club finished in 2nd place, thus securing a FIFTH consecutive promotion - from the Southern League Division 1 Central to League One!

 

While AFC Bournemouth put five goals past Bristol City without reply, Sheffield Wednesday made much heavier work of their Play-Off Semi Final against Gillingham. The Cherries were favourites for the Final, but Joseph Miller and Tsepo Seroba's goals ensured that there would be a second night of play-off celebrations in Sheffield!

 

Two more long-standing Football League members said their farewells. Brentford finished well adrift at the bottom, while Hartlepool United joined them in the Conference Premier after failing to win their final game at Walsall.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Chesterfield           46    29    11    6     89    40    +49   98
2.    P     Corby                  46    25    12    9     76    42    +34   87
3.    P     Birmingham             46    25    11    10    82    48    +34   86
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.          Bournemouth            46    22    16    8     60    44    +16   82
5.    P     Sheff Wed              46    20    18    8     85    52    +33   78
6.          Gillingham             46    20    11    15    55    47    +8    71
7.          Bristol City           46    20    11    15    57    51    +6    71
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.          Port Vale              46    19    13    14    62    60    +2    70
9.          Mansfield              46    18    12    16    47    47    0     66
10.         Cheltenham             46    17    12    17    58    70    -12   63
11.         Kingstonian            46    17    11    18    52    58    -6    62
12.         Chester                46    17    10    19    58    62    -4    61
13.         Hereford               46    16    11    19    50    61    -11   59
14.         Yeovil                 46    16    9     21    44    58    -14   57
15.         Exeter                 46    14    13    19    51    57    -6    55
16.         AFC Wimbledon          46    14    13    19    47    58    -11   55
17.         Forest Green           46    14    12    20    45    51    -6    54
18.         Walsall                46    15    9     22    37    49    -12   54
19.         Bristol Rovers         46    13    14    19    43    54    -11   53
20.         Tranmere               46    12    15    19    46    59    -13   51
21.         Aldershot              46    13    11    22    47    61    -14   50
22.         Grimsby                46    11    13    22    51    68    -17   46
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23.   R     Hartlepool             46    10    14    22    46    70    -24   44
24.   R     Brentford              46    7     14    25    44    65    -21   35

 

Conference Premier

Blackpool and Leighton Town jostled for the Conference Premier almost all season... and it was the big-name Seasiders who prevailed in the end, though only by a single point.

 

Leighton defeated Bromley on penalties to secure a Play-Off Final against Leyton Orient, who saw off Ashford Town (Middlesex). Despite having right-winger Harry Hinton sent off during a 1-1 draw at Wembley, that earlier shoot-out experience would prove decisive for Leighton, who won 5-3 on spot-kicks to reach the Football League!

 

A gradual decline for Burton Albion ended with them suffering relegation to the regional Conferences, together with Barrow, Woking, and Stevenage. Burton and Barrow were actually in League One not that long ago!

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Blackpool              46    25    10    11    82    63    +19   85
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.    P     Leighton               46    26    6     14    63    44    +19   84
3.          Leyton Orient          46    22    11    13    71    48    +23   77
4.          Ashford Town           46    22    11    13    77    59    +18   77
5.          Bromley                46    20    16    10    73    49    +24   76
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Carlisle               46    22    9     15    62    46    +16   75
7.          Harrogate              46    21    11    14    64    52    +12   74
8.          Macclesfield           46    20    13    13    54    42    +12   73
9.          Southend               46    19    13    14    57    45    +12   70
10.         FC Halifax             46    18    15    13    63    57    +6    69
11.         Ebbsfleet              46    19    11    16    47    41    +6    68
12.         Swindon                46    17    16    13    46    43    +3    67
13.         Preston                46    16    15    15    57    61    -4    63
14.         Southport              46    16    14    16    61    54    +7    62
15.         Altrincham             46    16    11    19    50    62    -12   59
16.         Newport County         46    13    19    14    51    48    +3    58
17.         Barnet                 46    15    13    18    55    60    -5    58
18.         Crawley                46    14    13    19    54    64    -10   55
19.         Gateshead              46    15    10    21    52    64    -12   55
20.         Matlock                46    10    17    19    49    62    -13   47
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Stevenage              46    14    5     27    45    67    -22   47
22.   R     Woking                 46    11    9     26    38    68    -30   42
23.   R     Barrow                 46    11    7     28    41    69    -28   40
24.   R     Burton                 46    6     13    27    38    82    -44   31

 

Conference North

Promoted: Darlington (1st, 104 pts), Lincoln City (3rd, 79 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Chorley (2nd, 80 pts), Mossley (4th, 71 pts), Chasetown (5th, 64 pts).

Relegated: Alfreton Town (20th, 39 pts), Rugby Town (21st, 36 pts), St Neots Town (22nd, 34 pts).

 

Conference South

Promoted: Chelmsford City (1st, 77 pts), Eastbourne Borough (5th, 68 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Sutton United (2nd, 75 pts), Eastleigh (3rd, 74 pts), Torquay United (4th, 71 pts).

Relegated: Salisbury City (20th, 41 pts), Heybridge Swifts (21st, 39 pts), Newbury (22nd, 37 pts).

 

Regional Premier Divisions

Promoted from Northern Premier League Premier: Northwich Victoria (1st), Bury (2nd).

Promoted from Isthmian League Premier: Wealdstone (1st), Horsham (4th).

Promoted from Southern League Premier: Maidenhead United (1st), Rushall Olympic (5th).

[CFuller]

2031/2032 season round-up: Part 2

Major Transfers

• Manchester City were still smarting after losing the Premier League title last season, so they made a huge statement by signing Empoli left-winger Domenico Papa. The small matter of a £41million transfer fee and £300,000 per week took the 26-year-old to Manchester. It was worth all that money, as Papa provided 12 goals and 30 assists in his first season to send City back to the top of English football. The pint-sized Italian also won the FIFA Ballon d'Or, ending Arsenal striker Clive Johnson's five-year reign.
• After a single year at Liverpool, ex-Fulham defender Christopher Khan returned to west London... as a Chelsea player. The England international centre-back cost £23.5million but justified that price tag with some consistently strong performances. Chelsea fans were also pleased to see Dutch midfielder Ronald Pot back at Stamford Bridge, and back to something like his best after four difficult years at Barcelona.
• Liverpool arguably paid over the odds for Marcus Cowley in 2030, so they near enough bit Fulham's hands off when the Cottagers offered £21.5million to sign the right-winger this summer. Cowley was even less impressive at Fulham, doing little of note in 12 Premier League games before his season was disrupted by a broken ankle in January. Mind you, he did make a vital assist in the UEFA Europa League Final.
• Nottingham Forest's transfer record was broken when they brought in Watford striker Amara Ouattara for £9.75million. The 31-year-old Frenchman justified that price tag with 25 goals, which was the second-highest personal haul in this season's PL, behind only Martin Klonz of Manchester City! West Ham also forked out a club-record fee on Everton winger Renzo Duenas, although the flamboyant Peruvian's returns were rather modest for £15.5million.
• With long-standing goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen in his final season at the club, Paris Saint-Germain lined up a replacement in West Ham's Ander Bengoetxea. The 27-year-old Spaniard was rather impressive for someone who cost just £13.5million. PSG's other big summer signing was Boca Juniors right-back Cristian Soriano, who proved a more than adequate successor to the retired Nelson Parra.
• The Premier League's two biggest summer exports were both full-backs. Manchester City's American left-back Shane Horner went to Real Madrid for £18.5million, and Chelsea's right-sided Frenchman Mohamed Danioko was flogged off to Bayern Munich for £16.75million. Arsenal striker Per Nielsen also crossed the channel in January, with the Dane making a £21.5million move to PSG.

 

Managerial Movements

• Following Aykut Kocaman's retirement in the summer, Wolverhampton Wanderers hired Jay Spearing as their new boss. Spearing was succeeded at Brighton & Hove Albion by Zema Abbey, who guided the Seagulls to a solid 11th-place finish. Wolves also ended up in mid-table, but 10th was not good enough for outgoing chairman Steve Morgan, whose last act before retiring was to give Spearing the sack.
• Huddersfield Town also replaced a retiring manager, with Vladimir Weiss quitting Celtic to take over from Keith Hill. However, his reign at the John Smith's Stadium did not go well at all. The Slovakian was sacked in November with the Terriers battling relegation, and Jack Rodwell was brought in from Southampton to try and keep them up.
• Chris Powell was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur on New Year's Eve, and Paul Clement subsequently came in as his replacement. Clement had lost his job at Fulham a couple of weeks earlier, with the aforementioned Weiss taking over at Craven Cottage. A chaotic season for 42-year-old Weiss would end with him securing the Cottagers' first European silverware, in the shape of the UEFA Europa League.
• After losing Rodwell, Southampton quickly gave their vacant managerial role to Scottish Premier League giants Rangers. The Gers subsequently turned back to their last title-winning boss, with Darren Ferguson returning to management after a two-year break. The old Ferguson magic would rub off again, as Rangers went on to do the league and Scottish Cup double for the first time since 2009!
• Vitor Pereira secured his eighth Primeira Liga title as Porto head coach and then gracefully retired at the age of 63. Taking Pereira's place at the Estádio do Dragao is 40-year-old Moanes Dabour, who bowed out of Manchester United with a famous victory of his own. The Red Devils will now enter next season with Sylvain Marveaux - a back-to-back French league champion at Lyon - in the Old Trafford hotseat.
• A little over three years ago, Abdoulaye Soumaré was managing Real Madrid. He's now in charge of a Troyes side who narrowly avoided relegation from Ligue 1 this season. Soumaré had started the campaign at AC Milan before being axed in favour of former Manchester City interim boss Joris Mathijsen.

 

Other Major Stories

• Manchester United had lost their last six UEFA Champions League Finals before finally ending their jinx at the Nou Camp - a ground that had famously brought them joy in the past. A thrilling Final against Juventus finished 2-2, with United striker Mario scoring twice, on either side of goals from Juve duo Alessandro Maccioni and Angelo Di Rocco. The latter would later hit the post in the penalty shoot-out, which the Red Devils won 4-2 after Welsh goalkeeper Carl Baker made the decisive save from Federico Ferrante.
• Juve failed to retain their European crown, but they still held onto the Serie A scudetto in convincing fashion. The Old Lady finished 20 points clear of runners-up Empoli and lost just one league game - at home to a resurgent AC Milan. Meanwhile, Real Betis became the first team other than Barcelona or Real Madrid to win back-to-back La Liga titles for almost half a century.
• Patience paid off for Borussia Dortmund as they won their first Bundesliga crown under manager Dirk Orlishausen, who replaced Ronald Koeman in 2024. Dortmund also reached the Champions League Semi Final, which they lost to Juventus, and were beaten in the DFB-Pokal Final by Eintracht Frankfurt.
• Having crowned unexpected champions in each of the last two seasons, Turkey's Super Lig finally returned to some sense of normality when Fenerbahce finished top of the pile. Indeed, Filip Skvorc's Yellow Canaries were 20 points clear of their nearest challengers - Orduspor, whose 2nd-place finish was the highest in their history!
• After netting 442 goals in an incredible 829 games for Barcelona, Nando Ribas said farewell to the Nou Camp at the age of 35. He left Barca with an outstanding title haul that included seven La Ligas, three Copa Del Reys, two Champions Leagues, and two FIFA Club World Cups. Now predominantly a right-winger, Ribas was still going strong for Spain and had scored 158 goals in 167 caps going into this summer's UEFA European Championship - his EIGHTH major international tournament.
• The other great striker of Ribas' generation - England's record goalscorer Damien King - hung up his boots after a very brief stint at Cádiz. Sam Barnett was another England legend who retired after seeing out his career with Wolverhampton Wanderers, while another iconic left-back - Spain's Estanislao Flor - bowed out at Granada.

 

Cup Winners

FA Cup: Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea.

League Cup: Manchester United 2-0 Manchester City (aet).

Community Shield: Fulham 1-0 Manchester United.

Football League Trophy: Wycombe Wanderers 4-0 Tranmere Rovers.

 

UEFA Champions League: Manchester United 2-2 Juventus - at Nou Camp, Barcelona.

UEFA Europa League: Fulham 3-2 Valenciennes (aet) - at Estádio do Dragao, Porto.

UEFA Super Cup: Anji Ramenskoye 2-0 Juventus - at Easter Road, Edinburgh.

FIFA Club World Championship: Juventus 2-0 Boca Juniors - at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi.

 

Major European Leagues

Dutch Eredivisie: PSV (1st), Ajax (2nd), Feyenoord (3rd).

French Ligue 1: Lyon (1st), Paris Saint-Germain (2nd), Bordeaux (3rd).

German Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund (1st), Bayern Munich (2nd), Hamburg (3rd).

Italian Serie A: Juventus (1st), Empoli (2nd), Spezia (3rd).

Portuguese Primeira Liga: Porto (1st), Benfica (2nd), Sporting CP (3rd).

Russian Premier League: Anji Ramenskoye (1st), Alania Vladikavkaz (2nd), Kuban Krasnodar (3rd).

Scottish Premier League: Rangers (1st), Dundee United (2nd), Celtic (3rd).

Spanish La Liga: Real Betis (1st), Barcelona (2nd), Real Madrid (3rd).

 

Award Winners

PFA Player of the Year: Martin Klonz (Manchester City).

PFA Young Player of the Year: Christopher Khan (Chelsea).

FWA Footballer of the Year: Clive Johnson (Arsenal).

Premier League Manager of the Season: David Wotherspoon (West Bromwich Albion).

PFA Premier League Team of the Year:

• Shaun Murat (Arsenal and Canada)
• Romaric Mawéné (Arsenal and England)
• José Luis (Manchester United and Spain)
• Stuart Lindsay (Manchester City and England)
• Tommaso Fiorillo (Arsenal and Italy)
• Dudu Ashkenazi (Manchester United and Israel)
• Ole Kofod (Everton and Denmark)
• Cheick Tigana (Manchester United and France)
• Domenico Papa (Manchester City and Italy)
• Clive Johnson (Arsenal and England)
• Martin Klonz (Manchester City and Germany)

 

FIFA Ballon d'Or: Domenico Papa (Manchester City).

World Soccer World Player of the Year: Andrzej Wolanski (Real Betis).

European Golden Shoe: Martin Klonz (Manchester City).

UEFA Best Player in Europe: Clive Johnson (Arsenal).

FIFA/FIFPro World XI:

• Andy Boyes (Manchester City and England)
• Cristian Soriano (Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina)
• Marcel Schaap (Barcelona and Holland)
• Emmanuel Guinazu (Barcelona and Argentina)
• Shane Horner (Real Madrid and Canada)
• Andrzej Wolanski (Real Betis and Germany)
• Cheick Tigana (Manchester United and France)
• Marco Batalla (Spezia and Argentina)
• Price Huet (Paris Saint-Germain and France)
• Domenico Papa (Manchester City and Italy)
• Clive Johnson (Arsenal and England)

[CFuller]

UEFA European Championship review: Norway 2032

Qualification

Germany went tantalisingly close to flawlessly going through qualification with a 100% win rate and no goals conceded... but then they drew their final game 1-1 at Serbia. The Mannschaft did, though, top the goals chart with 45, a third of which were scored by Barcelona's Thomas Weber. France, Portugal and Spain also dropped only two points en route to the finals, with holders Holland and Gianluca Atzori's Italy going through unbeaten as well.

 

Clive Johnson was once again outstanding for England, whose only blip came in an early defeat against former champions Czech Republic. The Czechs also qualified automatically, but Israel - surprise Semi Finalists in 2028 - needed to get through a play-off against Wales. Slovenia were beaten in their play-off by the Serbs, while Scotland and 2004 winners Greece missed out altogether.

 

Georgia followed up their FIFA World Cup debut in 2030 by finishing 2nd in France's group to make their first European finals. There was a welcome return for Ukraine after they missed the last three major tournaments, and Bulgaria qualified for the first time since 2020.

 

QUALIFIERS: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Holland (holders), Israel, Italy, Latvia, Norway (hosts), Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine.

 

Group Stage

Holland started their title defence with a comfortable 3-1 win over Israel and a draw against neighbours Belgium. However, they lost their final Group A game to Turkey, who topped the group at their expense. UEFA Euro 2028's beaten finalists England also found the going quite tough. After squandering a 2-0 lead late on against Austria, the Three Lions finished 3rd in Group B behind Italy and Sweden. Amazingly, Italy smashed the Swedes 9-0 in the match that decided top spot, with Paris Saint-Germain's Moreno Pinardi getting a hat-trick!

 

Group C was amazingly tight, with France and Russia registering the only victories against whipping boys Slovakia to scrape through. Meanwhile, Group D saw 2014 FIFA World Cup champions Ukraine return to something resembling their best form. The Zhovto-Blakytni went through unbeaten alongside former European champions Czech Republic, but hosts Norway could only finish 3rd and were facing an early exit.

 

Weber scored six goals as Germany breezed through Group E without dropping any points or conceding any goals. Nando Ribas and Spain also breezed through to Round 2, even after losing their final group game 2-0 to the Mannschaft. Finally, Portugal won Group F just ahead of free-scoring Croatia, despite slipping up against debutants Georgia after their qualification had been secured.

 

England were the pick of the four 3rd-placed teams who qualified for the next round. Israel, Denmark and Switzerland made it through as well, although Norway missed the cut and were kicked out of their own party.

 

GROUP A: Turkey* (1st, 6 pts), Holland* (2nd, 4 pts), Israel* (3rd, 4 pts), Belgium (4th, 2 pts).

GROUP B: Italy* (1st, 6 pts), Sweden* (2nd, 4 pts), England* (3rd, 4 pts), Austria (4th, 2 pts).

GROUP C: France* (1st, 5 pts), Russia* (2nd, 5 pts), Denmark* (3rd, 3 pts), Slovakia (4th, 1 pt).

GROUP D: Ukraine* (1st, 7 pts), Czech Republic* (2nd, 5 pts), Norway (3rd, 2 pts), Latvia (4th, 1 pt).

GROUP E: Germany* (1st, 9 pts), Spain* (2nd, 6 pts), Switzerland* (3rd, 3 pts), Serbia (4th, 0 pts).

GROUP F: Portugal* (1st, 6 pts), Croatia* (2nd, 6 pts), Bulgaria (3rd, 3 pts), Georgia (4th, 3 pts).

* through to Round 2

 

Round 2

Sweden's hopes of winning a first European title were nuked by Gokhan Nukan, who sent Turkey through with a 21st-minute goal. However, the Turks' young right-back Ikram Polat was sent off after half an hour, meaning that he would be suspended from a Quarter Final against his native Germany. The Mannschaft had dismantled Croatia 6-0, with Weber and Real Betis midfielder Andrzej Wolanski helping themselves to a couple of goals apiece.

 

Brescia striker Federico Francese's 9th-minute opener for Italy was cancelled out in the 78th minute by Denmark frontman Jacob Broe. That tie came down to a penalty shoot-out, in which 34-year-old Danish defender Per Moller fired the decisive penalty against the crossbar. The Azzurri moved on to a Quarter Final meeting with Portugal, who recovered from an early Dudu Ashkenazi goal to beat Israel. Porto striker Rui's strike in the 22nd minute was followed up by two in the second half from Benfica's Marco António Freire as Portugal triumphed 3-1.

 

Holland were still going strong after beating Spain 4-2 thanks to doubles from Hassan Ben Ayad and Johan van Keulen. This match marked a sad international farewell for Spanish legend Ribas, who scored his 160th goal in his 171st and final cap. The Oranje's triumph saw them set up a repeat of the Euro 2028 Final against England, who ended France's challenge with a single second-half goal from Johnson.

 

Ukraine's mini-revival was brought to a shuddering halt with a 3-1 loss to Switzerland. 22-year-old Franz Gessler scored twice for a Swiss team managed by Johan Djourou, with defender Théo Forster also getting on the scoresheet. Russia rounded off Round 2 by eliminating the Czech Republic. Two goals from Brazilian-born left-winger Joaozinho were enough to fire the Russians into the Quarter Finals.

 

RESULTS: Turkey 1-0 Sweden, Germany 6-0 Croatia, Italy 1-1 Denmark (5-4 penalties), Portugal 3-1 Israel, Holland 4-2 Spain, England 1-0 France, Switzerland 3-1 Ukraine, Russia 2-0 Czech Republic.

 

Quarter Finals

Although Burkay Bosnak gave Turkey the lead against Germany after just four minutes, this Quarter Final would not have a happy ending for the Crescent-Stars. Wolanski retaliated for the Germans in the 14th minute, and an 89th-minute volley from Nikola Markovski of Real Sociedad sent them through. Also through to the last four were Italy, who showed their penalty prowess again. Francese cancelled out Diogo Dias' early strike for Portugal in normal time, and he would also score the decisive spot-kick, following misses from Seleccao duo Casca and Luis Sá.

 

England got revenge on Holland in a thrilling 3-2 victory that began with an 8th-minute goal from Norwich City's Ray Scott. Johnson then scored his 99th and 100th goals for the Three Lions, although Dutch keeper Patrick Braspenning saved a penalty from the Arsenal striker in between them. Both of the Oranje's goals came from Ben Ayad, who finished on seven for the tournament. Switzerland booked the final Semi Final spot by defeating Russia 4-2. Gabriel Steffen scored twice, with Gessler and captain Jonas Fischli also on target.

 

RESULTS: Germany 2-1 Turkey, Italy 1-1 Portugal (4-2 penalties), England 3-2 Holland, Switzerland 4-2 Russia.

 

Semi Finals

There were four goals in the first half when Germany faced Switzerland at Tromso. Weber and Markus Pickel found the net for the Mannschaft, while Forster and Tobias Wirtz struck for Switzerland, who had midfielder Albert Danaj sent off just before half-time. Despite being a man light, they still managed to take the game to extra-time... and then the Germans took full control. Harald Burkhard's 92nd-minute header and a 112th-minute penalty from Dominic Feldkamp ensured that Thomas Tuchel would lead Germany into a first European final since 2016.

 

2026 FIFA World Cup finalists Italy and England renewed their rivalry when they played the second Semi Final in Drammen. It was the Azzurri who drew first blood through Angelo Di Rocco in the 25th minute, but their hopes suffered a major blow when winger Pinardi suffered a dead leg early in the second half. The Three Lions roared back after 81 minutes through Scott, and captain Johnson then sealed the win in typical fashion after 89. England were through to a fourth successive major Final - and their first under new head coach Nemanja Covic.

 

RESULTS: Germany 4-2 Switzerland (aet), England 2-1 Italy.

 

Final

The Oslo International Arena was the setting for what proved to be a feisty Final between Germany and England. Slovenian referee Mitja Zigante had to constantly blow his whistle to stop play, and in the 31st minute, he was forced to draw out his red card. Real Madrid midfielder Denis Schumacher received a second booking after elbowing Scott Winterburn, and Germany were down to 10 men. The Mannschaft would be under the cosh from then on, and their cause wasn't helped when striker Martin Klonz tore his hamstring early in the second half. Despite that, England couldn't take advantage, and a host of misses meant the game was still goalless after 90 minutes.

 

Extra-time was similarly scrappy, as the Three Lions got stuck in with some rough tackling of their own. Germany lost another key player - Markus Bieber - to another torn hamstring just before the battle of Oslo was decided on penalties. Three or four decades ago, the outcome would've been obvious, but not so here. With the scores level at 3-3 after four kicks each, Arsenal's Lloyd Mulvaney scored to put England on the brink of glory. Andy Boyes then saved from Hamburg left-back Emerson to ensure that the world champions would be crowned kings of Europe!

 

After beating the Germans on penalties for the first time ever, England got their first opportunity to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy, with captain Johnson doing the honours. 41-year-old Serbian mastermind Covic added yet another major title to his growing CV, and he'll definitely be staying on for a tilt at the 2034 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. Could England - now unquestionably the number 1 team in international football - really make it a record three World Cup wins in a row?

 

RESULT: England 0-0 Germany (4-3 penalties).

 

Award Winners

Best Player: Andrzej Wolanski (Germany).

Golden Boot: Thomas Weber (Germany, 9 goals).

Best Goal: Mijo Djuzel (Croatia, vs Bulgaria - Group Stage).

Dream Team:

• Dawid Wisniewski (Germany and Bayer Leverkusen)
• Philipp Janker (Germany and Red Bull Salzburg)
• Christopher Khan (England and Chelsea)
• Harald Burkhard (Germany and Manchester City)
• Benjamin Ayhan (Germany and Bayern Munich)
• Gabriel Steffen (Switzerland and Borussia Moenchengladbach)
• Andrzej Wolanski (Germany and Real Betis)
• Jonas Fischli (Switzerland and PSV)
• Olexandr Gonchar (Ukraine and Metalurg Donetsk)
• Hassan Ben Ayad (Holland and Bayern Munich)
• Thomas Weber (Germany and Barcelona)

[neilhoskins77]

I don't want this to sound wrong, because I think you already know that I always enjoy your stories. But when it get towards the end of the domestic season, I look forward to it being over to read your season reviews and narratives from International tournaments. Great stuff Chris.

[CFuller]

30 minutes ago, neilhoskins77 said:

I don't want this to sound wrong, because I think you already know that I always enjoy your stories. But when it get towards the end of the domestic season, I look forward to it being over to read your season reviews and narratives from International tournaments. Great stuff Chris.

I'm really glad you like them, Neil. To be honest, I probably enjoy writing the season round-ups more than anything else - it's a great way to fully immerse myself in the game world at large, even when events do become more and more unrealistic (England beating the Germans on penalties, for one thing ).

I'm on a roll here at the moment, so no break for me - I'll start posting up the new season tomorrow morning*!

* If I remember, of course. To tell you the truth, I had completely forgotten about the Euro 2032 roundup until a couple of hours ago. That's probably because I'd spent a lot of this weekend writing content for a couple of new FM stories, which you might be seeing in the not-too-distant future...

[CFuller]

JULY 2032

For all that I had achieved during my first decade at Dagenham & Redbridge, the club's greatest ever manager was still, in my eyes, its first manager - John Still.

 

The affable east Londoner took the helm at Dagenham & Redbridge 40 years ago, when the club he was managing at the time - Redbridge Forest - merged with Dagenham FC. Still led the newly-amalgamated Daggers through their first two seasons in the Conference and then moved on to pastures new in 1994. He returned to Victoria Road in 2004 and took them into the Football League for the first time three years later before stepping down in 2014.

 

I was very privileged to meet John, now aged 82 and happily enjoying his retirement in Spain, over the summer. He still has great affection for the Daggers and is thrilled to see that they've come so far since I took over. John is also still (pardon the pun) sharp as a tack, and during our meeting, he pointed out that - all being well - I would break his record for the longest continuous reign as Dagenham manager this autumn. I hadn't really thought about that, but it would make me proud if I could surpass the great man.

 

My 11th - yes, ELEVENTH - season in charge at Victoria Road was set to be my most challenging yet. Having finished in the top half of the Championship for three successive campaigns, we now felt that we were ready to make a serious claim for promotion to the Premier League. However, it remained to be seen how we would fare without our inspirational captain and record goalscorer Mark West, who had retired in April.

 

We did, though, have four new players - defender Velimir Radosavljevic, wingers Steven Shelton and Lars Zandbergen, and target man Paul Nixon. Actually, no... you could make that five, depending on if you would call a returning face a 'new' signing.

 

Much to the delight of his many fans at Dagenham, Baldur Hreidarsson had indeed returned for a second loan spell from West Ham United. The now 21-year-old Icelander scored 14 goals for the Daggers last season, and I'm hoping he can continue to deliver the goods this term. If things go well, don't rule out the possibility of us signing Baldur permanently next summer.

 

Hreidarsson's return to Victoria Road meant that Derek Wright's first-team breakthrough would have to be postponed... at least for another six months. Instead, the 19-year-old striker would spend the first half of this season on loan at League One side Scunthorpe United instead.

 

I was now reasonably happy with my squad, although I still had a couple of additional signings in mind. More on them a bit later.

 

Notably, our squad would be missing a couple of centre-backs for most if not all of pre-season. George Darvill and John Moser had respectively been called up by England and France for the European Under-19s Championship, which would begin in England in the middle of July.

 

In terms of our pre-season friendlies, I went for quality over quantity when sorting out our schedule. I thought that playing eight games in pre-season had contributed to slow starts to our last couple of Championship campaigns. I therefore chose to only arrange six friendlies this time - two against Premier League giants, three against Football League sides, and one against a team from the Dutch Eredivisie.

 

There would be no tour abroad for us this summer, and that was largely because we couldn't afford to arrange one at the time. Instead, we would start pre-season by heading west to meet a couple of decent Football League opponents.

 

Oxford United very nearly joined us in the Championship last spring, when they finished 3rd in League One and lost in the Play-Off Semi Finals. Steve King ended his 17-season reign as Oxford manager after their play-off heartache, and he was succeeded by 33-year-old former U's right-back Neil Brown.

 

Regular followers of our progress might recall that we won all four of our meetings against Oxford during our League One days, including an astonishing 7-0 demolition at the Kassam Stadium. Our return there would surely not be so one-sided.

 

10 July 2032: Oxford United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Matthew Fraser took the game to Oxford early on, flighting a free-kick just over their bar after just nine minutes. Three minutes later, a brilliant run across United's penalty area saw Fraser get to Joel Honeyball's corner delivery and head it into the net.

 

Our opening goal could've been followed by another in the 14th minute, but Dam's close-range header was parried by Oxford goalkeeper Conor McKeown. Welsh winger Shaun Powell was unlucky not to bury the rebound for us before he was stopped by a vital tackle from Christian Colton. We did go 2-0 up in the 25th minute, when American defender Zola Casey connected with Victor's flick-on and half-volleyed in a clinical finish.

 

By the 35th minute, we were already coasting towards victory. Mario Djokic's excellent solo run towards the Oxford area was halted by a tackle from U's midfielder William Burgess, but the ball went loose, leaving Paul Nixon with an easy finish for his first Dagenham goal!

 

Oxford should have claimed a goal back in the 42nd minute, but star striker Reis Collins somehow hit the post after gliding past a slide tackle from Casey. Daryl Ryan then secured the ball to ensure that we would go into the interval with a comfortable 3-0 lead.

 

Nixon could've followed up his debut goal with an assist for Djokic in the 48th minute, but Mario's shot was charged down by Oxford winger Cledan Price. Shortly after that, Ryan made his first real save of the match - a simple catch from Collins' header.

 

Daryl would not have to do much more work in this match, as the U's really were useless when going forward. Their best chance to claim a goal back came from 17-year-old Henry Greenwood, who - like Collins - thumped the post after 59 minutes. Colin Allen then sent a volley over our crossbar in the 78th minute as United made an underwhelming start to life under new manager Neil Brown.

 

Our second-half performance also left plenty to be desired, as we only had one shot on target - a Baldur Hreidarsson header that was caught by Oxford's substitute keeper Justin Morgan on 70 minutes. Midfielder Dean Martin then came off with a knock eight minutes from the end of what was a fairly straightforward victory for us.

 

Oxford United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Fraser 12, Casey 25, Nixon 35)

Friendly, Attendance 3,158

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan (Whalley), Puustinen (Banton), Lloyd (Duru), Casey (Radosavljevic), O'Reilly (Mazzola), Powell (Atta), Fraser (Virgo), Dam (Martin (Reynolds)), Honeyball (Zandbergen), Nixon (Hreidarsson), Djokic (Egueh). BOOKED: Honeyball.

 

After an impressive three-goal win, three players signed long-term contracts with the Daggers. Left-back Rocco Mazzola and forward Joel Honeyball agreed to extend their stays at Victoria Road until at least 2035 and 2036 respectively. As for the third player to agree terms with us, he was a brand-new acquisition.

 

Former Celtic striker Souleymane Nomaou had been brought in to strengthen our attacking options. The 28-year-old is very pacey, and a cool and composed finisher, so he could potentially be a fantastic signing for us. 'Sol' was born in Niger, for whom he has scored 23 goals in 33 international matches, but he grew up in north London and came through Tottenham Hotspur's youth academy.

 

Just hours after signing a two-year deal with us, Nomaou joined the Daggers squad in Gloucestershire for a match against Cheltenham Town. The Robins had finished 10th in League Two in each of the last two seasons.

 

13 July 2032: Cheltenham Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Our first attack fizzled out after two minutes, when Dave Hutchinson's right-wing cross was caught by Mitchell Strevens. The Cheltenham goalkeeper then hoisted the ball long to Mitch Calcutt, who nodded it ahead of his strike partner Daniel Bastow. The teenage forward coasted past our rookie centre-back Velimir Radosavljevic before drilling Cheltenham into an unexpected early lead.

 

That was a real shock to our system, and when Baldur Hreidarsson headed over a great chance to equalise on 10 minutes, it looked like this would be a surprisingly difficult evening for us. A minute later, though, we were breathing a bit easier. Jacques Polomat sent a free-kick over to Hutchinson, whose centre was slid into the net by Nigel Atta for the equaliser.

 

Hutch was unlucky not to register another assist in the 13th minute. The 17-year-old threaded a lovely ball forward to skipper Joel Honeyball, whose strike was parried by Strevens. Strevens made another big save in the 20th minute from Hreidarsson, whose next couple of attempts at goal were rather less threatening. The first half had generally been disappointing for us, and particularly for Velimir, who didn't bounce back from his early lapse and was subbed during the interval.

 

I brought on four substitutes in total before the second half got underway. One of them was Paul Nixon, who headed Shaun Powell's corner into Strevens' hands on 47 minutes. Four minutes later, Nixon broke away from the Robins defence to run onto a fabulous through-ball from Polomat. The Northern Irishman only had to beat Strevens... but he blasted his shot horribly over the crossbar!

 

That would be a big turning point, as Cheltenham went back into the lead after 56 minutes. The excellent Calcutt found Robins right-winger Daniel Perrin, who dribbled through a huge gap in the Dagenham defence before slipping the ball underneath Kieran Whalley.

 

I switched things around massively soon after we went 2-1 down, bringing on a number of key players - and new signing Souleymane Nomaou - in a bid to turn the game around. Meanwhile, Cheltenham's attempts to hold onto their lead suffered a blow when midfielder Ryan Blower tore his hamstring just before the half-hour.

 

We started to control the game a bit more in the final 30 minutes, though our shooting continued to disappoint. Nixon was unable to direct a promising shot towards goal in the 72nd minute, while Nomaou's half-volley in the 77th went straight into Strevens' hands.

 

Sol did get another shot on target after 79 minutes, but Strevens tipped that one over the bar and condemned the Niger international to a losing Daggers debut. Although man of the match Calcutt dislocated his shoulder towards the end, League Two Cheltenham had done brilliantly to record a shock 2-1 win.

 

Cheltenham Town - 2 (Bastow 3, Perrin 56)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Atta 11)

Friendly, Attendance 1,819

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley (Ryan), Banton (Puustinen), Radosavljevic (Lloyd), Casey (Wood), Mazzola (O'Reilly), Hutchinson (Dam), Virgo (Fraser), Atta (Powell), Polomat (Nomaou), Hreidarsson (Nixon), Honeyball (Shelton). BOOKED: Atta, Radosavljevic.

 

We had 21 shots at goal in that game, but only a third of them were on target. Conversely, Cheltenham scored with two of their three attempts. An inability to convert chances was a big reason why we missed out on the play-offs last season, so we had to sharpen up our shooting if this campaign wasn't to go the same way.

[CFuller]

JULY 2032 (continued)

Our odds of winning promotion from the Championship this season were actually a bit more generous compared to the previous two seasons. William Hill placed us in the top half at 33-1, with the relegated trio of Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers and Southampton all at 3-1 to go straight back up. (Other bookmakers are available.)

 

You could probably have got odds of 33-1 on us beating Fulham at home in our next pre-season friendly. This was the 19th year in a row in which we'd played our parent club - the previous 18 meetings had seen 16 Fulham wins and two draws, with an aggregate score of 50-7.

 

Would things be different this year, though? The Cottagers only finished 14th in the Premier League last season, and manager Vladimir Weiss was the 13th different coach they had had under the ownership of trigger-happy Dmitrijs Morozs. I don't think the Latvian dictionary has any words for 'stability' or 'continuity'.

 

17 July 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Fulham

Despite our terrible record against Fulham, we weren't afraid to attack them early on in front of a capacity crowd at Victoria Road. Baldur Hreidarsson and Mario Djokic each missed the target in the first six minutes, though they would link up to produce a sublime goal after nine minutes. Baldur nodded the ball long to Mario, who ran at the Fulham defence before smashing in a blistering shot from the edge of the area! In my 10th meeting with the Cottagers, this was the first time I'd ever seen us take the lead against our parent club!

 

Things almost got better still after 20 minutes, when Djokic intercepted a free-kick from Fulham goalkeeper Daniel Lye before it could reach centre-back James Thewlis. Djokic pretty much had a clear target to aim at, but he incredibly pulled his shot beyond the far post.

 

That was a huge let-off for the visitors... and we had one of our own two minutes later, when new Fulham striker Paulo Jorge's diving header went wide. Mario would punish the Cottagers for that miss in the 26th minute. The Montenegrin got past Thewlis to run onto Dean Martin's long pass and slot it beyond the onrushing Lye.

 

We were 2-0 up against filthy-rich Fulham, who retaliated by halving our lead in the 37th minute. Six minutes after hitting the bar from long range, left-back Irakli Kvaratskhelia blasted a low shot past Daryl Ryan to put the Premier League side back in the running.

 

Despite that, we would take them back down a peg after 41 minutes. Mario wrapped up a first-half hat-trick when he ran onto Baldur's flick-on, charged through the Cottagers' defence, and then beat Lye.

 

We would go into the break with a lead over Fulham, although it was only 3-2 rather than 3-1. Our opponents pulled one goal back in the 44th minute through Paulo Jorge - a £9.5million signing from Real Betis. The 27-year-old Portugal striker smashed in a slide-rule pass from compatriot Goncalho Coelho, giving Daryl no chance of keeping it out.

 

That second Fulham goal just before half-time would prove to be the game-changer. The bell tolled for our lead four minutes into the second half, when Cottagers full-back Pavel Pavlov's cross was headed home by midfielder Dirk Henrich.

 

Having come back from 3-1 down, the visitors almost took the lead on 54th minute, but Paulo Jorge's header from Victor Berceanu's corner skimmed the crossbar. Berceanu himself would miss a chance in the 56th minute, before Hreidarsson's strike for Dagenham in the 62nd was turned behind by Lye. The second half got a bit tighter after a fast-paced start, and it looked increasingly likely that the scoreline would remain at 3-3.

 

Then Fulham cranked up the pressure in the final 15 minutes. Our substitute goalkeeper Colin Glasgow bravely withstood a couple of shots from Johan van Keulen, but the Northern Ireland youth international couldn't secure what would've been a creditable draw. As the game ticked into the 85th minute, England midfielder Jamie Kerins slid the ball into our penalty area, and Kenan Bingol's cool finish made it "Bingo!" as far as Fulham were concerned.

 

We would have one final opportunity to restore parity in injury time, but Souleymane Nomaou's shot was stopped by the visitors' first-choice goalkeeper Joe Allen. Despite a valiant display from the Daggers, we hadn't quite done enough to end our Cottagers hoodoo.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Djokic 9,26,41)

Fulham - 4 (Kvaratskhelia 37, Paulo Jorge 44, Henrich 49, Bingol 85)

Friendly, Attendance 12,000

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan (Glasgow), Lloyd (Mazzola), Banton (Casey), Wood (Quinn), Puustinen (Pearson), O'Reilly (Shelton), Barnes (Virgo), Fraser (Polomat), Martin (Dam), Hreidarsson (Reynolds), Djokic (Nomaou). BOOKED: Puustinen, Barnes.

 

As if pipping us at the post on the pitch wasn't enough, Fulham would cruelly do that to us again off it. We were all set to sign Italy Under-19s midfielder Leo Cortesi, who'd recently been released by Inter Milan... until our parent club dove in at the 11th hour with a more lucrative offer that lured him to Craven Cottage.

 

Meanwhile, reserve goalkeeper Colin Glasgow made a short trip across east London to begin a six-month loan spell at Conference Premier side Leyton Orient.

 

As one player left our pre-season camp, John Moser returned to Dagenham to begin his preparations for the new Championship campaign. Moser and his France team had just been knocked out of the European Under-19s Championship at the Group Stage... but George Darvill's England were still in the running. They would take on Holland in the Semi Final, on the same day that we played against the team who finished 9th in last season's Eredivisie.

 

Our opponents were, to give them their full name, Nooit Opgeven Altijd Doorgaan Aangenaam Door Vermaak En Nuttig Door Ontspanning Combinatie Breda. Everybody else just calls them NAC Breda.

 

21 July 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs NAC Breda

NAC Breda gave us a couple of scares in the first three minutes. Captain Peter Lemmens had a free-kick saved by Kieran Whalley before midfielder Argjend Todorovski struck the post from distance. NAC's bright start fizzled out after Roy Hendriks' header in the 12th minute was easily caught by Whalley. Tom Virgo missed our first shot at goal a minute later, though our next attack would be rather more successful.

 

After 26 minutes, Souleymane Nomaou met Shaun Powell's right-wing cross with an excellent header. Mo de Winter produced a fantastic fingertip save to keep it out, but a weak interception from Breda defender Jack Piqué allowed Paul Nixon to bury the follow-up.

 

Nixon had given us the lead, and he could've doubled it in the 42nd minute but for an impressive save from de Winter. At the other end, Whalley kept out another Hendriks chance in the 32nd minute to ensure that we would still be in front at the half-time interval.

 

Our new Dutch winger Lars Zandbergen threatened to register an assist against his compatriots in the 47th minute, but his cut-back was fired just over by Nomaou. NAC then replaced their goalkeeper de Winter with Emile van den Dungen, who would make a solid catch from a 56th-minute drive by Jacques Polomat.

 

Meanwhile, Whalley continued to produce the goods in our goal, saving a couple of Ramon de Jong strikes in the 58th and 63rd minutes. We went back on the attack after 65 minutes, as Nixon's header from a left-wing Zandbergen delivery was tipped behind by van den Dungen. Heikki Puustinen swung the resultant corner towards William Barnes at the near post, and our captain headed it against the woodwork.

 

Further chances from our Balkan duo of Velimir Radosavljevic and Mario Djokic went to waste before the latter got a chance to secure victory in injury time. Djokic stepped up to take a 93rd-minute penalty after Piqué had barged into our youth-team centre-half Carl Quinn. Mario blasted the spot-kick emphatically past van den Dungen, and the spoils were ours. NAC Breda may be nicknamed 'De Parel van het Zuiden', but we were the real 'Pearls of the South'!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Nixon 26, Djokic pen90)

NAC Breda - 0

Friendly, Attendance 4,642

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley (Farrell), Banton (Puustinen), Lloyd (Quinn), Moser (Radosavljevic), Mazzola (O'Reilly), Powell (Atta), Virgo (Barnes), Polomat (Martin), Zandbergen (Shelton), Nixon (Honeyball), Nomaou (Djokic). BOOKED: Powell.

 

So... how did George Darvill get on for England's Under-19s in their big Semi Final? Well, George had a fine game personally, but it wasn't enough. Holland scored the decisive goal after 89 minutes as they won 2-1 at the County Ground in Swindon.

 

Darvill was understandably disappointed, but England's exit meant that he could rejoin the Daggers squad in time for our final home friendly against Chelsea. Ard van Peppen's Blues gave us a 5-1 spanking at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup four months ago, but would the outcome be different at Victoria Road?

 

24 July 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Chelsea

Victoria Road was packed for the second weekend in a row, and most of the 12,000 spectators were celebrating a surprise opener for Dagenham after just 41 seconds. It was a moment to remember for Souleymane Nomaou, who slid in his first Daggers goal from the rebound after his initial effort was parried back to him by Chelsea goalkeeper Andreas Schramm!

 

Going behind so quickly clearly rattled the Blues, who weren't anything like their best in the first half. German custodian Schramm had to make a fine save in the 11th minute to prevent Nomaou from giving us a shock 2-0 lead. Schramm also caught a 37th-minute drive from Victor Dam, while our other Nordic star - Icelandic forward Baldur Hreidarsson - sent a couple of shots wide.

 

Baldur did at least pose more of a threat to Chelsea than the Blues did to us. Scottish veteran Derek Halliday and Welsh teenager Callum Lea hardly got any decent service up front for the Premier League giants, who were controlling the ball very well but not piercing it through our defence.

 

If Chelsea's defence was very slow to get going in the first half, they were even more sluggish in the second. The half wasn't even 30 seconds old when full-back Steffen Stampe's slide-tackle on our promising midfielder Dave Hutchinson diverted the ball on to Nomaou. Sol then burst through and slotted the ball past Valentín Castillo, who'd replaced Schramm in the Chelsea goal at half-time.

 

Nomaou thought his afternoon couldn't get better... but in the 50th minute, it did! Dean Martin penetrated the Blues' defence with an incisive ball to the Nigerien striker, who wrapped up his hat-trick and incredibly put us 3-0 ahead!

 

Ard van Peppen's gameplan had fallen apart, and the usually-cool Dutchman started making irrational decisions as he tried to get Chelsea back in contention any which way he could. van Peppen replaced Lea with Patrik Horak after the third goal... but then took the Czech midfielder off six minutes later after he pulled a dreadful shot wide!

 

Apart from a 62nd-minute shot from England defender Christopher Khan that was blocked by Hutchinson, the Blues wouldn't get near our goal again. Midfielder Almir Murtic and right-back Aidan Bobbins would later receive bookings as Chelsea's gameplan completely unravelled.

 

Though Castillo did superbly to prevent Paul Nixon from making it 4-0 after 79 minutes, the Mexican was unable to salvage his team's pride. Three minutes before full-time, Martin's right-wing cross was poked into the net by substitute Mario Djokic, and an unbelievable match finished with us four goals ahead! Chelsea's superstars had been pensioned off, and the Daggers were looking sharper than ever!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Nomaou 1,46,50, Djokic 87)

Chelsea - 0

Friendly, Attendance 12,000

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Duru (Lloyd), Casey (Moser), Darvill (Shelton), Puustinen (Banton), O'Reilly (Moran), Hutchinson (Barnes), Fraser (Honeyball), Dam (Martin), Hreidarsson (Nixon), Nomaou (Djokic).

 

No, your mind is not playing tricks on you. We had beaten the 5th-best team in the country - in fact, we'd absolutely destroyed them! Chelsea couldn't even muster a single shot on target against us!

 

I'd like to say that this was revenge for the pasting we got in the FA Cup Quarter Final. Okay, it was only in a friendly, but a 4-0 win over Chelsea is a result that Dagenham & Redbridge fans will remember for a long, long time!

[CFuller]

JULY 2032 (continued)

Three more young Daggers went out on loan as the new season drew nearer. Left-flankers Rocco Mazzola and Lars Zandbergen would both be playing in League One for the next six months, as full-back Rocco went to Birmingham City, and newly-signed winger Lars was farmed out to Queens Park Rangers.

 

Also leaving Victoria Road to gain first-team experience was youth midfielder Joe Charles. He would spend the next six months at Yeovil Town, who'd built up a reputation as a middling League Two club in recent years.

 

In other news, the European Under-19s Championship came to an end, with Portugal beating Holland 2-1 in extra-time to lift the title. I mention that because the tournament's Best XI featured a certain George Darvill, who was the only Englishman to make the select team.

 

Our final friendly was at Bell Close against feeder club Leighton Town, who were just days away from making their Football League debut. Although most of our first-team regulars stayed at home to rest before our Championship opener, a few big names such as William Barnes and Mario Djokic did travel with an otherwise youthful squad to build up their match fitness.

 

27 July 2032: Leighton Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

After a couple of poor early attempts from Dagenham midfielder Jacques Polomat, we were subjected to some much better shots from Leighton. Daggers goalie Daryl Ryan passed his first test in the 9th minute, when he tipped over a header from Conor Laird.

 

Reds winger Harry Hinton then forced Ryan into a couple of catches after 12 and 18 minutes. Meanwhile, our struggles at the other end continued, with young forward Ollie Reynolds doing nothing to suggest that he was ready for regular first-team football.

 

The first goal of a tight game would eventually come after 36 minutes... from a Mr D Martin. However, it wasn't from Dean Martin, who blasted a piledriver over the bar for Dagenham in the 28th minute. Eight minutes after that, Leighton's Scottish striker David Martin ran onto a Hinton flick-on, took the ball beyond Ryan, and stabbed in a cool finish. The League Two newcomers were 1-0 up!

 

Dean Martin's afternoon got worse in the 41st minute, when he was pushed for a trip on Hinton. Another midfielder struggled somewhat, as Polomat missed the target twice more late on before finally striking lucky in stoppage time. Jacques' low strike deflected into the goal off the post, and it was 1-1 at half-time.

 

Youth striker Tristan Egueh was one of four players who came on for the Daggers during the break. Egueh could've had an assist in the 54th minute, but his pass to Polomat resulted in a shot that was easily caught by Reds goalkeeper Javlon Phelan.

 

In the 56th minute, Leighton sub Gerry Ennis unleashed a half-volley that flew over the crossbar. Ennis' next chance seven minutes later was pulled wide, although his colleague Hinton did rattle the crossbar with a cross two minutes after that.

 

Our target man Baldur Hreidarsson then blazed a 70th-minute shot into the stands as the game threatened to dissolve into a poor 1-1 draw. Egueh couldn't break through a stubborn Leighton defence before the substitute was subbed in favour of Souleymane Nomaou, who also had an ineffective cameo.

 

Then, three minutes from time, it appeared that we were heading for defeat. Leighton retook the lead after Hinton's centre was poked into the target by another Scottish frontman - Mitchel Duguid. We'd had significantly more shots at goal than our League Two opponents, but just like against Cheltenham Town, we hadn't been clinical enough.

 

The final three minutes of normal time passed by without an equaliser, as did the three scheduled minutes of injury time... but play continued into a fourth additional minute as we launched a final assault. Loanee left-winger Steven Shelton sent a last-ditch centre to the far post, where his opposite winger Shaun Powell popped up to fire it home and save a draw! I wasn't exactly chuffed, mind. This had been another disappointing show against lower-league opposition, and we were lucky not to lose again.

 

Leighton Town - 2 (Martin 36, Duguid 87)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Polomat 45, Powell 90)

Friendly, Attendance 1,158

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan (Farrell), McCourt (Pearson), Duru (Quinn), Moser (Darvill), Radosavljevic (Moran), Nixon (Hreidarsson), Barnes (Hutchinson), Martin (Atta), Polomat (Powell), Reynolds (Shelton), Djokic (Egueh (Nomaou)). BOOKED: Martin, Moran.

 

That narrow escape ended a short - and very bizarre - pre-season campaign that had seen us lose to Cheltenham Town before destroying Chelsea. If there was anything I could confidently say before the new season, it was that I couldn't confidently say whereabouts we'd finish in the Championship.

 

After our final friendly, I allowed 17-year-old midfielder Dave Hutchinson to join Cheltenham on loan for six months. Even after what they had done to us, I felt no ill towards the Robins, and I hoped that they could help Hutch realise his huge potential.

 

At roughly the same time, I announced that all-action midfielder William Barnes would be the new captain of Dagenham & Redbridge. That choice was generally well-received, although long-serving local boy Joel Honeyball felt that he had a strong case to be skipper. Joel was instead given the vice-captaincy as compensation.

 

As July came to an end, our new Championship season began with a home match against Essex rivals Colchester United. The U's finished a lowly 19th last term and were desperate to regain local bragging rights, so we would need to get out of the blocks quickly.

 

31 July 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Colchester United

Dagenham fans feared the worst when Colchester winger Victor Hamsher found Regan Stroud with an excellent cross into our penalty area after just three minutes. Thankfully, Stroud's header was far from excellent, sailing well wide. There was no such profligacy at the other end a minute later, when Mario Djokic smashed Paul Nixon's square ball into the United net!

 

Our season was off to a flier, and this Montenegrin eagle would soon soar to greater heights. In the 8th minute, Mario flew from the centre circle to Colchester's penalty area, where he struck for a second time!

 

Dean Martin also wanted in on the goalscoring action, although his shot in the 12th minute was well blocked by U's captain Casey Phillips. Three minutes later, Daggers goalie Kieran Whalley made his first save of the league season from Stroud's fierce drive.

 

Kieran's Colchester counterpart Shayne Griffin would be called upon in the 18th minute to stop another audacious effort from Martin. Things then went rather quiet for the rest of the half, although Nixon and Martin each missed late chances to strengthen our position. Would those misses prove costly?

 

My first reason for concern came when Hamsher skirted past a slide tackle from George Darvill in the opening minute of the second half. We held our collective breaths in the Daggers dugout... and then breathed sigh of reliefs, as Hamsher's shot smacked the post before Gareth Lloyd cleared it into touch. Whalley had to catch a header from Stroud shortly after that. Colchester's bright start to the half then fizzled out, allowing us to recompose and move closer to sealing victory.

 

Half-time substitute Baldur Hreidarsson had his first pop at goal after 56 minutes, but he was thwarted by Griffin's fingertips. Newly-appointed captain William Barnes also had a shot saved by Griffin in the 68th minute before making way for Tom Virgo.

 

In Will's absence, free-kick responsibilities were handed over to Baldur. The Icelander sent a superb set-piece into the top corner in the 74th minute after Djokic was fouled by U's defender Eric Ford, and we were 3-0 up!

 

Although Victor Dam came off shortly after that third goal following a rough tackle from Colchester right-back Miles Wardell, we remained on course to win an opening-day Championship fixture for the first time. Baldur made victory absolutely certain on 81 minutes, when he headed in Heikki Puustinen's cross to make it 4-0.

 

After a few late attempts at goal from United frontman Stroud went begging, the final whistle blew on what had been an excellent season-opener for us. With a resounding victory in the bag, we shot straight up to the top of the table!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Djokic 4,8, Hreidarsson 74,81)

Colchester United - 0

Championship, Attendance 11,760 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 1st, Colchester 24th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly, Fraser, Barnes (Virgo), Dam (Shelton), Martin, Nixon (Hreidarsson), Djokic.

 

We're going to win the bloody Championship, aren't we?!

 

Okay, okay... maybe I'm being a little premature. Nevertheless, a big win on the opening weekend could bode well for the campaign ahead, so I'm hoping that this marks the start of a truly memorable season.

[CFuller]

Dagenham & Redbridge squad - Start of 2032/2033 season

(All ages correct as of 1 August 2032)

GOALKEEPERS

1. Daryl Ryan (age 27, Irish)

Daryl's still as solid as ever, but he may have to play second-fiddle to the younger Whalley from now on.

13. Kieran Whalley (age 21, English)

Although Kieran lost his starting place last season, I feel that he's now mature enough to hammer down a starting spot. If the confident Mancunian can improve his agility, he could grow into an excellent keeper.

DEFENDERS

2. Heikki Puustinen (age 31, Finnish)

Heikki has been ice-cool since his place as our regular right-back came under serious threat. The Finn has superb endurance and will be staying at Victoria Road until at least the end of this season.

3. Daniel O'Reilly (age 24, Irish)

Daniel is now part of the Dagenham furniture and firmly established at wing-back. Although he could contribute a bit more when going forward, he's an excellent defender and one of our more consistent players.

5. John Moser (age 18, French)

John was exceptional while on loan in League One last season and is now ready to step up to the Championship. At 5ft 11in, he'll never be the greatest centre-back in the air, but he's strong and very mature for his age.

6. George Darvill (age 19, English)

George was last season's breakthrough star and is already a regular at centre-half, despite his tender years. The local lad has been capped by England Under-19s and will surely have a glittering career in football.

19. Gareth Lloyd (age 32, Welsh)

Our rickety defence was much sturdier once centre-half Gareth joined us last October. The Wales vice-captain thrives in big games and has outstanding marking ability, making him a key part of our backline.

23. Arran Banton (age 22, English)

Right-wing workhorse Arran is all set to complete the transition to regular starter this season.

24. Zola Casey (age 20, American)

Virginian centre-back Zola is certainly strong, though he still needs to improve a lot mentally and technically.

26. Philip Duru (age 20, Nigerian)

Philip's no mean defender, but he's at risk of becoming overshadowed by our younger centre-backs.

31. Velimir Radosavljevic (age 19, Serbian)

Velimir's got the aerial ability to play at centre-half, and the energy to perform decently at left-back too.

MIDFIELDERS

4. William Barnes (age 23, English)

William's a powder keg of a central midfielder, but I hope that giving him the captaincy will calm him down somewhat. The resilient former England youth international has been part of our squad for five years.

7. Shaun Powell (age 19, Welsh)

Wingers have often been very hit-and-miss for me, and Shaun is no different. 'The Blonde Bombshell' is very explosive pace-wise, but his crosses really need to find their target much more often.

8. Victor Dam (age 27, Danish)

Last season was perhaps Victor's best on the assists front, as the energetic Dane set up eight goals. To use a North American term, he's in a 'contract year', so I'm expecting him to kick on further and earn a new deal.

11. Steven Shelton (age 20, English)

On loan from Manchester City, Steven could become a useful left-winger if we can get his self-confidence up.

14. Matthew Fraser (age 25, Scottish)

I wish I could wrap Matthew up in cotton wool, because he's an asset for us when fit. The deep-lying midfielder is an excellent long-range passer who loves to dictate the tempo and control the game.

17. Tom Virgo (age 20, English)

Youth graduate Tom is a useful backup defensive midfielder who does his job with the minimum of fuss.

18. Dean Martin (age 24, English)

Whenever Dean is on the pitch, expect killer balls galore and a full-blooded display from midfield. The fearless Londoner has the ability to turn a game on its head at any given moment.

20. José Cochet (age 20, French)

Defensive midfielder José has only just recovered from a broken leg that has really set his development back.

21. Jacques Polomat (age 20, French)

Jacques could still be a fine attacking midfielder, though his big breakthrough might not come for a while.

FORWARDS

9. Mario Djokic (age 33, Montenegrin)

Now our only remaining player who was born before the Millennium, Mario is still a fantastic goalscorer on his day. Even as his physical ability gradually declines, his predatory instinct will surely never leave him.

10. Paul Nixon (age 22, Northern Irish)

Ulster-born new record signing Paul is a real wildcard who could become our next go-to target man.

12. Souleymane Nomaou (age 28, Nigerien)

Souleymane bagged a hat-trick against Chelsea and could prove to be an excellent poacher for us.

15. Joel Honeyball (age 24, English)

Dagenham born and bred, Joel deserves to be vice-captain, even though he certainly won't play in every game. The speedy striker/left-winger has always been able to frighten defenders when called upon.

16. Baldur Hreidarsson (age 21, Icelandic)

After scoring or creating 27 goals last season, Baldur has been brought back for a second loan spell from West Ham United. Daggers fans have fallen head over heels for this brave and burly Nordic target man.

 

RESERVE & YOUTH PLAYERS

Goalkeepers: Jerome Farrell, Courtney Gallagher, Colin Glasgow (on loan at Leyton Orient)

Defenders: Paul Habu, Rocco Mazzola (on loan at Birmingham City), Will McCourt, Kevin McManus, Jefferson Moran, Ross Pearson, Carl Quinn, Larry Wood

Midfielders: Nigel Atta, Joe Charles (on loan at Yeovil Town), Gavan Davies, Dave Hutchinson (on loan at Cheltenham Town), Dennis McCann, Anton Morris, Martin Thompson, Lars Zandbergen (on loan at Queens Park Rangers)

Forwards: Tristan Egueh, Peguy Kasongo, Aaron Megson, Ollie Reynolds, Derek Wright (on loan at Scunthorpe United)

 

BACKROOM STAFF

Manager: Christopher Fuller

Assistant Manager: Fabio Saraiva

Coaches: Jamie Cochrane, Richaee Derby, Lewis Proudfoot, Marco Verratti

Fitness Coach: David Wheater

Goalkeeping Coach: Scott Carson

Physios: Sam Cutler (head), Adam Hutchings

Scouts: Callum Donnelly (chief), Goma Lambu, Chris Lewington, Dylan McGeouch, Thierry Monteny, Nicky Reynolds

 

Reserves Manager: Sean O'Callaghan

 

Head of Youth Development: Curtis Langton

Under-18s Manager: Tom Ince

Under-18s Assistant Manager: Aaron McEwan

Under-18s Coach: Joseph Yoffe

[CFuller]

And here's the now-annual depth chart:

GK: Whalley / Ryan

D/WB L: O'Reilly / Radosavljevic / Duru
D C: Lloyd / Darvill / Radosavljevic / Moser / Casey / Duru
D/WB R: Puustinen / Banton / Moser

DM C: Barnes / Virgo / Cochet

M/AM L: Shelton / Honeyball
M C: Barnes / Fraser / Martin / Virgo / Dam / Cochet
M/AM R: Powell / Martin / Virgo

AM C: Dam / Martin / Polomat / Honeyball

F C (strikers): Djokic / Nomaou / Honeyball
F C (centre-forwards): Nixon / Hreidarsson / Polomat

[CFuller]

AUGUST 2032

We had ended July by thrashing Colchester United, so imagine how our county rivals must have felt when we began August by demolishing their reserve team as well! Our second-string began their league campaign with a 5-1 victory over Colchester, in which Souleymane Nomaou helped himself to a couple of goals.

 

As far as our first-team was concerned, their next game was away to Millwall, who held Aston Villa to a goalless stalemate on the opening day. We travelled to The Den on the final day of last season, getting a 1-1 draw in what was effectively a dead rubber. There would be rather more to play for when we returned to that particular corner of south London.

 

3 August 2032: Millwall vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Mario Djokic and Baldur Hreidarsson both looked to carry over their goalscoring form from the season-opener into this game. In the 7th minute, Baldur's flick-on into the Millwall area evaded Lions defender Daniel Wyatt and bounced towards Mario, whose shot was brilliantly saved by Niall Sutcliffe. Hreidarsson's first couple of attempts, in the 9th and 16th minute, were both very disappointing by comparison.

 

Millwall gave Kieran Whalley his first test in the Daggers goal after 13 minutes, when James Lester's blistering volley was superbly pushed behind by the young Mancunian. Four minutes later, Lions midfielder Adam McNeil sustained a knock whilst tackling our captain William Barnes and had to come off.

 

Despite that setback, Millwall would open the scoring after a rare lapse from Daggers centre-back Gareth Lloyd in the 23rd minute. Gareth moved away from Mick Baird in the penalty area to close down Millwall's other striker Dean Stepney, who then found Baird completely open. The result was inevitable - we were 1-0 down.

 

Four minutes later, though, Barnes cancelled out Baird's opener with a wonderful assist. His first-time pass into the box found Hreidarsson, whose shot was deflected into the net off Sutcliffe's calf. That equaliser brought a smile onto Baldur's face just moments after he had seen a pot-shot deflect off Wyatt.

 

There then followed a series of misses from Will, Baldur and Mario before the latter ended the half by sending us 2-1 up. The Montenegrin drilled in a superb square ball from Steven Shelton in injury time, and we were looking good for successive wins.

 

Millwall manager Daniel Philliskirk made a major tactical change for the second half as he put more emphasis on midfield. The Lions gradually became more assured on the ball, and their attackers were soon causing us more problems. In the 56th minute, Lester laid the ball on to former Wolverhampton Wanderers trainee Stepney, whose low shot was parried away by Whalley.

 

Sensing that Millwall were about to turn the game around, I ditched my 4-4-2 formation for a narrow 4-3-1-2 and urged captain Barnes to "get stuck in" a bit more. That shout would come back to bite me in the 72nd minute.

 

Will bundled over Millwall substitute James Readings as both men went after a corner delivery from Lions left-back Carl Sainsbury, and the referee pointed to the spot. Stepney stepped up to take it... and although Kieran did get a glove to the spot-kick, he could only help it into the net. Millwall were back level at 2-2.

 

We went back on the offensive after 77 minutes, with Hreidarsson hitting a long-range shot that rattled Sutcliffe's crossbar. Two minutes after that, another defensive mistake saw us throw the game away. Daggers right-back Heikki Puustinen laxly let Sainsbury get away from him, and when Stepney found Sainsbury with an incisive pass, the former England Under-19s international drilled in a shot at the near post.

 

That goal left us trailing 3-2, and but for the crossbar, Lester could well have worsened our plight in the final minute of normal time. The feelgood factor from the Colchester United game had ebbed away as we lost our first away fixture.

 

Millwall - 3 (Baird 23, Stepney pen73, Sainsbury 79)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Hreidarsson 27, Djokic 45)

Championship, Attendance 8,347 - POSITIONS: Millwall 4th, Dag & Red 8th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen (Banton), Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly, Powell (Martin), Fraser, Barnes, Shelton (Honeyball), Hreidarsson, Djokic.

 

Well, that was a real mood-killer.

 

Next up for us was a return to Victoria Road, and hopefully a return to winning ways against Crewe Alexandra. New Crewe manager Allan McGregor had started his reign with a draw at Doncaster Rovers and a late defeat to his former club Aston Villa.

 

7 August 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Crewe Alexandra

Crewe made a blistering shot, finding the net after just four minutes. Romanian forward Ioan Bogatu surged up the right flank before floating in a cross towards Gary Harper. Harper then barged into Dagenham goalie Kieran Whalley, who could only punch the ball into his own net. The referee instantly called a foul, and so the scoreline remained at 0-0.

 

We would soon be on the receiving end of some strict refereeing, as Matthew Fraser and Arran Banton each picked up bookings within the first 15 minutes. In the 16th minute, shortly after his booking, Banton lost the ball to Crewe winger Matteo Cragnotti. The Italian then played a square ball to Harper, whose low drive was pushed away by Whalley. Kieran would save another Harper shot in the 24th minute, after a sublime solo dribble from the Railwaymen striker.

 

If Whalley was looking solid in our goal, Alex keeper Warren Rodwell was looking even better. Rodwell made two breathtaking saves just before the half-hour from Victor Dam and Baldur Hreidarsson. Disappointingly, our attempts at goal in the latter stages of the first half were not up to scratch, and we went into the break still looking for the breakthrough.

 

Baldur continued to flatter to deceive with a couple of early second-half shots. Strike partner Souleymane Nomaou fared little better, and his full competitive debut was cut short after he dragged an effort wide in the 55th minute. However, the introductions of Mario Djokic and - later - Paul Nixon did nothing to fix our attacking problems.

 

We were far too quick to shoot from long range rather than work the ball into Crewe's penalty area. We did make a rare foray into the box after 78 minutes, when Daniel O'Reilly's strike was parried wide by the excellent Rodwell.

 

A few minutes before then, Crewe boss Allan McGregor had bravely brought on untested 17-year-old striker Daniel Sykes as a substitute. Another attacking sub - Will Pitt - replaced the ineffective Harper soon afterwards. With just a couple of minutes left to go until full-time, those changes would make all the difference.

 

After Nixon struggled to clear away a corner from Crewe midfielder Jake White, Pitt nodded the ball back into our area. Midfielder Greg Killick then volleyed the ball on to debutant Sykes, whose powerful strike sent the away fans wild! For the second match in a row, we had been undone by an agonising late goal. We almost grabbed an even later equaliser in injury time through Dean Martin, but another sublime Rodwell save condemned us to back-to-back defeats.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Crewe Alexandra - 1 (Sykes 88)

Championship, Attendance 11,698 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 16th, Crewe 12th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Casey, Moser, O'Reilly, Fraser (Virgo), Barnes, Dam, Martin, Hreidarsson (Nixon), Nomaou (Djokic). BOOKED: Fraser, Banton.

 

I was far from happy at the final whistle, and with good reason. We had lost two games that we really should have won, and our early momentum had been snuffed out just like that.

 

Paul Nixon would also be stopped in his tracks after a promising start to his Dagenham career. Nixon strained his knee ligaments in training and would be out for around six weeks as a result.

 

In other Daggers news, one teenage midfielder left Victoria Road on loan while another arrived on a free transfer. As Nigel Atta started a five-month loan stint at Leighton Town, we completed the signing of former Dundee United midfielder Tyrone Sedgley, who would celebrate his 18th birthday just a few days later. The Scotland Under-19s international is a brave and determined young lad who could develop into a useful player.

 

Following our league disappointments, we began our League Cup campaign at Bristol Rovers in Round 1. I'd rather not be reminded about the last time we played the League Two Pirates in this competition two seasons ago - and to be honest, I don't need to be.

 

You may remember that our young French defensive midfielder José Cochet spent the first part of last season on loan at the Memorial Stadium. Now back in action after six months out with a broken leg, José returned to Bristol as part of a Daggers team that consisted mostly of backup players.

 

10 August 2032: Bristol Rovers vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Souleymane Nomaou tried to impress me early on, but his first-minute shot was from too far out to seriously trouble the Bristol Rovers goal. Another long-ranger in the second minute, from Jacques Polomat, did at least draw a save out of Pirates goalkeeper Tyler Sercombe. After those early attempts, our first-half performance was... well, a bit average.

 

Niger striker Nomaou continued to let me down with his poor finishing, while Polomat had no fewer than three shots blocked by Bristol Rovers' defenders late in the half. As for another Francophone Dagger, José Cochet had a very disappointing half and was booked in the 36th minute for a cynical foul on Rovers winger Liam Fox.

 

On the plus side, our defence looked pretty solid, save for a missed interception in the 38th minute from Velimir Radosavljevic. Velimir's mistimed jump towards Fox's left-wing delivery opened the door for Pirates right-winger Freddie Gilbey, but Daryl Ryan's comfortable catch sent us into the break with the scoreline still at 0-0.

 

I made my feelings about our performance clear in the dressing room at half-time, and the players returned to the field looking rather more fired up. Sercombe parried a strike from Nomaou in the 47th minute, and then had to keep out further efforts from Joel Honeyball and Polomat in the 57th and 62nd minutes.

 

Alas, that promising start from the Daggers would soon peter out. Sol made way for Mario Djokic midway through the half, but he was unable to break through a robust Rovers defence held together superbly by captain Joe Gardner. Our own backline stayed firm as well, and debutant Velimir impressed me greatly with a host of fantastic interceptions.

 

As time wore on, though, it seemed more and more likely that, rather than merely take us to extra-time, Bristol Rovers would complete another League Cup upset within 90 minutes. Centre-half Lee Plant missed a great chance to put Rovers ahead on 76 minutes, when he flicked Scott Glover's corner over the bar.

 

Six minutes later, Fox floated a dangerous cross into our six-yard box. Ryan appeared to have it covered... but the wet ball slipped through his gloves, leaving Irish compatriot Craig McCarthy free to fire Bristol Rovers into Round 2! For the second time in three seasons, we had been dumped out of the League Cup at the first hurdle by those pesky Pirates.

 

Bristol Rovers - 1 (McCarthy 82)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

League Cup Round 1, Attendance 1,438

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Casey, Moser, Radosavljevic, Banton (Puustinen), O'Reilly, Cochet (Martin), Virgo, Polomat, Nomaou (Djokic), Honeyball. BOOKED: Cochet.

 

Words fail me. That was the third game in a row in which we had conceded a late winner in the final quarter-hour. It was obvious that we had to kick out of that habit sharpish, otherwise this would be a long, hard season.

[gibbo11]

Gutting  

Hopefully the bad start doesn't continue. This is awfully similar to how I start most campaigns!

[oche balboa]

Do you not regret putting a stronger team out for that considering you A) Lost to Bristol Rovers before B) lost your last 2 games. Or arent you that bothered 

 

Still a cracking story mate, enjoy reading it 

[JayR2003]

Rough go.  Time to get those boys running sprints to keep the stamina up through the end.

And as always, thanks for the depth chart!  I am just glad you aren't calling it the JayR2003 Memorial Depth Chart!

[CFuller]

21 hours ago, gibbo11 said:

Gutting  

Hopefully the bad start doesn't continue. This is awfully similar to how I start most campaigns!

It's a little worrying, as we started last season poorly as well.

21 hours ago, oche balboa said:

Do you not regret putting a stronger team out for that considering you A) Lost to Bristol Rovers before B) lost your last 2 games. Or arent you that bothered 

 

Still a cracking story mate, enjoy reading it 

That's a good question.

Perhaps I had overestimated the depth of our squad. I was confident that my second-string would have enough to defeat a League Two team, but obviously not.

On the other hand, the League Cup was quite low on my list of priorities, and I wanted to keep my best players fresh for our next league game, the result of which is coming up next.

16 hours ago, JayR2003 said:

Rough go.  Time to get those boys running sprints to keep the stamina up through the end.

And as always, thanks for the depth chart!  I am just glad you aren't calling it the JayR2003 Memorial Depth Chart!

It could be down to fitness, though I suspect that our players aren't great under pressure, especially not in the latter stages of a close match.

As for the depth chart, don't rule out a sudden name change - it's 2032 in-game now, so who knows what could happen? 

[CFuller]

AUGUST 2032 (continued)

In the wake of our League Cup exit, we bade farewell to centre-back Philip Duru, who boarded the runaway train that was Corby Town. A £500,000 offer from the Polish-backed League One newcomers persuaded us to let Duru go.

 

Philip's departure from Dagenham, after just 18 league appearances in two years, was tinged with sadness and some regret. Although he was certainly a decent centre-back with plenty of potential, he had been overtaken in the pecking order by younger and more promising defenders such as George Darvill and now John Moser. The Nigeria youth international needed regular first-team football, and I couldn't promise him that anymore, so selling him now was perhaps for the best.

 

As Duru embarked on a new adventure in Northamptonshire, we travelled up to Bedfordshire to face Luton Town. Mark Wilson's Hatters had made a mixed start to their Championship campaign, and like us, they had crashed out of the League Cup to south-western opposition from League Two - Exeter City, in their case.

 

14 August 2032: Luton Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Former Southampton striker Ian Watts had the first chance of the game for Luton after just three minutes. Much to my relief, Kieran Whalley pushed it away from his near post. We then had a couple of chances to score first within the next five minutes, but Arran Banton and Gareth Lloyd each provided awful defender's finishes.

 

Target man Baldur Hreidarsson did get close to scoring for us in the 13th minute, though he was unlucky to be thwarted by the safe hands of Hatters goalkeeper Tim Burton. Another safe pair of gloves belonged to Whalley, who got his fingers to another dangerous effort from Watts in the 21st minute.

 

Luton were looking like the team most likely to open the scoring... until we did precisely that from an incisive counter-attack after 36 minutes. Winger Steven Shelton opened the Luton defence with an excellent weighted lob to Hreidarsson, who slipped the ball beyond the rushing Burton!

 

Baldur had got us off the mark, but he still had at least another goal in him. Five minutes later, the big Icelander got his head to an excellent delivery from left-back Daniel O'Reilly, and Burton was left flapping at thin air. At the break, much to the dismay of many at Kenilworth Road, it was 2-0 to Dagenham & Redbridge!

 

The second half started with a couple of disappointing Daggers misses from Shelton and Mario Djokic. Hreidarsson also missed a chance to put us 3-0 up in the 55th minute, though he would get another crack at the whip just two minutes later. Shelton's left-wing delivery into the Luton box bounced off defender Jiri Penicka's head and deflected nicely to Baldur, who sealed a hat-trick against the Hatters!

 

Luton simply had to score quickly if they were to have any chance of getting back into this game. Ashley Douglas found space in our penalty box after 60 minutes, but the home striker couldn't direct his shot near the target. Following Douglas' miss, Hreidarsson spurned a number of chances to increase his and our goal tally to four.

 

As we struggled to kill the game off, Douglas had his best opportunity to keep the hosts alive after 77 minutes. Whalley made another impressive save to preserve his clean sheet. Three minutes later, the Hatters were left in tatters, as William Barnes' through-ball provided the assist for Baldur's fourth goal!

 

The Icelander then set about chasing what would've been a Daggers-record FIFTH goal in one game! Baldur's shot at glory came in the 86th minute... and a solid catch from Burton ensured that he would have to settle for 'only' four. Hreidarsson should have wrapped up his afternoon with an 88th-minute assist for Joel Honeyball, but the vice-skipper's half-volley went wide. Nevertheless, a 4-0 away win was the perfect way to return to form after three agonising defeats on the trot.

 

Luton Town - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Hreidarsson 36,41,57,80)

Championship, Attendance 10,300 - POSITIONS: Luton 18th, Dag & Red 10th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly (Radosavljevic), Powell, Fraser, Barnes (Dam), Shelton, Hreidarsson, Djokic (Honeyball).

 

Baldur Hreidarsson, if I wore a hat, I would take it off to you. In just four matches, the Icelandic loanee had scored seven goals, already moving him halfway towards matching his tally of 14 from last season! I suspect he might be a Daggers favourite for some time to come...

 

Having used our aerial abilities to great effect against Luton, we looked to do the same again three days later, as we hosted a Northampton Town team that was short on height - and even shorter on players. The threadbare Cobblers were rock-bottom with just one point and one goal to their credit.

 

17 August 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Northampton Town

In-form winger Steven Shelton threatened to score his first Daggers goal in the fourth minute. The Manchester City loanee's vicious strike was pushed away by Northampton goalkeeper Deni Radic. A minute after that, Daggers captain William Barnes' free-kick was flicked wide of goal by Gareth Lloyd.

 

As for Baldur Hreidarsson, his first match following that incredible four-goal display at Luton Town started rather acrimoniously. The Icelander was booked in the 19th minute for a trip on Northampton defender Henri Beckham.

 

Three minutes later, Baldur rose above Beckham to get his head to a first-time cross from Shaun Powell, but Radic made a superb acrobatic save to keep the deadlock intact. The Australian goalie had to make an arguably more important save moments later. Powell's shot ricocheted off Beckham and was heading towards goal before Radic caught the ball right on his goal line.

 

On the defensive front, we restricted Northampton to just a single shot on target in the first half. Cobblers forward Robbie Killick's attempt in the 31st minute was fisted wide by Kieran Whalley, who was otherwise quiet in this half.

 

One of Kieran's defenders found the Northampton net five minutes later, but Gareth's header from an excellent free-kick delivery by Will was ruled out for offside. The plucky visitors would continue to hold firm just before half-time, as Radic saved a 43rd-minute attempt from Danish midfielder Victor Dam.

 

Radic frustrated us again early in the second half, when he comfortably caught a header from Daggers defender Velimir Radosavljevic. Our other Balkan star would have a moment to forget in the 50th minute, as striker Mario Djokic received a yellow card for 'simulation'. Dam would also go into the referee's book in the 62nd minute, shortly after Radic had saved another Hreidarsson strike.

 

I then made significant changes, taking off Djokic and moving right-winger Powell up front alongside Hreidarsson. Shaun would miss a great chance to score in the 65th minute, when he drilled substitute midfielder Matthew Fraser's shot beyond the post. Two minutes later, Baldur was injured in a strong sliding challenge from Northampton defender Curtis Newton and had to come off. Souleymane Nomaou was brought on, but he couldn't reinvigorate our attack.

 

Indeed, the Cobblers would cobble together some troublesome attacks in the closing stages. Goran Plimon's 73rd-minute free-kick into our box evaded the jump of Fraser and found Billy Quinn, who nodded it against the crossbar.

 

Quinn and fellow midfielder Andry Mellor would then flight wide free-kicks of their own before Northampton launched one final attack, in the third minute of injury time. Slovenian right-winger Plimon drew Radosavljevic wide and then squared the ball to Mark Goodacre, who drilled it underneath Whalley for a late winner. The heartbreak was all too familiar to Dagenham & Redbridge fans.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Northampton Town - 1 (Goodacre 90)

Championship, Attendance 11,850 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 13th, Northampton 20th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Radosavljevic, Darvill, Powell, Barnes, Dam, Shelton (Fraser), Hreidarsson (Nomaou), Djokic (Polomat). BOOKED: Hreidarsson, Djokic, Dam.

 

"Seriously, guys, what gives?" I asked the players at full-time. "That's four times already this season that we've lost a game in the final 15 minutes! You need to concentrate from the first whistle to the last!

 

"You can forget about having tomorrow off. I want you all at training by 9:30am - no later, otherwise you'll be fined, and you'll be dropped from the Southampton game.

 

"You should know by now that I don't tolerate slackers at this football club. If I notice that any of you are not pulling your weight, you'll be out of here faster than... well, that guy who's just won the 100 metres at the Moscow Olympics."

[CFuller]

AUGUST 2032 (continued)

When you're on a run of three narrow defeats in your last four league games, you don't really want to be facing an away match against a team seen by many as title favourites. Unfortunately, that was exactly the scenario that we were now faced with.

 

Southampton may have finished bottom of the Premier League last season, but they already looked on course to make an instant return. The Saints, now managed by former Rangers boss Ben Turner, were 2nd in the Championship and still unbeaten after four matches.

 

21 August 2032: Southampton vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Dagenham forward Baldur Hreidarsson gave Southampton a real scare after just three minutes. The Icelander turned past Saints centre-back Alan Jordan to run onto Souleymane Nomaou's weighted lob, and he then hit a shot that was brilliantly pushed away by home goalie Josip Prtenjaca.

 

Our keeper Kieran Whalley would also have to be called upon in the opening stages, as he saved efforts from Southampton duo Maurice Hockley and Leon Stumpf within the first nine minutes. Whalley also stopped an 18th-minute strike from Saints midfielder Pat Otero after Nomaou and Hreidarsson had each sent shots over the bar for Dagenham.

 

Sol's difficult start to his Daggers career didn't get much better after 32 minutes, when he snatched at a chance from the edge of the area. An even greater opportunity would come Baldur's way three minutes later. Hreidarsson ran onto a volleyed pass from Dean Martin and then thumped a shot against the far post, albeit from a tight angle.

 

Our strikers didn't appear to have their shooting boots on, but the same could be said about the hosts' players too. Southampton only had one more shot on target before half-time, and even then, Stumpf's strike in the 42nd minute didn't have Whalley stumped at all.

 

A bright start to the second half from a Daggers perspective saw Matthew Fraser have a 52nd-minute piledriver pushed away by Prtenjaca. Our defence also remained largely solid, although Hockley headed wide a couple of sitters just before the hour mark. The one weak link in our defence appeared to be American defender Zola Casey, whose passing was diabolically poor. I opted to replace Casey with Velimir Radosavljevic in the 61st minute before he could shoot us in the foot.

 

Ten minutes later, Fraser swung in an excellent free-kick that really could have sent us in front. Unfortunately, Nomaou couldn't quite get to the Scot's delivery before Prtenjaca plucked it out of the air. Southampton then launched a counter-attack that ended with on-loan Arsenal youngster Wes Franks hitting the crossbar with a right-wing cross.

 

The Saints' widemen would go on to make all the difference in a very close encounter. After 78 minutes, left-winger Stuart Hatton floated the ball over our defence and found Franks, who drilled a low finish into the corner of the net. Southampton's late, though not unexpected opener had broken our spirit.

 

Not for the first time this month, we had been punished for our profligacy and a lack of late-game focus. A fourth defeat in five games sent us tumbling all the way down to 18th in the Championship.

 

Southampton - 1 (Franks 78)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Championship, Attendance 25,877 - POSITIONS: Southampton 2nd, Dag & Red 18th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Moser, Casey (Radosavljevic), O'Reilly, Martin (Powell), Fraser, Dam, Shelton, Hreidarsson (Honeyball), Nomaou.

 

Okay, I could understand us losing to Southampton, but that was yet another point we had let slip from our grasp late on. I just couldn't work out how to stop us choking with such regularity so early in the season - my name's Christopher Fuller, not Henry Heimlich.

 

I called an emergency squad meeting ahead of our home game against newly-promoted Charlton Athletic, who were in 10th place. After thrashing out our problems in a productive manner, we were all ready to take on the Addicks.

 

Meanwhile, our new Scottish midfielder Tyrone Sedgley went out on loan to League Two high-flyers Bristol City until mid-January.

 

28 August 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Charlton Athletic

Mario Djokic's pace had a devastating effect on Charlton's defence after just two minutes. The Addicks' young Welsh centre-back Aaron Wynne had to make a strong tackle on Mario, but he tore his own hamstring in the process. Charlton had to throw on Steven Horan very early to plug the gap, but Wynne's injury would set them back massively. In the 15th minute, Daggers midfielder Jacques Polomat searched out Djokic with an excellent long ball to the left wing, and Mario's subsequent cross was headed home by Baldur Hreidarsson!

 

Charlton goalkeeper Michael Hewson was left red-faced, and he would be feeling even more annoyed two minutes later. Baldur turned provider when his incisive pass found Mario in acres of space, and the Montenegrin duly drilled us into a 2-0 lead.

 

That would not be the case for long, though, as our fearsome strike duo linked up brilliantly again in the 20th minute to send us 3-0 up! Another left-wing Djokic cross into the Addicks' six-yard box ripped through the defence and found Hreidarsson, whose header comfortably beat Hewson.

 

Baldur eyed up his second hat-trick of the season in the 22nd minute, though he couldn't quite direct his shot towards the target. Four minutes later, however, some more shocking Charlton defending presented Baldur with another opening.

 

An unconvincing interception from Athletic defender Pat Miller saw Matthew Fraser retake possession for Dagenham and square the ball to Polomat. The French youngster then played a sublime through-ball ahead of Hreidarsson, who beat the rushing Hewson to secure his treble! Most of a packed Victoria Road crowd could scarcely believe what they were seeing - Dagenham & Redbridge were 4-0 ahead within half an hour!

 

Charlton fought desperately to try and salvage some pride before the half-time whistle. Ex-Southampton man Mick Banks had their first pop at goal from the edge of our area in the 31st minute, but the ball drifted wide.

 

Things then got worse for the Addicks after 39 minutes. The yellow card came out for right-back Charlee Turpin after he committed a cynical challenge on Djokic, who had cause him no end of problems out wide.

 

Djokic was denied a fifth Dagenham goal in the 43rd minute after a superb fingertip save from the otherwise horrific Hewson. The Charlton goalkeeper's salvation would not stay intact for too long, mind you. After Miller failed to clear Fraser's corner, Mario nodded the ball back into the Addicks' six-yard box, where Baldur hammered in his fourth goal of the afternoon! After a sensational first-half display, we went into the dressing room leading 5-0! FIVE-NIL!!

 

With the tie already effectively over, I took off Djokic and the booked Victor Dam at half-time, replacing them with 16-year-old Tristan Egueh and Dean Martin respectively. Charlton boss Allan Johnston also made changes, though he surprisingly only brought on one sub. That was South African striker Sakhile Ngcobo, who pulled wide Charlton's second - and last - shot on target after 48 minutes. The Addicks would not get anywhere near our goal again as the second period became a bit of an anti-climax

 

Just like at Luton Town, Hreidarsson was unable to add a fifth goal to his already impressive tally, missing a couple of chances to make Daggers history in the 61st and 69th minute. Unsurprisingly, he and the other Dagenham players took things rather easier in the second half compared to the first.

 

The double-figure score that some optimistic fans were predicting at half-time didn't materialise, thanks in part to a couple of late Hewson saves from Martin, although we wouldn't end the period goalless. With six minutes to go, Polomat picked out Egueh in the Charlton area. The Djibouti-born youth striker then unleashed a vicious shot into the top corner for his first ever senior goal!

 

That fairytale moment for Tristan was the perfect way to wrap up one of the most complete performances from a Dagenham & Redbridge team in living memory. We enjoyed 61% of possession, didn't allow the Addicks a single shot on target, and won by the rather handsome margin of SIX GOALS!!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 6 (Hreidarsson 15,20,26,43, Djokic 17, Egueh 84)

Charlton Athletic - 0

Championship, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 11th, Charlton 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly, Fraser, Barnes (Virgo), Dam (Martin), Polomat, Hreidarsson, Djokic (Egueh). BOOKED: Dam.

 

Can you believe it? Another quadruple from Baldur Hreidarsson! To paraphrase the 1990s Eurodance singer Gala, "Baldur's on fire, your defence is terrified!"

 

This has been a very strange start to the season for us, it must be said. We either play brilliantly and batter our opponents into oblivion, or we just run around shooting aimlessly before losing to a late goal. There's no middle ground for the Daggers right now.

[CFuller]

SEPTEMBER 2032

September began with some rather exciting news for Dagenham & Redbridge. The board had agreed to fund a £1.3million training ground for our youth team. Construction work on the new facilities is scheduled to begin next spring and will hopefully be completed by October 2033.

 

Meanwhile, several of our players went out on international duty. Souleymane Nomaou scored twice for Niger in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying defeat to Guinea, and Gareth Lloyd increased his tally of Wales caps to 69. At Under-21s level, Velimir Radosavljevic made his Serbia debut in that age group, Shaun Powell turned out for Wales, and Steven Shelton scored for England against fierce rivals Scotland.

 

Daniel O'Reilly and Daryl Ryan were both in action for the Republic of Ireland, who slumped to 150th in the world rankings after losing their first two FIFA World Cup qualifiers. During the second of those qualifiers, at home to Portugal, O'Reilly tore his hamstring whilst trying to tackle new Manchester City winger Diogo Dias. Our first-choice left-back would be unable to play again for at least two months.

 

A year ago, I might have felt the need to sign a new left-back to cover for O'Reilly. I didn't do that this time, as teenager centre-backs George Darvill and Velimir Radosavljevic could each play on the left side of our defence and fill the void left by Daniel.

 

It was Darvill who started at left-back when we took on Hull City at the KC Stadium. Having flirted with relegation last season, the Tigers looked rather more comfortable in 10th place after seven games.

 

11 September 2032: Hull City vs Dagenham & Redbridge

After a rather shaky start, we launched our first attack in the 11th minute. Souleymane Nomaou's first shot was pulled dreadfully wide, but I now had some cause for optimism. On 13 minutes, Baldur Hreidarsson's free-kick went within inches of giving him his 12th goal of the season. Six minutes later, Nomaou scored his long-awaited first. The Nigerien beat veteran Hull defender Josh O'Donoghue to Dean Martin's through-ball, and a tidy finish got him off the mark for the Daggers!

 

Sol really would be into the swing of things in the 23rd minute. Dagenham defender John Moser hoofed a long pass towards Joel Honeyball on the halfway line, only for Tigers centre-back Neal Moody to muscle the ball off Joel. Moody's tackle diverted the ball on to Nomaou, who burst through the backline and unleashed a vicious shot that beat goalkeeper Nicky Green!

 

That gave us a 2-0 lead, and only the crossbar prevented Hreidarsson from adding a third goal via Matthew Fraser's free-kick in the 26th minute. We could have paid the price for that three minutes later, but the piledriver from Hull midfielder Jim Price was not right.

 

Also struggling to make an impact for the Tigers was striker and captain Nathan Morgan. Dagenham goalkeeper Kieran Whalley held onto a couple of the 22-year-old's shots after 34 and 40 minutes to keep us in the ascendancy at half-time.

 

The Tigers showed a bit more attacking bite after the break. Our Welsh defender Gareth Lloyd needed to make a number of excellent interceptions as Morgan and midfielder Kevin Wells posed more of a threat. Those two linked up superbly in the 66th minute, when Wells played a clever first-time pass to Morgan in the penalty area. The Hull skipper looked almost certain to score until young John Moser bravely threw himself in front of his shot.

 

Four minutes after that, Whalley had to fist away a hanging-ball corner from Price. As Hull continued to up the ante, I brought on Mario Djokic as a 77th-minute replacement for Honeyball. Sadly, Djokic would only last five minutes before he hurt his thigh in a strong challenge from Moody, who picked up a yellow card for his troubles.

 

Djokic limped off injured, and two minutes later, our lead was seriously damaged. Heikki Puustinen tried to slide a Price cross out of the Dagenham area, but Wells got to the ball and drilled it into the corner of the net.

 

Fears of another late Daggers collapse grew when, in the 89th minute, Hull midfielder Robert Gultekin swung an excellent corner towards the head of Alan Jeffrey. The on-loan Dundee United winger looks odds-on to equalise... but he flicked the ball inches over the top.

 

There was even more panic amongst the away fans when Hull's teenage Northern Irish midfielder Adam McLaughlin - a player I had seriously considered signing from Cork City earlier this year - set up an injury-time chance for Wells. Much to our relief, Whalley reacted quickly to palm Wells' strike wide. Although captain William Barnes twisted his ankle late on and Hreidarsson had a last-gasp goal disallowed for offside, our visit to the KC Stadium would end in a narrow 2-1 victory.

 

Hull City - 1 (Wells 84)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Nomaou 19,23)

Championship, Attendance 19,065 - POSITIONS: Hull 15th, Dag & Red 8th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Moser, Darvill, Fraser (Virgo), Barnes, Martin, Hreidarsson, Nomaou, Honeyball (Djokic (Powell)).

 

After that win, it emerged that Mario Djokic would have to miss only the next couple of matches with a bruised thigh. William Barnes' injury was rather more serious, as a twisted ankle ruled him out of contention until October.

 

Losing our captain was a big setback, especially as our next match was at home to 2nd-placed Blackburn Rovers. Following their latest relegation from the Premier League, Rovers had sacked their previous manager Eddie Howe over the summer and brought in Josh Carson from Notts County to replace him.

 

14 September 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Blackburn Rovers

French defender Jacky Besnard headed wide Blackburn's first chance in the 3rd minute. Four minutes later, though, Rovers would take advantage of a couple of glaring Daggers errors to open the scoring.

 

The first error was made by Serbian left-back Velimir Radosavljevic, who tried to head clear a deflected cross from Blackburn winger Shane Watts that was heading out of play anyway. Watts reached the loose ball and flicked it to Faisal Mensah, who floated in an excellent cross. Then came the second mistake, from Daggers goalie Kieran Whalley, who came off his line and was comfortably beaten by striker Tim Higginbotham's header.

 

Whalley did redeem himself somewhat after 18 minutes, when he got a glove to another Higginbotham effort just before it could creep across his line. Kieran also saved a 21st-minute banana shot from Blackburn midfielder Antoni Tanev before starting off a Dagenham counter-attack. That breakaway ended with Souleymane Nomaou winning us a penalty after being brought down by Rovers right-back Mensah.

 

Baldur Hreidarsson now had a great chance to equalise from 12 yards... but he was denied his 12th goal of the season by a fine save from goalkeeper Jordan Shields. Baldur was already struggling, having received a yellow card for diving in the 9th minute, and another awful miss in the 23rd suggested that this would be one of his off-days.

 

On 32 minutes, our defence switched off for a second time. Higginbotham beat Daggers defender Gareth Lloyd to a weighted pass from his Blackburn strike partner Thierry Laurent and slotted it beyond Whalley. Despite our claims for an offside decision, we were now 2-0 down.

 

Our situation could easily have worsened by half-time. Thankfully, Laurent hit the woodwork in the 38th minute, and Higginbotham wasted a couple of chances to secure his hat-trick just before the break.

 

Sensing that we were getting overwhelmed by Blackburn's attackers, I switched to 5-3-2 for the second half, with George Darvill coming on to help shore up our defence. Another local boy, Joel Honeyball, entered the game alongside him and blazed a fierce drive over Blackburn's bar in the 50th minute. Either side of that Honeyball shot came a couple more misses from Higginbotham, who was once again unable to kill the match off.

 

By the 58th minute, we were looking like we could get back into the game. A quickfire breakaway move saw Victor Dam send Honeyball through on goal before Joel agonisingly struck the bar. Our homegrown hero was kicking himself, but that miss only made him more determined to take his next opportunity.

 

After 68 minutes, Victor set up a close-range finish for Joel, who made it 2-1 and - curiously - became the first British-born player to score a competitive goal for us this season! George almost became the second in the 70th minute, but his prospective equaliser was headed narrowly over the bar.

 

Then came some more attacking moves from Blackburn, who looked to wrap up the victory before we could complete the comeback. An excellent solo run from Higginbotham on 78 minutes almost saw him complete his treble, although he could only hit the post in the end.

 

Higginbotham would stay stuck on two goals, although Blackburn did clinch victory with a third goal in injury time. A deflected cross from Watts was finished by Bulgarian international forward Milen Taskov, and we went down to our third home defeat already this season.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Honeyball 68)

Blackburn Rovers - 3 (Higginbotham 7,32, Taskov 90)

Championship, Attendance 11,866 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 10th, Blackburn 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Moser, Radosavljevic, Virgo (Martin), Fraser, Dam, Polomat (Darvill), Hreidarsson (Honeyball), Nomaou. BOOKED: Hreidarsson.

 

That could have gone a bit better, but I suppose that Blackburn Rovers were one of the classiest teams in the division, so I really couldn't complain.

 

After facing Josh Carson's new club, we visited his old stomping ground of Meadow Lane. Notts County sat directly below us in 11th spot, having replaced Carson with former Swansea City and Doncaster Rovers chief Asmir Begovic. The Bosnian was back in English football management after five years away.

[CFuller]

SEPTEMBER 2032 (continued)

18 September 2032: Notts County vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Notts County's starting XI contained captain Dillon Powell at right-back and John Powell in midfield... but it was their Daggers namesake who opened the scoring after just two minutes. Welsh wizard Shaun Powell received the ball from Matthew Fraser just inside the County half and then dribbled into the penalty area, where he fired a bullet shot into the net!

 

It was a great start for one of our right flankers, but not for another. Full-back Arran Banton pulled up in the fifth minute and had to retire injured, with Heikki Puustinen coming on to replace him.

 

Three minutes after that, Daggers goalkeeper Kieran Whalley made his first save of the match from a John Powell long-ranger. Whalley would then stop a couple of efforts from Notts County's experienced frontman Ian Neary, as well as a pile-driver from midfielder Kevin Thornton, within the next few minutes.

 

Magpies goalie Brandon Turner would be called into action twice midway through the half, as he denied Puustinen and Souleymane Nomaou opportunities to double our lead. Baldur Hreidarsson also tried to test Turner before the 30-minute mark, but the enigmatic Icelander couldn't strike his shots cleanly. The first period ended with two Powells receiving yellow cards - John for County, and Shaun for us - but we remained 1-0 up at the interval.

 

Notts County winger Dave Johnson fired a warning shot on 53 minutes, when his long-range free-kick narrowly cleared the crossbar. The Magpies went back on the attack a minute later, and they would strike this time. Our defenders were guilty of giving too much space to Neary, who at 34 years of age still had the pace to race through on goal and hammer home an equaliser.

 

Hreidarsson's early attempts to retake the lead for us were largely disappointing. He drilled the ball wide in the 59th minute after a mistake from County full-back Jonathan Allan, and then had another attempt blocked by centre-half Warren Hilton seven minutes later.

 

As for the Magpies, Neary couldn't get near the goal again with poor strikes in the 82nd and 87th minute. Despite a much-improved second-half performance from Notts County, we managed to hold on for a draw, though it could have become more than that for us. Shaun flicked a right-wing delivery from Baldur just over the bar after 89 minutes, while substitute Joel Honeyball looked set to score in injury time until Liam Simpson made a vital block for the Magpies.

 

Notts County - 1 (Neary 54)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Powell 2)

Championship, Attendance 10,351 - POSITIONS: Notts County 12th, Dag & Red 11th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton (Puustinen), Lloyd, Casey, Darvill, Powell, Fraser, Martin (Cochet), Shelton, Hreidarsson, Nomaou (Honeyball). BOOKED: Powell.

 

The Championship was already so tight that, had we won that game, we would have been in the play-off spots instead of 11th place. Such is life.

 

The following weekend saw us host Bradford City, who had just moved ahead of us following back-to-back wins. Could we halt the Bantams' charge and improve on our disappointing home form?

 

25 September 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Bradford City

French youngster José Cochet made his first league start of the season in midfield, and he eyed up his first Daggers goal after six minutes. José's effort was far too tame to seriously test Bradford goalkeeper Ronnie Glavin, who then watched another Dagenham midfielder - Dean Martin - fire wide just moments later.

 

The Bantams' first assault on our goal, in the 12th minute, was rather more threatening. Striker Owen Hillier got his head to a deep cross from full-back Daren Atkinson but couldn't quite get the better of our goalie Kieran Whalley.

 

Glavin then produced a couple of saves to thwart Daggers duo Victor Dam and Gareth Lloyd before a poor clearance from the latter cost us dear in the 19th minute. Gareth could only flick Bradford midfielder Anthony Davie's corner away to City right-back Perry Cummings, who unleashed a stunning volley that opened the scoring.

 

Cummings' goal would be the only one of the first half, although his colleague and near-namesake Robbie Cummins headed wide a fine opportunity for 2-0 in the 39th minute. Six minutes before then, Glavin had made two quickfire point-blank saves from our frontmen Joel Honeyball and Baldur Hreidarsson. With Glavin in top form, we would surely need to produce something magical in the second half to get back in the running.

 

I made one change to my midfield before the second half, replacing Cochet with Tom Virgo. I would have to make another substitution two minutes after the restart, when Martin was injured in a challenge from his ex-Daggers colleague Lucky Okoli. Jacques Polomat was brought on to take Dean's place in the team.

 

Three minutes later, in the 50th minute, a Dagenham corner from Matthew Fraser led to one of the game's big talking points. After Bradford failed to clear Fraser's delivery, Hreidarsson sent a header goalwards. The ball clipped the crossbar and then deflected across the line off Cummings, whose own goal appeared to have levelled the tie! Alas, Lloyd was judged to have fouled Cummings in the build-up, and so the Bantams were spared.

 

A quarter of an hour after that, we were lucky not to fall 2-0 behind. Okoli's free-kick delivery to our back post found Hillier, whose header couldn't quite find the target.

 

After that point, virtually all of the attacking plays came from us. Glavin needed to work especially hard to keep out a host of late Dagenham efforts, including a couple of long-rangers from Hreidarsson. We continued to push forward in injury time, when Polomat found our third substitute - striker Souleymane Nomaou - in space down the left. Unfortunately, Bradford defender Pete Baker superbly forced Nomaou into a difficult angle, and Sol could only fire the ball into the side netting.

 

Nomaou then played an excellent through-ball right at the very death towards Polomat... but Glavin rushed forward at just the right time to push the ball away. That save secured Bradford a 1-0 win, and we were once again ruing missed opportunities.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Bradford City - 1 (Cummings 19)

Championship, Attendance 11,887 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 13th, Bradford 6th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Moser, Darvill, Cochet (Virgo), Fraser, Martin (Polomat), Dam, Hreidarsson, Honeyball (Nomaou).

 

I don't know what it is about playing at Victoria Road, but something isn't right. Apart from the heavy thrashings we gave Colchester United and Charlton Athletic, we haven't turned up for any of our home games yet. Whether it's down to our mindset or a tactical flaw, we've got to find the problem and resolve it in time for our next home fixture in October.

 

We concluded September by taking on League One champions Ipswich Town at Portman Road. The Tractor Boys were on a roll in 5th place and had never lost to us in competition, so you could understand why I felt apprehensive about our visit to Suffolk.

 

Defender Zola Casey would have to miss that game, and the next one as well, with a twisted knee. On a brighter note, we welcomed back forwards Mario Djokic and Paul Nixon from injury. They were immediately thrown into the starting line-up to replace Baldur Hreidarsson, who was relegated to the bench, and Souleymane Nomaou, who was dropped altogether.

 

28 September 2032: Ipswich Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Ipswich were unbeaten in six league games, so it was not surprising that they made a confident start to this match. In the third minute, on-loan Fulham forward Barry Harris raced past Daggers centre-half Gareth Lloyd to latch onto an incisive pass from his Ipswich captain Luke Boot. Harris looked set to score until Kieran Whalley tipped his shot over the bar.

 

The Tractor Boys moved forward again in the 11th minute, but Boot's strike from the edge of the 'D' went well wide. Ipswich would waste another opportunity three minutes later, when winger Branko Simeunovic followed up an excellent run into our box with a disappointing shot that deflected behind off Shaun Powell.

 

At the other end of the pitch, our returning strikers had mixed fortunes. Mario Djokic troubled Ipswich goalkeeper Gary Ewart with a promising strike in the 26th minute, but Paul Nixon's first couple of efforts were from too far out to get near the target.

 

We were struggling to make our mark on this game, so it wasn't a shock at all that we fell behind after 37 minutes. Boot took the ball outside George Darvill before driving in a low shot from the edge of the Dagenham area. The ball found the bottom corner of Whalley's net, and we were 1-0 down.

 

Some shaky Ipswich defending saw us gifted an opening very early in the second half. Steven Shelton could've squared the ball across the six-yard box and teed up a possible finish for Nixon, but the left-winger went for goal himself and dragged his shot beyond the far post. Nixon was visibly frustrated, but he wasn't having a particularly good evening, either.

 

Another woeful long-distance strike from Paul in the 54th minute failed to get anywhere near Ewart, who would then help to set up Ipswich's second goal a couple of minutes later. Ewart's free-kick was nodded on by Boot to Harris, who outpaced Lloyd and drove the ball beyond the charging Whalley.

 

Ipswich were 2-0 ahead... but only for two minutes. Powell was fouled just outside the Tractor Boys' area by left-back Tommy Watters, and Matthew Fraser curled the resultant free-kick into the top corner. Just as soon as we were beginning to think about a fightback, though, Ipswich went back to business.

 

Whalley pushed away a 59th-minute volley from Town midfielder Alan Byrne before catching a bending effort from substitute Ron Bell seven minutes later. Then, in the 71st minute, a careless pass from Watters left Ipswich vulnerable to a Dagenham counter-attack. As the home defenders raced to get back into their positions, Djokic found Victor Dam open in the middle. The Danish midfielder dribbled through on goal, pulled a delicately-controlled shot beyond Ewart... and then watched the ball hit the upright before deflecting clear.

 

Two minutes later, our transition from hope to agony was completed. Harris cunningly snuck past Lloyd to get his head to a cross from Ipswich right-back Michael Stewart and make it 3-1.

 

Harris should have completed his hat-trick in the 75th minute, but he somehow missed the net after getting behind our backline. Ipswich wouldn't need to score again, as a couple of late Ewart saves kept Gareth and Mario at bay and consigned us to yet another defeat.

 

Ipswich Town - 3 (Boot 37, Harris 56,73)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Fraser 58)

Championship, Attendance 16,697 - POSITIONS: Ipswich 5th, Dag & Red 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen (Banton), Lloyd, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Powell, Fraser (Virgo), Dam, Shelton (Honeyball), Nixon, Djokic. BOOKED: Djokic, Dam.

 

We've got some quality players in our team, and our defence hasn't exactly gone to pieces (yet), but we're now on a four-game winless run and closer to the drop zone than the play-offs. I'm struggling to explain why.

 

The only thing that I can think of as a possible problem area is our attack. Take away the 14 goals we scored in those freakish victories against Colchester United, Luton Town and Charlton Athletic, and we've only found the net seven times in nine league games. That just isn't good enough.

[CFuller]

Championship Table (End of September 2032)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Watford                12    8     3     1     26    13    +13   27
2.          Blackburn              12    8     3     1     26    17    +9    27
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Southampton            12    7     5     0     20    9     +11   26
4.          Leeds                  12    6     5     1     24    11    +13   23
5.          Ipswich                12    5     5     2     20    12    +8    20
6.          Wrexham                12    4     7     1     16    15    +1    19
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Stoke                  12    4     5     3     17    17    0     17
8.          Aston Villa            12    4     5     3     15    15    0     17
9.          Bradford               12    4     5     3     12    14    -2    17
10.         Notts County           12    4     4     4     18    17    +1    16
11.         Northampton            12    4     4     4     12    13    -1    16
12.         Crewe                  12    4     3     5     17    16    +1    15
13.         Reading                12    4     2     6     17    19    -2    14
14.         Millwall               12    3     5     4     13    16    -3    14
15.         Luton                  12    3     5     4     10    14    -4    14
16.         Dag & Red              12    4     1     7     21    15    +6    13
17.         Cardiff                12    3     4     5     10    16    -6    13
18.         Colchester             12    3     3     6     17    20    -3    12
19.         Peterborough           12    3     3     6     15    21    -6    12
20.         Hull                   12    3     3     6     12    19    -7    12
21.         Plymouth               12    2     5     5     19    25    -6    11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.         Charlton               12    3     2     7     18    30    -12   11
23.         Doncaster              12    2     3     7     15    19    -4    9
24.         Crystal Palace         12    1     6     5     17    24    -7    9

 

[EvilDave]

16 minutes ago, CFuller said:

The only thing that I can think of as a possible problem area is our attack. Take away the 14 goals we scored in those freakish victories against Colchester United, Luton Town and Charlton Athletic, and we've only found the net seven times in nine league games. That just isn't good enough.

The reverse is true though - by my reckoning you've only shipped more than one goal in a game three times - Ipswich, Blackburn, Millwall - and if you were to remove those games from the record you've only conceded six goals in nine games, which is rock solid. Your Daggers are just a really boring team this season! 

Seriously though, you've had a fairly miserable start but are only two wins from the play-offs, and you've surely got to start nicking the 1-0 wins rather than losing those games before too long. You'll be fine, just a bit of a rough patch...

[CFuller]

1 hour ago, EvilDave said:

The reverse is true though - by my reckoning you've only shipped more than one goal in a game three times - Ipswich, Blackburn, Millwall - and if you were to remove those games from the record you've only conceded six goals in nine games, which is rock solid. Your Daggers are just a really boring team this season! 

Seriously though, you've had a fairly miserable start but are only two wins from the play-offs, and you've surely got to start nicking the 1-0 wins rather than losing those games before too long. You'll be fine, just a bit of a rough patch...

Gee, cheers for that, Dave. Really appreciate it. 

To be honest, I was never really concerned about the defence. You can't overestimate how much difference Gareth Lloyd has made in that respect, even though he's very much on the wrong side of 30. There's also the much younger George Darvill, who's been fantastic so far this season and has already become a first-team mainstay at 19.

The attack, though, is a different matter. Baldur seems to have used up half a season's worth of goals in one month, while Sol Nomaou has also gone off the boil of late. When both of your main forwards are badly out of form, that's a big issue. I'm really hoping that Nixon can get us going again, now that he's back from injury and ready to pay back his club-record fee.

[CFuller]

OCTOBER 2032

1 October marked the 10th anniversary of my appointment as Dagenham & Redbridge, but it wasn't a milestone that I felt like celebrating. We'd got off to another poor start in the Championship, and to make matters worse, our first-choice right-back Arran Banton had been ruled out of our next game with flu. Arran was taken ill just hours after he'd signed a new four-year contract, so the timing was absolutely bloomin' perfect.

 

Our other senior right-back Heikki Puustinen was woefully out of sorts, so I gambled on putting centre-half John Moser in that position for our home match against Crystal Palace the following day. To try and pull us out of our Victoria Road rut, I brought back the good old 'Christmas tree' tactic, which would hopefully see us control the midfield more efficiently, and - in turn - give our attacking players more adequate service.

 

Crystal Palace had also rung the changes recently. Having slumped to the bottom of the Championship after starting the season with just a single win from 11 games, the Eagles sacked manager Ian Bermingham and replaced him with former England defender Rio Ferdinand. The 53-year-old ended a 15-year tenure at Cambridge United to start a new challenge at Selhurst Park, where he drew his first Palace game 2-2 against Aston Villa.

 

2 October 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace's first couple of attempts at goal were indicative of a team low on self-belief. Striker Martin Crowder dragged wide a chance in the 8th minute, three minutes before Eagles captain Bob Cairns nodded a free-kick from Brazilian midfielder Felipe off target. To be fair, we weren't a great deal better whenever we went forward. In the 16th minute, Baldur Hreidarsson played a one-two with Matthew Fraser before pulling a poor strike straight at Palace goalkeeper Tom O'Reilly.

 

On 24 minutes, Daggers left-back Velimir Radosavljevic almost found Mario Djokic with a cross into the Eagles' area. Centre-back Cairns had to nod the ball off the line just before it could find Djokic and/or the net. That would be our best chance to open the scoring in a very disappointing first half.

 

Crystal Palace would come on strong towards the end of that period. Toby Cook had a shot saved by Dagenham goalkeeper Kieran Whalley in the 41st minute, shortly after Radosavljevic carelessly lost possession to the visitors. Another Daggers defender would be caught out two minutes later, and this time, George Darvill was punished for his missed interception from Palace winger Jimmy Kyere's cross. Crowder got his head to the delivery, and we were trailing 1-0 at home to the bottom club at half-time. Oh boy.

 

Crowder's late first-half goal could have been merely the tip of the iceberg for us. Our defence was all over the place in the 48th minute, when Cook knocked the ball forward to leave Crowder with a clear run at goal. The former Aston Villa striker should really have beaten Whalley for a second time, but Kieran beat his shot away, much to our fans' relief.

 

Four minutes later, it was our turn to waste a sitter. Velimir played a sublime sitter towards Baldur, but he could only watch on in agony as the Icelander's header clipped the bar and went behind. In the 66th minute, however, the woodwork actually came to our aid. Crystal Palace full-back Tommy Cunningham's free-kick beat Whalley, but bounced off the crossbar and back into play. By that point, I had abandoned the 'Christmas tree' in favour of the old-fashioned 4-4-2.

 

Adopting a direct approach seemed to have a positive effect on our attacking prospects, although substitute Souleymane Nomaou's shot in the 67th minute didn't seriously worry O'Reilly. The 20-year-old Eagles goalkeeper, on loan from Sheffield United, would have rather more work to do after 77 minutes. A poor clearance from Palace right-back Anthony Ferdinand gave the ball away to Dean Martin, who then set up an opportunity for Hreidarsson. Unfortunately for Baldur, O'Reilly made a tremendous last-ditch save.

 

Our luck would take a turn for a better two minutes later, as Daggers right-winger Shaun Powell's byline cross was turned into the net by a rather unfortunate Cairns. The Crystal Palace skipper had inadvertently gifted us one point, although we really could've come away from this match with all three had we been anywhere near our best.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Cairns og79)

Crystal Palace - 1 (Crowder 43)

Championship, Attendance 10,914 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 16th, Crystal Palace 24th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Moser (Pearson), Lloyd, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Cochet (Powell), Fraser, Honeyball, Hreidarsson, Martin, Djokic (Nomaou). BOOKED: Fraser.

 

14 shots at goal, 4 on target... and our only goal was an own goal. This was at home to the 'worst' team in the division.

 

In fact, you could go back across all of our last five games and figure out that we were constantly failing to hit the target. After some quick mathematics, I worked out that our shots on target percentage since we last won a game stood at 36% - not terrible, but also not as high as I hoped for. The percentage of shots taken from inside the penalty area was likely to have been roughly similar.

 

Fortunately, we now had a fortnight to address this issue and improve our attacking movement for the games ahead. Unfortunately, vice-captain Joel Honeyball tore his groin muscle in training and was unlikely to play again for us until late November.

 

While most of our first-teamers were put through the mill in training, a few went off on international duty. Among them was Gareth Lloyd, who scored his first international goal for Wales in a 6-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying win over Hungary in Budapest. It only took him 12 years and 71 caps to get there!

 

Gareth was overjoyed to have broken his international duck, and I hoped his happy mood would rub off on the rest of the squad when we resumed our league campaign at Stoke City. We really needed a pick-me-up, but with Stoke just outside the play-off places, it was unlikely that we would find it at the Britannia Stadium.

 

16 October 2032: Stoke City vs Dagenham & Redbridge

As I'd suspected, Stoke made the more confident start of the two teams. In the fifth minute, Reiss Benjamin dinked a Potters free-kick forward to Louis Hatter, who was unlucky to hit the crossbar.

 

Shortly after that, we threatened to upset the hosts. We won a couple of corners in quick succession, the second coming after George Darvill's header had been tipped behind by City goalkeeper Igor Pinheiro. On a less positive note, Baldur Hreidarsson failed to impress with a couple of shots in the 8th and 12th minutes.

 

Our attacking threat quickly fizzled out, and by the 19th minute, our defence was beginning to crumble. Matthew Fraser miscontrolled the ball on the edge of our penalty area, giving Stoke striker Allan Moffat a free shot that was fired directly at Whalley. Moffat was back again moments later, as he powered in Benjamin's through-ball to give the Potters the lead.

 

City were unable to improve on their position before half-time, as centre-back Ivan Sherdenov volleyed a shot over the bar on 26 minutes and an effort from Moffat seven minutes later went the same way. Nonetheless, it was looking rather ominous for us. To make matters worse, Fraser had gashed his leg late in the half, prompting me to take him off during the interval.

 

Moffat looked to bolster Stoke's advantage in the first minute of the second half, only for Whalley to stick out a leg and block his strike. The hosts then lost one of their midfielders in the 53rd minute, when Esteban Morin sustained a dead leg in a slide-tackle on Victor Dam. That loss didn't hamper Connor Wickham's side too much, mind you. They continued to pressurise our defence throughout the second half, and that pressure told after 65 minutes.

 

Benjamin and Daggers defender Gareth Lloyd scrapped for the ball in our penalty area before the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. He'd apparently spotted Gareth barging Benjamin in the back with his shoulder, but that didn't appear to be the case from where I saw the incident. Of all people, Stoke chose their right-back Carl Nelson to take the penalty... and he duly drilled in his first goal for the Potters.

 

At 2-0 down, the game was almost certainly up for us. Substitute striker Paul Nixon tried to get us back in the running after 70 minutes, but his header from Tom Virgo's corner cleared the bar. Tom later made way for versatile youth player Paul Habu, who made his senior Daggers debut in midfield and showed plenty of promise. Stoke trio Adam Ceglarz, Nicky Smith and Zoran Malovic all fired shots over in the final 15 minutes before the final whistle confirmed a solid win for the Potters.

 

Stoke City - 2 (Moffat 19, Nelson pen66)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Championship, Attendance 16,772 - POSITIONS: Stoke 5th, Dag & Red 17th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Darvill, Barnes, Virgo (Habu), Fraser (Radosavljevic), Martin, Dam, Hreidarsson (Nixon), Djokic.

 

We were now on a winless run of six games, just two points above the relegation zone, and Matthew Fraser would miss our next couple of fixtures with a gashed leg. What next for the broken Daggers?

[CFuller]

OCTOBER 2032 (continued)

My next attempt to fix our season was to switch to a 4-4-2 diamond, and a fluid, short-passing game. We may have had an array of technically gifted midfielders, but it seemed that I'd unwittingly stifled their creativity with my previous tactics. Perhaps that was why we were, like Boycie from 'Only Fools and Horses', firing more blanks than the Territorials.

 

Riskily, the 'guinea pigs' for my new tactical experiment were the league leaders - Watford. The Hornets arrived at Victoria Road having lost just two matches all season, although it was perhaps significant that those defeats had come in their last couple of away games.

 

Watford's new manager - or, should I say, old new manager - was a certain Malky Mackay. After spending the last two decades coaching a plethora of British clubs, including Huddersfield Town and Arsenal, 60-year-old Mackay's management career had come full-circle and he was back where it had all started - at Vicarage Road.

 

19 October 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Watford

I'm pleased to say that our new approach caused Watford plenty of problems early on. The Hornets' teenage goalkeeper Mark Thomas - on loan from Chelsea - was required to make no fewer than three saves in the first seven minutes. Jacques Polomat, Souleymane Nomaou and Baldur Hreidarsson were all unfortunate to be denied by the England Under-21s international, while Tom Virgo sent a free-kick just over the crossbar in the 17th minute.

 

Less than a minute after that narrow miss from Virgo, we were cruelly stung by the Hornets. Watford exposed our lack of width when midfielder Callum Jennings found American left-back Marcelo Silva in bags of space. Silva squared the ball to captain Dean Golemac in the penalty area, and the Australian duly laid on a simple finish for David Cabezas.

 

A second Watford goal in quick succession looked likely after 19 minutes, when Daggers defender Zola Casey barged into Ryan Barnsley just outside our area. Casey was booked, and the free-kick that followed would ultimately lead to a chance that Jennings volleyed just over.

 

Things were already looking gloomy for us, but a ray of light emerged when Watford centre-back Yermy George sustained a dead leg in a slide tackle from Nomaou. Although the Honduras international played on, his injury clearly hampered the Hornets. On 35 minutes, Nomaou exposed them further by cutting past right-back Jure Miletic and driving a fierce shot into the far end of the net!

 

Sol's equaliser would be followed three minutes later by a second Dagenham goal. George gave away a free-kick in a dangerous position, and he was then beaten to Tom's free-kick by Baldur, who headed in his 12th goal of the season! More significantly, we were now 2-1 up on Malky Mackay's league leaders!

 

Although we were ahead, Casey had disappointed me somewhat, so I replaced him at centre-half with John Moser for the second period. Our defence remained largely solid after the break, with Whalley saving a trio of efforts from Cabezas between the 53rd and 55th minutes.

 

Nomaou then missed a couple of opportunities to give us daylight slightly later on. The more glaring miss came after 62 minutes, when Sol ran onto Victor Dam's through-ball and prodded it wide. Those two would link up again in the 74th minute for an even bigger opportunity.

 

Victor played a superb weighted lob ahead of Sol, who beat Watford defender Francois Poulain to it. Nomaou then attempted to chip the ball over Thomas, who was well outside his six-yard box! It looked for a moment that the Nigerien had pulled it off... but Thomas got back and plucked the ball out of the air just before it could dip across his goal line!

 

Mackay was a very relieved man, but he now sensed that Watford could get back into the game. On 80 minutes, Mackay brought on right-winger Antoine Picard as his final substitute. Picard was guilty of a horrible miss two minutes into his cameo, firing Golemac's centre into the side netting when it was easier to score. The 23-year-old had his head in his hands, but he would get a shot at redemption.

 

With seven minutes remaining, another Hornets sub - striker Zviad Kvaratskhelia - fed the ball to Picard in the danger area. The Belgian then managed to squirm it between Kieran and his left-hand post. I was now facepalming like Jean-Luc Picard, because Antoine Picard had just extended our run without a victory to seven games. That said, this had been a very even game, and a 2-2 draw wasn't a terrible result at the end of the evening.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Nomaou 35, Hreidarsson 38)

Watford - 2 (Cabezas 17, Picard 83)

Championship, Attendance 9,172 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 20th, Watford 1st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Casey (Moser), Darvill, Virgo, Barnes (Cochet), Dam, Polomat, Hreidarsson, Nomaou (Djokic). BOOKED: Casey, Barnes.

 

In spite of that late goal, which left us just a single point clear of the drop, I felt that we'd turned a corner. We had played incredibly well against the Championship leaders and could consider ourselves very unlucky not to have ended our winless run here. If we could replicate that performance in our next home game, that 'W' would surely come.

 

Our valiant display against Watford had suggested that we were perhaps going in the right direction. Four days after that match, we needed to back it up with a much-needed win in what already looked like a 'relegation six-pointer'.

 

We were a single point above 22nd-placed Plymouth Argyle before the Pilgrims set sail for Victoria Road (although, admittedly, it is quite difficult to get from Devon to Dagenham by boat). A fifth home defeat of the season would potentially send us slipping into the relegation zone, whereas a first victory since mid-September would give us rather more breathing room.

 

23 October 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Plymouth Argyle

Much like against Watford, we played some excellent possession football and were passing the ball around very smoothly. We were also creating plenty of decent scoring opportunities... but taking them was proving to be a problem. In the third minute, forward Baldur Hreidarsson headed woefully wide from a first-time cross by attacking midfielder Jacques Polomat. In the fifth, Tom Virgo's free-kick delivery into the Plymouth box was flicked over by Souleymane Nomaou.

 

The Pilgrims then threatened to take a surprise lead on the counter-attack in the eighth minute. Richard Zappia's byline cross was met by a diving header from Jonathan Lamb that deflected off Daggers defender Gareth Lloyd's heel and was heading goalwards until Kieran Whalley retrieved it.

 

Lamb had another chance to score on the break in the 14th minute, but Whalley bailed us out again by turning his effort behind. Kieran was beaten by a header from Howard Worthington three minutes later... but fortunately for us, the 22-year-old Plymouth striker was fractionally offside when Velin Dimitrov crossed to him.

 

After we were let off the hook, Virgo registered our first shot on goal in the 21st minute. Tom's 20-yarder was punched away by Pilgrims goalkeeper Graham Skinner, who then caught a low strike from Hreidarsson in the 37th minute. Despite putting together some promising attacks, it was once again a case of close but no cigar for us. Indeed, we were rather fortunate not to go into the half-time break behind, as Whalley had to catch another Worthington header in injury time.

 

Victor Dam seemed to be complacent at half-time, so I replaced him with Dean Martin before the restart. Despite that change, we would begin the second half on the defensive. Plymouth captain Ugonna Thompson sent a long-distance volley wide within a minute of kick-off, while his colleagues Lamb and Worthington were also off targets with their early second-half efforts.

 

We became more jittery in the 62nd minute, when Polomat pulled his hamstring in a poor tackle from Dimitrov, who was booked as a result. Striker Paul Nixon came on for Polomat, while Baldur dropped back to fill Jacques' spot behind the frontmen. He almost scored from that position after 63 minutes, sending a 25-yard strike within inches of the target.

 

Disappointingly, that was to be the end of our attacking exploits. We wouldn't even threaten Plymouth's defence again in a scrappy encounter that ended with two out-of-form teams still deadlocked at 0-0. Dagenham's supporters deserved much better than that.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Plymouth Argyle - 0

Championship, Attendance 9,573 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 19th, Plymouth 22nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Moser, Darvill, Virgo (Cochet), Barnes, Dam (Martin), Polomat (Nixon), Hreidarsson, Nomaou.

 

Five home games without a win. It was as if we were scared to play in front of our own fans!

 

Anyway, Jacques Polomat was now out for the next three weeks with a pulled hamstring (great), and we now had to plan another relegation tussle in midweek at Cardiff City (even better).

 

Cardiff's starting line-up contained a familiar face to Daggers fans. On left wing for them was Gareth Flood, who spent five years at Victoria Road, and then two at Shamrock Rovers, before moving to Wales at the start of this year.

[CFuller]

OCTOBER 2032 (continued)

27 October 2032: Cardiff City vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Cardiff were just a couple of places below us in 21st, but their first-half performance suggested that they were the higher-ranked team. While we took a cautious, counter-attacking approach to this game, the hosts showed much more ambition. They won three corners in the first ten minutes and were unlucky not to score from the last of them, as on-loan Celtic striker Dean Williams flicked Will Fox's delivery against the crossbar.

 

In the 12th minute, City's Republic of Ireland winger Seán Davis cut inside from the right flank and had a shot saved by Kieran Whalley. Davis tried to get to the rebound, but George Darvill stuck a leg out and tripped him. Penalty to Cardiff. Midfielder Lewis Askey asked the question of Whalley... and Kieran answered it by palming the spot-kick wide!

 

Our current custodian had made a vital save, but one of our former goalkeeping loanees came to Cardiff's rescue in the 21st minute, when Keith Sheppard caught a strike from Tom Virgo. Tom spurned an even better opportunity to strike after 30 minutes, when he sent the ball over the bar after a superb set-up from Steven Shelton.

 

We needed a goal to get us going in this game, but when that goal was scored two minutes later, it was at the wrong end! Cardiff's persistence paid off when Davis drove home Fox's free-kick from the left side to make it 1-0.

 

Another frustrating half of football would end in more pain for us, as William Barnes was injured in a 42nd-minute collision with Askey. Our skipper had to be taken off and replaced with José Cochet just before the break.

 

I really went for it before the second half, as I reverted to a diamond and used up my two remaining substitutes. One of those who came on was Baldur Hreidarsson, who struck a blistering long-range shot after 55 minutes and was denied only by a fantastic save from Sheppard. Baldur would try his luck twice more from outside the area over the next quarter-hour, though those two efforts were not quite as accurate.

 

Sheppard and another ex-Dagger in the Cardiff defence - centre-back Les Sawyer - would remain relatively untroubled for the rest of the game. Yet another game was slipping away from us, and Davis' 83rd-minute header from a Connor Glover corner ensured that we would leave Cardiff empty-handed. To compound our misery, Virgo picked up a knock in the 87th minute, leaving us with just 10 players for what little time remained.

 

Cardiff City - 2 (Davis 32,83)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Championship, Attendance 13,820 - POSITIONS: Cardiff 15th, Dag & Red 20th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Moser, Darvill, Powell (Hreidarsson), Barnes (Cochet), Virgo, Shelton (Dam), Nixon, Djokic.

 

"I am absolutely bewildered as to how we've started so poorly," I told the media at the post-match press conference. "This is not a hopeless team; we're just in an increasingly hopeless situation. Every game we go without winning just eats away at our confidence, and it does the same to me as a manager. Frankly, I don't know if I can take much more of this."

 

It was the first time that I'd really felt we were in a fight against relegation. One point from two matches against fellow strugglers just wasn't good enough for us, considering that we had to face some very strong opponents in the weeks ahead.

 

The first of them came just three days later, as we travelled up from South Wales to North Wales. Wrexham were in 5th place after a tremendous start to the season had left fans dreaming of back-to-back promotions.

 

Our attempt to slay the Red Dragons at the Racecourse Ground was not made easier by the absence of William Barnes, who'd bruised a rib against Cardiff City. The returning Matthew Fraser took his place in midfield, while I took a punt on 16-year-old Tristan Egueh up front. The promising poacher had scored in our last home win against Charlton Athletic - come to think about it, he was probably still in nappies back then!

 

30 October 2032: Wrexham vs Dagenham & Redbridge

As a football manager, you should never be afraid to give youth players a chance, because they might well produce something magical. Tristan Egueh did exactly that in the third minute, drilling the ball into the bottom corner after Shaun Powell's centre had been met by a scuffed interception from Wrexham midfielder Ross Cooper. The 16-year-old's second goal of the season had put us into a very early lead!

 

The experienced Doug Morton went within inches of cancelling it out for Wrexham in the 8th minute, but the Red Dragons had clearly been rattled. Home goalie Paul Boyham did well to prevent them from falling further behind when he caught a Velimir Radosavljevic header for Dagenham in the 15th minute.

 

Kieran Whalley then produced two massive saves for the Daggers midway through the half. After Kieran tipped behind a scorcher from Rhys James on 23 minutes, James swung a corner towards the near post, where Fredi Horvat's header was caught by our young keeper.

 

The next major chance for either team came after an excellent long ball from Dagenham midfielder Matthew Fraser cleared Wrexham's backline in the 34th minute. Egueh broke through the offside trap to go one-on-one with Boyham, but the boy lost his composure and pulled his shot beyond the post. The Red Dragons wasted a great opportunity of their own three minutes before half-time, as left-winger Paul Sanna's header went straight into Whalley's hands.

 

Wrexham made a shaky start to the second period, with captain Horvat getting booked for persistent fouling. However, Wayne Lindsay would go close to equalising for them in the 53rd minute, as would Sanna two minutes later.

 

The Red Dragons were then left exposed by a Daggers counter-attack in the 66th minute. Steven Shelton aimed a wonderful weighted pass to his opposite winger Powell, who couldn't quite get into enough space to seriously trouble the target.

 

Nine minutes later, we went perilously close to losing our lead. Horvat narrowly beat Daggers left-back George Darvill to a left-wing cross for Sanna, and Whalley had to stay calm and catch the Slovene's header. Our fans had their hearts in their mouths again after 86 minutes, when a thunderous drive from Lindsay deflected off Radosavljevic and headed towards goal. The ricochet didn't catch Kieran out, though, and his save kept him on course of an invaluable clean sheet.

 

Although Egueh fired wide a chance to finish Wrexham off on the counter-attack in injury time, the teenager's early opener would prove to be the decisive goal. After seven weeks, our long wait for another win was finally over!

 

Wrexham - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Egueh 3)

Championship, Attendance 10,345 - POSITIONS: Wrexham 5th, Dag & Red 18th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen (Banton), Lloyd, Radosavljevic, Darvill, Fraser (Virgo), Dam (Martin), Powell, Shelton, Hreidarsson, Egueh. BOOKED: Hreidarsson.

 

One good result can make all the difference to a struggling team's confidence. After nine games without a win, we had ground out an invaluable away victory against one of the division's form sides. Can we now take away the positive feeling from that match and pull ourselves clear of danger in November?

[CFuller]

NOVEMBER 2032

Reserve forward Ollie Reynolds began November by going out on loan to League Two side Grimsby Town. The 19-year-old would be plying his trade at Blundell Park for the next three months.

 

A loan spell in League Two certainly hadn't done Dave Hutchinson any harm. The midfielder was in sensational form for Cheltenham Town, having won the League Two Player of the Month award for the second month in a row. He's only 17 years old, for goodness sake! That kid might turn into something quite special.

 

Another Daggers youngster that I had high hopes for was striker Tristan Egueh, who'd scored in each of his two league appearances so far this season. Egueh celebrated his 17th birthday on Guy Fawkes Night (fun fact: he shares his birthday with my sister), and was given his first home start a day later against Reading.

 

Last season, Reading missed out on automatic promotion via goal difference and then lost heavily to Stoke City in the Play-Off Semi Finals. The Royals were still suffering from some sort of hangover, as they found themselves - much like us - dangerously close to the drop zone. Make no mistake, they were there for the taking.

 

6 November 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Reading

Following a tentative start from both teams, it was Reading who had the first shot on target in the ninth minute. Dagenham left-back George Darvill's clearance from a Peter Edwards cross only went as far as Royals midfielder Aarran Bryant, who hit a powerful shot from long range. Kieran Whalley acrobatically tipped it clear, and then made a more comfortable save from Marc Bennett's header in the 14th minute.

 

On 17 minutes, our right-back Arran Banton was hurt in a collision with Edwards. It wouldn't be the last time that former Leicester City forward Edwards caused us pain. On 27 minutes, he nodded a Gareth Lloyd clearance into our six-yard box. 20-year-old Arsenal loanee Bennett then leapt above Whalley, Darvill and John Moser to flick the ball home and make it 1-0 to Reading.

 

Moser's lack of height was exposed again after 31 minutes, when Bobby Preece beat the French centre-half to a floating delivery from Royals playmaker Alexander Valencia. Preece couldn't beat Kieran, though, as the goalkeeper made a fine catch. Daggers duo Banton and William Barnes picked up bookings either side of that Reading chance, while Tristan Egueh spurned an opportunity to give us parity just before half-time.

 

Our attacking struggles continued into the second period. We had three shots within the opening 15 minutes, but only one - a long-distance strike from Dean Martin - forced Reading custodian Davor Gligic into a save. Meanwhile, in the 59th minute, Moser became the third Daggers player to receive a booking after shoving Preece.

 

At that point, I brought on Souleymane Nomaou to replace Egueh, who clearly hadn't coped well with heightened expectations. We would need our more experienced players to get us back into this game. Matthew Fraser sent a long-distance effort sailing wide on 71 minutes, although Martin did test Gligic with a banana shot three minutes later.

 

When Nomaou headed a Darvill cross against the bar in the 80th minute, our fans were perhaps wondering if another home defeat was on the horizon. About a minute later, Reading centre-half Jesper Forsstrom barged into Dagenham forward Paul Nixon in the Royals box, and we were awarded a penalty! With spot-kick king Fraser taking it, there was never any doubt that we would equalise.

 

However, almost as soon as we got it back to 1-1, Reading pulled ahead of us again. Scotland right-back Danny McVey's centre in the 87th minute was squirmed in by compatriot and former Stoke City striker Billy Murphy, leaving us staring at defeat again.

 

There would, though, be one final plot twist in this story... and it was written by our own flying Scotsman. In the second minute of injury time, Fraser weighted a free-kick perfectly for Nomaou, who stretched out his right leg and diverted the ball into the net. Although our barren run at Victoria Road continued, we did at least narrowly avoid a fifth home loss of the season.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Fraser pen82, Nomaou 90)

Reading - 2 (Bennett 27, Murphy 87)

Championship, Attendance 9,410 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 20th, Reading 19th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Moser, Darvill, Barnes (Shelton), Fraser, Martin, Dam (Virgo), Nixon, Egueh (Nomaou). BOOKED: Barnes, Moser.

 

Following that draw, some of our players went away for midweek international duty. They then got back home in time for our next weekend game at Doncaster Rovers. We'd lost three of our previous four meetings with Donny, who were in 18th place.

 

13 November 2032: Doncaster Rovers vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Doncaster put us under the cosh early, and George Darvill was forced to concede a couple of corners within the first six minutes. The second of those corners was drifted in by Rovers winger Themis Saunders and found midfielder Dan Mortimer, who sent his header flying over the bar.

 

Mortimer then gifted us our first real chance to score in the 12th minute. His back-pass was intercepted by William Barnes, who dribbled forward before curling a shot inches wide. Gareth Lloyd also had a near-miss in the 22nd minute, when his header from Matthew Fraser's corner narrowly cleared the Doncaster bar.

 

We would be ruing those misses after just over half an hour. From inside our six-yard box, Donny striker Matt Peters superbly played the ball back to Milan Bazina, who was lurking on the edge of our penalty area. Bazina's first-time drive was awkwardly parried by Daggers goalkeeper Kieran Whalley, and Peters latched onto the rebound to put Doncaster in front.

 

We threatened to cancel that goal out just a minute later, but Baldur Hreidarsson's strike couldn't quite beat Donny keeper Charlie Gwyther. Hreidarsson would then have another effort saved by Gwyther in the 35th minute, shortly before Fraser sent a Steven Shelton delivery wide. Despite ending the first half strongly, we were still trailing by that Peters goal to nil.

 

Souleymane Nomaou's Daggers career thus far had been hit-and-miss, and it was most certainly 'miss' in the 48th minute, when he blazed over a strike from Doncaster's 'D'. Another player who had disappointed me somewhat was winger Shaun Powell, who was subbed shortly after firing a tame shot into Gwyther's grasp on 56 minutes.

 

Doncaster could've stretched their lead on 64 minutes, but midfielder Niall Goodison's free-kick was no match for Whalley. A minute after that, Gwyther palmed away a blistering effort from Daggers skipper Barnes. We would be fairly quiet on the attacking front thereafter, until Will fired our next shot wide in the 81st minute.

 

As we pushed more men forward in search of an equaliser, Rovers retreated further into a defensive stance. Their deeper line was almost exploited by a header from Dagenham substitute Paul Nixon in the 85th minute, but Gwyther caught the Ulsterman's effort. Gwyther would produce one more save from Hreidarsson in injury time before the final whistle blew on another match that had slipped away from us.

 

Doncaster Rovers - 1 (Peters 31)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Championship, Attendance 7,340 - POSITIONS: Doncaster 13th, Dag & Red 21st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Radosavljevic, Darvill (Puustinen), Fraser, Barnes, Powell (Nixon), Shelton (Virgo), Hreidarsson, Nomaou. BOOKED: Darvill, Powell.

 

After 20 games, our record read: Won 5, Drew 5, Lost 10. Only two of those wins had come after August.

 

It seemed that every game of ours since September had followed the same pattern. We would generally play okay without ever really excelling or looking completely out of our depth, and at the final whistle, I would be left commiserating my crestfallen players after yet another disappointing result.

 

It couldn't go on like that, and so - just before the free transfer window closed until the New Year - I brought in a new player who I really hoped would be our season-changer.

[CFuller]

NOVEMBER 2032 (continued)

Attacking midfielder Filip Svensson had enjoyed a tremendous career in football. He'd won 104 caps and scored 27 goals for Sweden, whom he captained at UEFA Euro 2032. He'd played in the UEFA Champions League for Paris Saint-Germain and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Now aged 35 and unattached, Svensson was ready for one final challenge - to save Dagenham & Redbridge from relegation to League One.

 

One thing that we had clearly lacked this season was a truly top-drawer playmaker or trequartista who could produce magical moments on a consistent basis. With his big-game know-how, his pinpoint passing, and incredible technical ability, I felt Filip had exactly what we needed to turn our form around.

 

Svensson signed a £4,000-per-week contract until the end of the season, and he went straight into the starting XI for our visit to London Road. 20th-placed Peterborough United also had made a new signing of sorts, with Ross Jenkins overseeing his first match as Posh manager after succeeding the sacked Matt Lowton.

 

20 November 2032: Peterborough United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Filip Svensson went fairly close to scoring just two minutes into his Dagenham debut. His low strike was parried by Peterborough keeper Djibril Abdoulaye - an England Under-21s international on loan from Fulham. Abdoulaye would make another fantastic save a minute later, tipping Jacques Polomat's shot behind after Svensson had played the Frenchman through.

 

The resulting Matthew Fraser corner was met by an unconvincing clearance from Posh defender Gheorghe Somfalean. The ball then dipped towards Jacques, who struck it on the half-volley... and narrowly missed the target. Paul Nixon did find the net for Dagenham in the fifth minute, but he was clearly offside when Fraser flicked George Darvill's left-wing cross towards him.

 

Peterborough had their first scoring chance in the 20th minute, when Neil Tutte's free-kick was saved by Daggers goalkeeper Kieran Whalley. The hosts would be gifted another pop at goal six minutes later. Our right-back Heikki Puustinen tried to clear a cross from Posh right-winger Paul Millen, but he could only scuff the ball to striker Joze Vukovic. Much to Heikki's relief, Vukovic curled a close-range shot horrendously over the bar.

 

Two minutes after that, in the 28th minute, Dagenham captain William Barnes was unlucky to hit the Peterborough bar with an excellent 35-yard free-kick. Neither team would go particularly close to scoring again before half-time, though there were a couple of bookings - one for either side.

 

The woodwork that had thwarted our skipper in the first half would come to our rescue early in the second. Millen's 51st-minute cross from the byline caught Whalley off his guard, but it rattled the near post before bouncing back into play. Daggers substitute Dean Martin then started a counter-attack that he would finish by swerving a banana shot into Abdoulaye's hands.

 

Ten minutes after that, it was Peterborough's turn to be saved by the woodwork again. Velimir Radosavljevic was denied his first Daggers goal when the Serbian centre-back's header from Svensson's corner rattled the crossbar. Filip had enjoyed a solid debut in the trequartista role - his pass rate was excellent, and he showed that he had more of a creative spark than our other midfielders.

 

After 85 minutes, though, Svensson had run himself into the ground. The experienced Swede made way for 16-year-old Martin Thompson, whose job was simply to help us grind through the closing stages of a goalless draw. Thompson didn't do that, though... because, as the game entered its final minute, the youth midfielder played a lovely pass ahead of fellow sub Souleymane Nomaou in the Posh area. Sol then prodded the ball through Abdoulaye's legs to give us a dramatic late win!

 

Peterborough United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Nomaou 90)

Championship, Attendance 9,336 - POSITIONS: Peterborough 21st, Dag & Red 19th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Radosavljevic, Darvill, Virgo, Barnes, Fraser (Martin), Svensson (Thompson), Nixon, Polomat (Nomaou). BOOKED: Fraser.

 

After a winning debut for Filip Svensson, it was announced that our other Scandinavian attacking midfielder - Victor Dam - would soon be leaving Dagenham & Redbridge.

 

Victor had generally been a solid performer for the Daggers since his arrival five years ago. However, he had not been productive enough in recent months, and at 27 years old, it seemed that he was unlikely to improve any further.

 

With Dam's contract due to run out in the summer, I decided to put him up for sale to try and make some sort of profit on him. FC Copenhagen came in with an offer of £900,000, which I felt was acceptable. Victor will therefore return to Denmark in January to join the current Superligaen leaders.

 

Next up for us was a home game (gulp) against... Aston Villa (even bigger gulp). We had an appalling record against Villa, but they were 'only' 12th in the Championship, so if we were ever going to beat them, this was our chance.

 

23 November 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Aston Villa

We took the game to Aston Villa almost immediately, but it took us some time to find our range with our shooting. Dean Martin snatched at a long-range effort in the fifth minute, while Baldur Hreidarsson flicked Heikki Puustinen's cross miles wide two minutes later.

 

I had another cause for concern when Matthew Fraser picked up a knock in a tackle from his Aston Villa midfield counterpart Luke O'Leary after 14 minutes. Matthew shook it off, but a poor header from the Scot shortly afterwards allowed Villa to launch a counter-attack. Villans winger Mostafa Youssef almost found striker Jimmy Morton with an excellent cross, but Daggers keeper Kieran Whalley bravely punched it clear just before it could reach the Manchester City loanee. Hreidarsson then pulled wide another shot for us three minutes later.

 

We would at last get a major chance to open the scoring after 22 minutes, though Villa helped us out a lot. Jacques Polomat sliced the ball through a high Villans backline ahead of Hreidarsson. Baldur then sidestepped the visitors' goalkeeper - a certain Aleksandar Nikolov, who made a costly error for Bayern Munich in the 2026 UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester City and was punished again here. A 13th goal this season for Hreidarsson put us 1-0 up and got our fans dreaming of a long-awaited home win!

 

Nikolov, to his credit, regained enough composure to catch a 29th-minute header from Velimir Radosavljevic that could've enhanced our lead. There were further misses from Souleymane Nomaou and Polomat later in the first half, and by half-time, I was wondering how we hadn't moved ourselves out of Aston Villa's reach.

 

After opting to bring on William Barnes and Filip Svensson for Fraser and Polomat respectively, I told my team to go for the kill in the second half. That would be easier said than done. Barnes was hurt in a tackle on Villa's Armen Nersesyan after 54 minutes, and though he bounced back quickly, we would face an even bigger concern six minutes later.

 

Dagenham right-back Heikki Puustinen's attempted pass from deep in our half was intercepted by Villans midfielder Muharrem Kurt and deflected towards Morton on the edge of the area. Radosavljevic slid the ball away from Morton, but he inadvertently found Harvey Jeffs, who smashed in an equaliser for the visitors!

 

The final half-hour would be a real test of our resolve. Tom Virgo sent a long-distance strike wide in the 63rd minute, while Baldur nodded George's cross over the bar three minutes later. Dean went closer in the 75th minute, though his blistering shot was palmed wide by Bulgaria international Nikolov.

 

Four minutes later, Puustinen's corner found Hreidarsson in the Villa goalmouth, but Baldur was incredibly unlucky to head it against the bar. Our misfortune in front of goal didn't get any better in the closing stages, and so we had to settle for a fifth consecutive home draw.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Hreidarsson 22)

Aston Villa - 1 (Jeffs 60)

Championship, Attendance 9,003 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 16th, Aston Villa 10th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Radosavljevic, Moser, Darvill, Virgo, Fraser (Barnes), Martin, Polomat (Svensson), Hreidarsson, Nomaou (Djokic).

 

Souleymane Nomaou had played through the last couple of matches with a strained wrist. The striker now needed some time off to recover, and so he would miss our final game of the month at Leeds United.

 

While Nomaou stayed at home, two players who had spent significant time on the sidelines were able to make the trip to West Yorkshire. They were forward Joel Honeyball and - even more significantly - left-back Daniel O'Reilly, whose absence had been clearly felt over the past two-and-a-half months.

 

Leeds were in 5th place and on course to reach the play-offs for a second straight year, but they were also without a manager. Ashley Westwood had just been rewarded for the brilliant work he had done at Elland Road with his first Premier League management job - at Fulham.

 

27 November 2032: Leeds United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Leeds made an unsuccessful claim for a penalty in the fifth minute. The hosts accused George Darvill of unfairly challenging their centre-half Tommy Fisk as both men jumped for Bozenko Mikulic's corner delivery into the Dagenham area. However, the referee was having none of it.

 

In the 13th minute, Daggers midfielder Matthew Fraser struck a blistering drive that was pushed behind by Leeds goalkeeper Grant White. The Whites went forward again two minutes later, with striker Steve Heaton nodding captain Bradley Nicholas' left-wing cross against the top of our crossbar.

 

Heaton then helped to create Leeds' next scoring opportunity after 27 minutes. His flick-on towards Keith Corcoran was cut back to veteran midfielder Mick Riley, whose first-time drive was comfortably gathered by our goalkeeper Kieran Whalley. Whalley then saved an effort from Heaton just before the half-hour mark. The score would remain 0-0 at half-time, but United were looking the more likely team to break the deadlock.

 

I switched from the diamond to a winged 4-4-2 at the break, with Steven Shelton coming on for José Cochet. That substitution would pay off after 50 minutes. Joel Honeyball found Steven in plenty of space on the left flank, and the 20-year-old loanee lifted the ball over White from the edge of Leeds' penalty area! Shelton's first Daggers goal could not have been a much sweeter one!

 

Five minutes after that, we added a second goal in a fairly similar manner. Honeyball was the architect again, this time for Fraser, who impudently chipped White from 25 yards out! White's head had gone, and so had the Whites defenders'.

 

An incredible spell of Daggers dominance ended with Baldur Hreidarsson prodding in our third goal after 59 minutes! Joel's cutback to Steven was intercepted by Shane Gennings, who inadvertently knocked the ball into the path of our ruthless Icelandic frontman! We were 3-0 up at Elland Road, and if we could keep our cool, another excellent away win would be ours.

 

Of course, Leeds weren't in the play-off places for nothing. They pulled one goal back after 61 minutes, when Mikulic's first-time delivery was driven in by the giant local lad Heaton. Since the second half began, 6ft 7in Heaton had been partnered up front by another big forward in 6ft 5in Ilias Ntalaperas, who drove an awful shot wide in the 67th minute.

 

Three minutes later, though, this large-and-large partnership made a massive dent in our lead. Ntalaperas played the ball short to Heaton, who shook off a tackle from Velimir Radosavljevic and slotted in United's second goal. The momentum was now only going one way.

 

The almost inevitable equaliser came after 74 minutes through Ntalaperas, who drove home Wales right-back Aaron Ebdon's square ball and sent thousands of Yorkshire folk wild. I felt utterly dejected, and goodness knows what I would've done had our opponents completed the fightback with a late winner.

 

The closest Leeds came to clinching victory was an 86th-minute strike from Gennings that was, thankfully, caught by Whalley. A Fraser free-kick four minutes earlier had been our best opportunity to get back ahead, but the Scotsman narrowly cleared the crossbar, and we had to settle for only one point instead of all three.

 

Leeds United - 3 (Heaton 61,70, Ntalaperas 74)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Shelton 50, Fraser 55, Hreidarsson 59)

Championship, Attendance 18,554 - POSITIONS: Leeds 5th, Dag & Red 18th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Radosavljevic, Darvill, O'Reilly, Cochet (Shelton), Barnes, Fraser, Svensson (Martin), Hreidarsson, Honeyball (Djokic).

 

Under any other circumstance, I would have been delighted with a draw at Elland Road. However, I found it almost impossible to control my anger in the dressing room at full-time. We'd thrown away three-goal leads before, but considering how badly our season had gone, this was most certainly not the right time to fall apart so spectacularly.

[CFuller]

Championship Table (End of November 2032)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Watford                23    15    5     3     46    23    +23   50
2.          Southampton            23    13    7     3     34    19    +15   46
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Blackburn              23    14    4     5     42    35    +7    46
4.          Ipswich                23    9     10    4     43    30    +13   37
5.          Leeds                  23    9     9     5     35    28    +7    36
6.          Wrexham                23    8     12    3     30    25    +5    36
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Crewe                  23    9     7     7     37    29    +8    34
8.          Charlton               23    9     5     9     38    43    -5    32
9.          Notts County           23    8     7     8     32    33    -1    31
10.         Aston Villa            23    7     9     7     34    32    +2    30
11.         Northampton            23    7     9     7     28    27    +1    30
12.         Stoke                  23    7     9     7     31    34    -3    30
13.         Cardiff                23    7     8     8     27    32    -5    29
14.         Reading                23    8     4     11    32    34    -2    28
15.         Luton                  23    6     9     8     24    27    -3    27
16.         Doncaster              23    7     6     10    26    30    -4    27
17.         Bradford               23    7     6     10    27    33    -6    27
18.         Dag & Red              23    6     7     10    32    29    +3    25
19.         Crystal Palace         23    5     9     9     33    39    -6    24
20.         Peterborough           23    6     6     11    26    35    -9    24
21.         Millwall               23    5     9     9     21    32    -11   24
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.         Plymouth               23    4     10    9     31    39    -8    22
23.         Hull                   23    6     4     13    27    36    -9    22
24.         Colchester             23    5     7     11    30    42    -12   22

 

[CFuller]

DECEMBER 2032

The agony of dropping a 3-0 lead at Leeds United in our final game of November was eased somewhat when December got underway. Baldur Hreidarsson had just won the Championship's Goal of the Month award for November, following his excellent strike against Aston Villa. Admittedly, the Villans had helped us out massively for that goal, but any award for a Dagenham & Redbridge player would be celebrated here.

 

Would there be further celebrations in Dagenham after the second half of our Championship season began at Colchester United? Back in July, we started the campaign with a 4-0 demolition of our Essex rivals, who still had not fully recovered from that. The U's were now bottom of the table and under new management after Tom Taiwo replaced Tony Fraser in November.

 

4 December 2032: Colchester United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Dean Martin displayed some fancy footwork for Dagenham in the fifth minute. After turning sharply away from Colchester centre-back Tyrone Jenkins, Martin hit a 20-yard drive that was awkwardly pushed away by goalkeeper Shayne Griffin.

 

The U's had a significant injury scare five minutes later. Miles Wardell - primarily a right-back, though curiously playing on the left wing here - picked up a knock in a tackle from Daggers playmaker Filip Svensson and had to come off briefly for treatment.

 

Things then went a little quiet until midway through the first half, when we started to take control of proceedings. Captain William Barnes' shot in the 23rd minute was almost deflected into the United net off defender Haydn Brown, but home fans were relieved to see the ball go behind for only a corner. Their team survived another scare three minutes later, as Martin headed wide a Matthew Fraser delivery into the penalty area.

 

On 33 minutes, Dean finally unlocked the Colchester defence with a superb through-ball that Baldur Hreidarsson slotted into the corner of the net! With his 15th goal of this campaign, Baldur had surpassed his tally from last season, and he sent us into the interval with a narrow 1-0 lead.

 

We missed the target on three occasions in the first 15 minutes of the second half as we looked to pull further clear. A poor strike from Daniel O'Reilly in the 49th minute was followed by similarly disappointing efforts from Martin and Svensson.

 

Colchester could've punished us with a counter-attack in the 63rd minute, but Regan Stroud's header was easily caught by Kieran Whalley. We then responded with a quickfire counter to the counter-attack. The move ended with Dean's second assist of the afternoon, as he played the ball through to Joel Honeyball, who drove home the 50th league goal of his career!

 

Joel really should have made it 51 in the 69th minute, but his header from Fraser's free-kick bounced past the post. Victor Hamsher then sent a Colchester shot into the side netting two minutes later as the U's woke up from their slumber. That said, it appeared that they had awoken too late... until Stroud won them a penalty in the 86th minute.

 

Stroud went down under a sliding challenge from Daggers defender Zola Casey, who was playing in just his fifth Championship match of the season. The Bristolian striker took the penalty in the knowledge that he could put Colchester within one goal of parity... but he smashed it against the woodwork! That horrendous miss rounded off a miserable evening for the U's, and a brilliant one for us!

 

Colchester United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Hreidarsson 33, Honeyball 63)

Championship, Attendance 4,147 - POSITIONS: Colchester 23rd, Dag & Red 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Casey, O'Reilly, Fraser, Barnes, Martin, Svensson (Shelton), Hreidarsson (Powell), Honeyball (Nomaou).

 

The importance of that win could not be overstated. We were now six points ahead of the drop zone, whereas defeat to Colchester United would have left us only a single point clear.

 

The last of three consecutive weekends on the road saw us pay a visit to Crewe Alexandra, who were in 7th place. This was actually the Railwaymen's fourth home game on the trot, and their form in the previous three had been mixed.

 

11 December 2032: Crewe Alexandra vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Baldur Hreidarsson went within inches of continuing his scoring streak after just 37 seconds. His header from a Steven Shelton cross looped narrowly over the Crewe crossbar. Baldur had another opening when Joel Honeyball found him in space in the fourth minute, but the Icelander's shot on that occasion went much further off target.

 

While our main goal threat was struggling to hit the target, Crewe's frontman got up and running after 10 minutes. Gary Harper bewildered our young centre-half George Darvill as he dribbled into the area and beat Kieran Whalley for 1-0.

 

That goal was created by Railwaymen captain Jesse Baker, who would be booked in the 17th minute after impeding Matthew Fraser. Another tough-tackling midfielder in the Crewe ranks was Greg Killick, who left Honeyball with a nasty knock shortly afterwards. I initially decided to keep Joel on, but after Darren Greenhouse fizzed a shot just over our crossbar in the 22nd minute, I felt that a change had to be made.

 

Taking Honeyball's place up front was Souleymane Nomaou, who missed the target with his first shot after 34 minutes. By then, Crewe had lost Baker to a gashed leg, which he had sustained in a tackle from Fraser. The Railwaymen looked rather less secure without Baker, and we looked to take advantage before half-time.

 

Hreidarsson had a header saved by Alex keeper Warren Rodwell in the 43rd minute, but Baldur then went one better in injury time. Shelton's cross towards Shaun Powell at the back post was blocked by Crewe left-back Gareth Powell, and the ball fell perfectly for Baldur to drive in his fourth goal in as many games! The scores were now level at 1-1, and we felt that we could really push for the win in the second half.

 

Harper had already skinned one Dagenham centre-back in this game, and he tried to do likewise to our other early in the second period. After 49 minutes, Harper cut outside Gareth Lloyd and hit a thunderous shot that was pushed away by Whalley. Kieran needed to make another big save three minutes later to keep out a long-range drive from Will Pitt. Jake White was the next Crewe player to try his luck from outside the penalty area in the 54th minute, but he got his shot all wrong and curled it wide.

 

Later on, Railwaymen keeper Rodwell stopped two more efforts from Hreidarsson in the 63rd and 69th minute. Rodwell was able to prevent Baldur from putting us back into the lead... but not our other striker. After 71 minutes, Nomaou met a right-wing cross from Heikki Puustinen with a diving header that caught the goalie completely off his guard! We were now 2-1 up and looking good... but the Railwaymen went full steam ahead in the closing moments.

 

On 76 minutes, Harper surged past Lloyd and unleashed a powerful effort that stung Whalley's palms. Three minutes after that, Harper stung us with an excellent pass that was followed by an even better 20-yard strike from White. 2-2.

 

Both sides went hammer-and-tongs for the win, with Crewe looking particularly dangerous in added-on time. In the second additional minute, young wide midfielder Russ Grierson had a pop at goal from close-range, and was only denied by a fantastic save from Kieran. The danger wasn't gone yet, though.

 

White swung a corner into our six-yard box and found substitute Rees Wallace, who met the ball with a header that only just flew over the bar. We had a rather poor record when it came to throwing points away late on against Crewe, so when the full-time whistle blew, we felt relieved to have secured one.

 

Crewe Alexandra - 2 (Harper 10, White 79)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Hreidarsson 45, Nomaou 71)

Championship, Attendance 9,946 - POSITIONS: Crewe 7th, Dag & Red 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly, Fraser (Cochet), Barnes, Powell (Martin), Shelton, Hreidarsson, Honeyball (Nomaou).

 

With that draw, we were now on a run of five games unbeaten. There was a good chance that we could stretch that run further in our final three matches of the year, as they were all at Victoria Road. Yes, we had forgotten how to win at home, but surely our terrible record on that front was bound to end soon? SURELY?

[CFuller]

DECEMBER 2032 (continued)

Our last fixture before Christmas was - on paper - one of our easiest of the season. We were playing host to Millwall, who were in 22nd place and had won just five games all season. Indeed, you had to go back to October for the Lions' last victory.

 

Our wait for a home win had been even longer than that. Nearly three months, and seven unsuccessful attempts to win at Victoria Road, had passed since we spanked Charlton Athletic 6-0 at the end of August. Could we finally give our long-suffering fans some much-needed cheer just in time for the holidays?

 

18 December 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Millwall

We were lucky not to be stung by a counter-attack in the fourth minute after Millwall cleared away Matthew Fraser's corner delivery. Daggers left-back Daniel O'Reilly stopped the breakaway by impeding Lions striker Mick Baird, an offence for which he was booked. We would soon be back on the attack, but midfielders Fraser, William Barnes and Filip Svensson all failed to get near the target with their initial shots at goal.

 

Baldur Hreidarsson fared slightly better in the 17th minute, when his header from O'Reilly's cross was caught by Millwall goalkeeper Drey Blackburn. An even bigger headed chance came our way after 25 minutes. Fraser's corner found the head of George Darvill, but the young defender's header was cleared off the Lions' goal line by Kadeem Blackwell!

 

We continued to control the match after that, but we were once again showing a worrying lack of killer instinct. Souleymane Nomaou's header on 33 minutes, which was comfortably caught by Blackburn, would be our last chance to strike before the interval. Meanwhile, our defence did brilliantly to stop Millwall making any serious attacking forays, and Lions midfielder Dean Stepney - our nemesis at The Den in August - was booked just before the break.

 

The second half began with an agonising miss from Dagenham defender Gareth Lloyd, who skimmed the crossbar with a header in the 49th minute. About a quarter of an hour later, in the 63rd minute, Millwall created their best opportunity of the game. James Lester's strike was brilliantly tipped behind the bar by Whalley, who had hitherto been a virtual spectator in the Daggers goal.

 

After that narrow escape, I shook up my attack by bringing on Joel Honeyball for Nomaou. The change would pay off in the 66th minute. After Filip won a free-kick off Stepney deep in Millwall territory, Baldur chipped the set-piece towards Joel, who took the ball forward and slipped it past Blackburn!

 

The Victoria Road faithful were quick to salute their homegrown hero, and another local favourite almost doubled our freshly-gained lead in the 71st minute. Midfielder Dean Martin went for goal but couldn't quite beat Blackburn, who then denied Honeyball a second goal a few minutes later.

 

Blackburn would make one last save after 86 minutes, as the Lions custodian prevented Hreidarsson from extending his scoring streak to a fifth consecutive game. We saw through the remaining time with complete professionalism, and a strong defensive display - led by the fantastic O'Reilly at left-back - saw us finally grind out a victory on home turf!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Honeyball 66)

Millwall - 0

Championship, Attendance 11,424 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 15th, Millwall 21st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly, Fraser, Barnes, Martin (Polomat), Svensson (Virgo), Hreidarsson, Nomaou (Honeyball). BOOKED: O'Reilly.

 

It wasn't quite 6-0, but a home win is a home win is a home win.

 

We would be at Victoria Road twice more before the New Year. Two days before taking on high-flying Southampton, we faced Luton Town in a Boxing Day bash. The Hatters were a place and a point behind us, and they were desperate for revenge after Baldur Hreidarsson tore them to shreds at Kenilworth Road in August.

 

Attacking midfielder Jacques Polomat would miss the rest of the festive period with a thigh strain. Jacques would have started against the Hatters, but his misfortune was good news for Victor Dam, who was set to make his final appearance for Dagenham & Redbridge before returning home to Denmark.

 

26 December 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Luton Town

It looked like we would take the lead in the second minute, when Joel Honeyball played an excellent byline cross towards Baldur Hreidarsson. Alas, Baldur had a shot blocked by the Luton defence, as did Dean Martin, before Hatters midfielder Matt Hopkins cleared it behind for a corner. Joel's corner delivery then found Victor Dam, but the departing Dane sent his header well off target.

 

After that promising spell early on, the rest of the first half was rather uninspiring. Save for a couple of hit-and-hopers from left-back Daniel O'Reilly, we hardly looked like getting through a Luton defence that was far sturdier than it had been three months earlier. The visitors were rather less impressive when they went forward, with their only shot on goal being headed wide by Dale Pounder in the 28th minute.

 

I fired the lads up at half-time, and they responded by going 1-0 up after 47 minutes. Victor marked his Daggers farewell with a superb pass to Joel, whose shot crept into the goal off the post!

 

Luton found the net five minutes later, but Ian Watts' prospective equaliser was ruled out, as the striker was offside when Calvin Knott crossed to him. A couple of minutes after that, the Hatters' Australian winger Nicky Thompson drifted a shot well wide.

 

Luton boss Mark Wilson later replaced Watts up front with Darrin Norris, but when the visitors did equalise after 66 minutes, their goal came from a different source. After Thompson had a couple of piledrivers inadvertently blocked by Norris, midfielder Thomas Summerfield pounced on the rebound and tucked it away! That was actually Luton's first shot on target... and it would be their last.

 

A close-fought match ended in a 1-1 draw after both teams missed the target with late free-kicks. Dam couldn't quite sign off from Dagenham with a goal after drifting his set-piece wide in the 76th minute, while Norris' effort for the Hatters two minutes later went the same way.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Honeyball 47)

Luton Town - 1 (Summerfield 66)

Championship, Attendance 10,747 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 16th, Luton 18th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen (Banton), Radosavljevic, Moser, O'Reilly (Casey), Virgo, Fraser, Martin, Dam, Hreidarsson (Nixon), Honeyball.

 

I'd rested a few of my key men for that game, because just 48 hours later, we finished off the year with a very tricky clash against 3rd-placed Southampton. Our seven-game unbeaten run was very much on the line here, as was the Saints' own record of not having lost in six matches.

 

28 December 2032: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Southampton

Both sides had several near-misses in the first quarter-hour or so. Southampton winger Jason Pack packed a punch, as he twice came within inches of scoring an early opener for the visitors. Similarly unfortunate at the other end was Baldur Hreidarsson, who skimmed the bar with an 8th-minute free-kick and went close again three minutes afterwards. It was Baldur who had our first shot on target after 15 minutes, as his rocket forced Saints goalkeeper Josip Prtenjaca into a difficult save.

 

We then began to rack up the corners, and two of them midway through the period almost resulted in goals. Firstly, after 22 minutes, Steven Shelton sent a hanging ball over to George Darvill. Southampton midfielder Pat Otero had to get above Darvill and nod it behind for another corner. Steven tried his luck again and did find George at the second attempt, but the teenage centre-back's header cleared the bar.

 

The Saints had clearly been rattled, and an awful headed interception from centre-half and captain Daniel Phillips in the 35th minute would prove very costly for them. Joel Honeyball raced onto the loose ball and took it up the left flank before squaring it towards Hreidarsson in the Southampton box. Saints full-back Peter Beardsley blocked the initial centre, but Baldur quickly got to the ball and fired in his 17th goal of the season! We had dealt first blood against arguably the biggest team in the division!

 

Southampton tried to bring about a quick reply, but Pack's long-distance strike on 37 minutes went safely into Kieran Whalley's grasp. Five minutes later, we gave the away team even more on their plate. After having a free-kick blocked by Pack in the Southampton wall, Matthew Fraser swerved the rebound through the defence and beyond Prtenjaca, who'd dived the wrong way and presented us with a 2-0 lead! We couldn't really pull it off, could we?

 

After an even start to the second half, Dagenham captain William Barnes was booked in the 51st minute for a foul on Southampton midfielder Alasdair Wood. If any of our players were feeling nervous, though, they were doing a bloody good job of disguising it! Three minutes later, Honeyball found Shelton in space, and Steven smashed in our third goal of the afternoon!

 

A 3-0 lead over Southampton seemed unbelievable... but we would soon be brought crashing down to Earth. In the 56th minute, ex-Saints midfielder Barnes lost the ball to Pack, who advanced up the right flank and supplied a cross that was finished by striker Maurice Hockley.

 

About a minute-and-a-half later, Hockley nodded a Beardsley clearance on towards 20-year-old substitute Mehmet Adams. The rapid former England youth international ran at our defence and then drove the ball beyond Whalley's reach. That made it 3-2, but Southampton's resurgence was not over yet.

 

In the 59th minute, Adams played a one-two with Hockley and broke through a gap in our backline before having a pop at goal. Kieran got his gloves to the shot, but Gareth Lloyd's subsequent headed clearance fell back towards Adams, who completed a remarkable turnaround. In the space of about three-and-a-half minutes, the Saints had resurrected themselves, coming from 3-0 down to level at 3-3.

 

Our lead may have gone in a flash, but we almost regained it just as quickly. Honeyball was unlucky not to make it 4-3 Daggers after 60 minutes, but Prtenjaca's fingertips made sure that his colleagues' fightback had not been in vain. After levelling the match, Southampton had taken off their supersub Adams and brought on defensive midfielder Hassan Zaidi to give them a bit more solidity.

 

Although the Saints weren't overly desperate to turn a draw into a win, Zaidi did create their first chance to take the lead after 67 minute. The Moroccan teed up a shot that Wood ballooned high into the stands. Wood and Zaidi would each miss further attempts at goal before the Saints settled for a share of the points. We seemed quite happy to take away a point as well, even though it had briefly looked like we would claim an incredible win over Ben Turner's charges.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Hreidarsson 35, Fraser 42, Shelton 54)

Southampton - 3 (Hockley 56, Adams 57,59)

Championship, Attendance 10,374 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 15th, Southampton 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly, Powell, Fraser, Barnes (Martin), Shelton, Hreidarsson, Honeyball (Nomaou). BOOKED: Barnes.

 

Forget that three-minute collapse. Forget that we'd squandered a 3-0 lead for the second time this season. For a club of our stature to push Southampton to the very limit was a tremendous achievement, and I was not at all disappointed that we hadn't come away victorious.

 

We've finished December unbeaten and in 15th place - eight points clear of the drop. I hope that we can push on further in the New Year, with the help of a very exciting new acquisition.

[CFuller]

Championship Table (End of December 2032)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Watford                28    17    8     3     59    30    +29   59
2.          Blackburn              28    18    5     5     57    41    +16   59
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Southampton            28    15    10    3     46    26    +20   55
4.          Leeds                  28    14    9     5     42    29    +13   51
5.          Ipswich                28    12    10    6     55    42    +13   46
6.          Wrexham                28    11    13    4     41    33    +8    46
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Charlton               28    11    8     9     46    49    -3    41
8.          Stoke                  28    10    10    8     43    43    0     40
9.          Crewe                  28    10    8     10    43    36    +7    38
10.         Doncaster              28    10    8     10    34    35    -1    38
11.         Cardiff                28    9     10    9     39    38    +1    37
12.         Northampton            28    9     9     10    34    32    +2    36
13.         Luton                  28    8     11    9     34    33    +1    35
14.         Aston Villa            28    8     11    9     42    43    -1    35
15.         Dag & Red              28    8     10    10    41    35    +6    34
16.         Notts County           28    8     9     11    34    44    -10   33
17.         Bradford               28    7     9     12    36    48    -12   30
18.         Reading                28    8     5     15    35    45    -10   29
19.         Hull                   28    8     5     15    34    47    -13   29
20.         Peterborough           28    7     7     14    31    42    -11   28
21.         Crystal Palace         28    5     11    12    36    46    -10   26
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.         Colchester             28    6     8     14    36    52    -16   26
23.         Millwall               28    5     11    12    24    40    -16   26
24.         Plymouth               28    4     11    13    37    50    -13   23

 

[JayR2003]

Man, losing two 3-0 leads in about a month is brutal.  Keep slogging away and hopefully you can right the ship and continue to push up the table in the new year.

[CFuller]

On 4/7/2017 at 19:40, JayR2003 said:

Man, losing two 3-0 leads in about a month is brutal.  Keep slogging away and hopefully you can right the ship and continue to push up the table in the new year.

Funnily, I was more annoyed with the collapse away to Leeds than I thought I'd be, while the opposite was true for the home collapse against Southampton - that one didn't frustrate me so much. Mind you, I really hope we don't make a habit of this!

[CFuller]

JANUARY 2033

At Dagenham & Redbridge, 2033 began with the arrival of a new 17-year-old left-back from Croatia. Ante Djuzel joined us on a free transfer from Hajduk Split, and if he can live up to my scouts' expectations, he could well be the bargain of the decade.

 

I was first alerted back in October about Djuzel - a diminutive defender with plenty of stamina, and good marking abilities for someone of his tender age. He'd played six league games for Hajduk and had already been capped once by Croatia Under-21s, so there was certainly something about him.

 

Then, just before Christmas, one of my scouts informed me that Djuzel had fallen out with Hajduk's management and had been made available for transfer - for absolutely nothing! There was no way I was going to pass up that opportunity, so I sent the club's top negotiators off to Croatia to get him signed up ASAP.

 

I could see Ante becoming our next first-choice left-back if and when Daniel O'Reilly moved on. However, the New Year's Day game at fellow mid-tablers Northampton Town had come too early for our newest signing to make his debut, and so O'Reilly kept his place in the starting XI for our visit to Sixfields.

 

1 January 2033: Northampton Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Northampton forward Robbie Killick was booked after just 20 seconds for pushing Dagenham defender Velimir Radosavljevic. That set the tone for a combative stop-and-start match in which both teams conceded plenty of fouls.

 

There was the occasional attacking move as well, such as when Killick blasted a shot just over the bar for the hosts after 10 minutes. Four minutes after that, Killick inadvertently blocked a swerving shot from his Cobblers captain Leigham Wilding.

 

Meanwhile, we were badly struggling to make our mark up front. Indeed, our own physiotherapy team would be troubled more than Northampton goalkeeper Deni Radic. Striker Paul Nixon hobbled off briefly with a minor injury in the 25th minute, while goalie Kieran Whalley also required treatment after straining his groin seven minutes later. Both men played on, and Kieran showed few signs of being affected by his injury when he diverted over a strike from Killick in the 38th minute.

 

As for Nixon, he went close to heading a Daniel O'Reilly cross into the Cobblers net after 42 minutes, only just clearing the bar. Just moments later, it was Northampton who took the lead. Teenage midfielder Joe Lawlor's square ball was smashed in by Killick, and we were trailing 1-0 at the break.

 

The battle of Sixfields continued in the second half, with Daggers captain William Barnes and his Northampton counterpart Wilding each picking up yellow cards. One of Wilding's midfield colleagues, Moses Duodu, had to come off injured in the 58th minute after hurting his ribs in a challenge on Dagenham winger Shaun Powell. The holding midfielder's exit could have hampered Northampton, but they continued to cling onto their lead.

 

In the 75th minute, Dagenham centre-back John Moser made a complete hash of a long-range bender that drifted well off target. Another Frenchman would set up a much better scoring opportunity seven minutes later. José Cochet's long ball from deep in Daggers territory reached Souleymane Nomaou, who unleashed a shot from just outside the Cobblers' penalty area. Sadly, Sol couldn't find the net, as Radic pushed away our first shot on target.

 

Radic also kept out our second attempt - a free-kick from Powell in the 88th minute. Shaun dragged wide one final chance in the last minute of normal time as our New Year began with a disappointing 1-0 defeat.

 

Northampton Town - 1 (Killick 42)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Championship, Attendance 14,706 - POSITIONS: Northampton 10th, Dag & Red 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Radosavljevic, Moser, O'Reilly, Powell, Barnes (Cochet), Virgo (Svensson), Shelton (Martin), Nixon, Nomaou. BOOKED: Barnes.

 

Our run of eight games unbeaten was over, and Kieran Whalley's record of playing in every league match for us this season would soon be coming to an end as well. Kieran was forced to sit out the next fortnight with a groin strain, though he could console himself with a new four-and-a-half-year contract that increased his weekly wages to £6,000.

 

The experienced Daryl Ryan would go in goal for our next few games, starting with a Bank Holiday Monday trip to 7th-placed Charlton Athletic. That match would see new signing Ante Djuzel enter The Valley for his Daggers debut.

 

3 January 2033: Charlton Athletic vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Both teams had long-range shots in the 6th minute, but Dean Martin missed for the Daggers before Charlton skipper Thomas Millington did likewise for his team. 35-year-old Millington would miss the target again in the 13th minute.

 

The game didn't really get going, though, until the Addicks almost gifted us a goal after 22 minutes. Dagenham midfielder José Cochet tried to pump a long ball towards Joel Honeyball, but it just bypassed the striker, and Charlton goalkeeper Michael Hewson charged out of his penalty area to try and head it clear. Filip Svensson reached the loose ball and attempted an audacious chip over Hewson, who somehow got his fingertips to the Swedish midfielder's shot and diverted it behind!

 

Although one Dagger had been denied his first goal for the club, another would not. Cochet had a moment to remember in the 35th minute, when he scored from the rebound after Baldur Hreidarsson's long-range strike had been parried by Hewson!

 

José had made it 1-0, but Hewson stopped Baldur doubling our lead from a free-kick four minutes later. Another four minutes followed, and then Dagenham goalkeeper Daryl Ryan faced his first real test of the game. He tipped away Addicks teenager Derek Barlow's free-kick to ensure that we would go into half-time still leading narrowly.

 

Hewson may have shipped six goals when we last played the Addicks in August, but he was nowhere near as incompetent here. Indeed, after making a couple of saves from Filip and Joel early in the second half, Hewson was emerging as arguably Charlton's best player. Hreidarsson wasn't necessarily our best performer, although he was unlucky to flight a free-kick just over Hewson's crossbar in the 56th minute.

 

Charlton would have their best chance yet to equalise three minutes later, when Barlow's header was tipped behind by Ryan. Daryl was having a quieter game than expected, and a woeful shot from Athletic substitute Anthony Whittle in the 70th minute failed to get near him at all.

 

I made my first substitution after that, and it was a major gamble, as Hreidarsson was replaced up front with Steven Shelton. Although Steven was a left-winger by trade, I felt that his strength and technical ability would serve him well as a support striker to Joel. Shelton certainly proved his worth on 78 minutes, when he set up a chance for Dean Martin that was pushed away by Hewson.

 

Meanwhile, Croatian rookie Ante Djuzel was enjoying a solid and composed Daggers debut at left-back. 'Solid and composed' could not be said of our other Balkan defender, however, when centre-back Velimir Radosavljevic's clearance in the 80th minute was intercepted by Addicks counterpart Bryan McLeod. The Scotsman pumped the ball back towards our goal, starting a move that ended with Irish winger Whittle whittling our lead down to nothing. I was so annoyed with Velimir that I swiftly replaced him with Gareth Lloyd, while bringing on 16-year-old Martin Thompson for the tiring Cochet at the same time.

 

I was starting to panic, but five minutes from time, my earlier substitute saved the day. Shelton latched onto a pass from Honeyball and drove in his third goal of the season to send us 2-1 up! Both of Steven's previous goals had come in 3-0 leads that later turned into 3-3 draws, but there would be no Daggers collapse here. After a few nail-biting minutes, the final whistle confirmed that we had got ourselves back to winning ways!

 

Charlton Athletic - 1 (Whittle 80)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Cochet 35, Shelton 85)

Championship, Attendance 19,680 - POSITIONS: Charlton 7th, Dag & Red 14th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Puustinen, Darvill, Radosavljevic (Lloyd), Djuzel, Cochet (Thompson), Fraser, Martin, Svensson, Hreidarsson (Shelton), Honeyball.

 

José Cochet's reward for his first senior Dagenham & Redbridge goal... was to be loaned out to Kingstonian for the rest of the season. It would be the French midfielder's second stint with the League Two club, having previously spent time at Kingsmeadow during the 2030/2031 season. Also going out on loan to gain extra first-team experience was defender Zola Casey, who would see out this campaign at League One high-flyers Bolton Wanderers.

 

Meanwhile, Victor Dam's departure to FC Copenhagen for £900,000 was officially completed. Victor had served us well over the last five years, scoring 19 goals in 154 league games, but now it was time to move on from him and look to the future.

 

Speaking of the future, Ante Djuzel had impressed me so much on his debut that I decided to give the 17-year-old left-back another start in our FA Cup Round 3 game. It would be a special moment for Ante, as we travelled to St James' Park to play Newcastle United - the team captained by his elder cousin, Mijo Djuzel!

 

Newcastle were in their first season back in the Premier League and sat in 14th place. That said, Owen Coyle's Magpies had not been in the best of form lately, and so another FA Cup giant-killing from the Daggers was definitely possible.

 

8 January 2033: Newcastle United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Newcastle suffered a major blow after just five minutes. Magpies goalkeeper Tim Coleman somehow hurt his arm whilst throwing the ball to left-back Jon Falt Ohr and had to be quickly replaced with Dan Hales.

 

Despite that early loss, Newcastle made a bright start to the first period. Holland international defender Garrincha almost lived up to his famous nickname in the 12th minute, but he sent a piledriver just over the crossbar.

 

On 15 minutes, Newcastle winger Barbosa got beyond our young left-back Ante Djuzel and cut the ball into the penalty area. Daggers defender Velimir Radosavljevic tried in vain to clear the Spain veteran's delivery, which found the lethal feet of Mike Robinson. The 31-year-old had scored an impressive 44 goals in 73 caps during his England career, and there was no doubt that a striker of his quality would find the net again.

 

Newcastle were 1-0 up, and skipper Mijo Djuzel could well have sent them further in front later on. He tried a couple of long-range efforts in the 18th and 21st minutes, the latter of which was tipped behind by Daryl Ryan. In the 32nd minute, we had our best chance to get back level. Matthew Fraser's corner delivery was nodded goalwards by Radosavljevic, and Baldur Hreidarsson then tried to flick it home, but Hales stood his guard and made a solid catch.

 

The first half ended with a couple of misses apiece from Newcastle frontmen Robinson and Guy Hogan, though it was Mijo Djuzel who went closest to doubling their advantage. The skilful Croat forced Ryan into another save on 40 minutes before striking the crossbar in injury time.

 

Hales would need to make a couple of early second-half saves to keep Newcastle in the ascendancy. Hreidarsson and Fraser were both unfortunate to have shots saved by the Magpies' substitute custodian. Baldur was then tripped up in the 52nd minute by Newcastle midfielder Denis Bosnjak, who got the game's only yellow card for his troubles. Six minutes after that, Bosnjak rolled a free-kick forward to Mijo Djuzel, whose fierce first-time strike was pushed away by Ryan.

 

Daryl was putting in an impressive shift between the sticks for Dagenham and was perhaps the biggest reason why we hadn't yet been blown away by our Premier League opponents. Mind you, Hales wasn't playing too badly for Newcastle, either. He gathered a 63rd-minute drive from Hreidarsson, and then tipped over a testing cross from substitute Joel Honeyball in the 80th minute on his way to preserving a clean sheet.

 

Our attempts to get back in this tie would sadly prove to be in vain, although we managed to keep the deficit down to a single goal. Mijo Djuzel should really have given Newcastle their second goal on 86 minutes, but his point-blank strike from Barbosa's cross was caught by Ryan, who wouldn't give up until the final whistle was blown on our FA Cup campaign.

 

Newcastle United - 1 (Robinson 15)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

FA Cup Round 3, Attendance 36,920

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Banton, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Djuzel, Powell (Honeyball), Fraser, Barnes, Shelton (Virgo), Hreidarsson, Nomaou (Martin).

 

Having reached the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup last season, it was a little disappointing to bow out at the first hurdle this time around. Still, at least we could now pool all our efforts into the league.

[CFuller]

JANUARY 2033 (continued)

In the build-up to our next Championship match, we welcomed back midfielder Nigel Atta from his loan spell at feeder club Leighton Town. Unfortunately, Nigel came back with a torn hamstring and wouldn't be able to resume his Daggers career until mid-February at the earliest.

 

That next game was at Victoria Road against relegation-threatened Hull City. We had drawn exactly half of our home fixtures in the league this season, but with the Tigers on a poor run of form, we were widely expected to register what would be just our fourth home win.

 

15 January 2033: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Hull City

In the fifth minute, we launched a couple of quick attacks that Hull centre-back Neal Moody dispelled. Dean Martin registered our first shot on target not long afterwards, but that was caught by Tigers goalkeeper Nicky Green. We would go one better a couple of minutes later, as Daniel O'Reilly's delivery into the Hull box led to a scramble before Baldur Hreidarsson lashed in the opener!

 

A second goal looked on the cards in the 12th minute, but Matthew Fraser's corner was flicked past the post by John Moser. Three minutes later, Hull striker Andrew Davis hurt himself whilst getting his head to a long goal kick from Green.

 

Davis would recover from that injury sufficiently to play his part in the Tigers' best attacking move after 22 minutes. He was involved in a one-two with midfielder Andrew Kirkbride, whose pass into the Dagenham box was smashed into the net by Kevin Wells. However, the assistant referee had raised his flag for offside.

 

That narrow escape for us had come three minutes after Moody superbly blocked a shot from Daggers striker Mario Djokic that could have sent us 2-0 up. By the 34th minute, it was Hull who were two up... on disallowed goals. Davis flicked City right-back Frantisek Krabec's cross towards Wells, who climbed above Daryl Ryan to head it home. The referee adjudged Wells to have unfairly impeded on Daryl, and so we were let off the hook again!

 

We should've allowed that to spur us towards stretching our lead before Hull snuffed it out for good. Alas, we couldn't do that before the break, as Djokic flicked a 42nd-minute header straight at Green, and we remained only 1-0 up.

 

Six minutes into the second half, Wells latched onto a fine delivery from Hull left-back Olli-Pekka Makinen and smashed it between Ryan and his near post. It was the third time that Wells had found the net in this match, but this was his first goal that had actually counted. Frankly, we had ridden our luck for too long and deserved to no longer have a lead.

 

Indeed, the Tigers were soon looking good to go in front. For starters, Ryan had to turn away a fierce strike from Davis in the 53rd minute. Home fans had their hearts in their mouths again a minute later, when Moody's header from a Makinen corner rattled the crossbar.

 

Nine minutes after one Finnish full-back created a chance that hit the woodwork, another did the same. Our own 'Flying Finn' Heikki Puustinen curled a first-time cross towards Djokic, whose misfortunes in front of goal continued with a header that bounced behind off the bar.

 

Mario's strike partner was also out of luck, as he failed to hit the target with his final attempt at goal in the 75th minute. Our last chance to win the game would come four minutes later. Kirkbride's interception from Jacques Polomat's cross into the Hull area only went as far as Fraser, whose header at goal bounced safely into Green's grasp.

 

Hull also failed to clinch the game, as an 87th-minute shot at glory from Davis was stopped by Ryan's fingertips. By full-time, though, City were unquestionably much happier with their solitary point than we were with ours.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Hreidarsson 7)

Hull City - 1 (Wells 51)

Championship, Attendance 11,099 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 12th, Hull 21st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Puustinen, Lloyd, Moser, O'Reilly, Fraser, Barnes, Martin (Nixon), Svensson (Polomat), Hreidarsson, Djokic (Powell).

 

Well, that was massively disappointing. Although a draw took us into the top half for the first time since we beat Hull at the KC Stadium in September, this was another home game that we dominated yet failed to win.

 

Our early FA Cup exit meant we had the following weekend off. I considered making one or two loan signings in the meantime, but there wasn't anybody on the market who I felt would genuinely improve the squad.

 

Meanwhile, no fewer than seven Daggers returned from spells out on loan. Dave Hutchinson had been the standout performer, registering five goals and eight assists at Cheltenham Town. His fellow loanees Joe Charles (Yeovil Town), Colin Glasgow (Leyton Orient), Rocco Mazzola (Birmingham City), Ollie Reynolds (Grimsby Town), Tyrone Sedgley (Bristol City) and Lars Zandbergen (Queens Park Rangers) had had rather more mixed fortunes.

 

Charles, Glasgow and Reynolds would all be going back out on loan, as they - along with youth right-back Kevin McManus - were sent to our Irish feeder club Salthill Devon for five months. Zandbergen was also farmed out for a second time this season, as the Dutch winger returned to League One, this time with Swansea City.

 

After a fortnight's break, Dagenham's senior team travelled to Lancashire for an away game against title contenders Blackburn Rovers, who had lost just once at home all season. Rovers would provide rather more of a challenge to us than Bromley's Under-18s had to our youth side, who recorded a thumping 9-1 win over the Lilywhites earlier in the day!

 

29 January 2033: Blackburn Rovers vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Blackburn's attacking players put us under pressure right from the start. Striker Tim Higginbotham sent a shot wide in the first few seconds, while left-winger Alan McLaughlin's attempt in the third minute was caught by returning Daggers goalkeeper Kieran Whalley.

 

In the eighth minute, though, Filip Svensson almost set up a surprise opener for Dagenham. His header into Blackburn's six-yard box was tipped over by goalkeeper Jordan Shields just before Souleymane Nomaou could flick it home.

 

On 16 minutes, a Swedish compatriot of Svensson's fired Blackburn into the lead. 28-year-old left-back Dennis Katsoulakis hadn't scored a single goal in his professional career prior to this match. He broke his duck by latching onto an angled pass from midfielder Alan Hare, cutting inside, and then driving the ball just beyond Whalley's reach.

 

A minute after falling behind, we threatened to retaliate with a goal from our own left-back. Sadly, Daniel O'Reilly couldn't quite get his shot past Shields, who tipped it behind. Svensson, Matthew Fraser and Baldur Hreidarsson would all miss the target for Dagenham later on in the first half as we struggled to get into the game.

 

Captain William Barnes was particularly off-colour for the Daggers, and he would pick up a yellow card in the 40th minute for a clumsy tackle on Rovers midfielder Antoni Tanev. The half would end on another low point, as Higginbotham drove in an injury-time corner from Shane Watts to send Blackburn 2-0 ahead.

 

I was rather critical of my team at half-time, during which point I also decided to make a couple of substitutions. Tom Virgo went on for Barnes, while first-team debutant Carl Quinn replaced Velimir Radosavljevic in defence. The second half was barely two minutes old when we got ourselves back into the game. Filip's attempted through-ball was met by a meek first touch from Blackburn defender Andrei Isache, who let Souleymane Nomaou burst clear and score perhaps his easiest goal of the campaign!

 

Mind you, that goal would effectively be rendered academic just two minutes later. Another Watts corner to Higginbotham proved our undoing as the lethal Blackburn striker powered in his 29th goal in all competitions this season. Higginbotham was targeting a 30th, and a hat-trick, after 52 minutes. The former Norwich City frontman's effort drifted well off target, but we were still 3-1 down and fearing a spanking.

 

Then, after 65 minutes, we struck Blackburn on the break... with the help of one of my half-time substitutes. Virgo lofted the ball upfield towards Nomaou, who raced away from Isache and cut in his second goal of the afternoon!

 

By the 71st minute, we were starting to believe that we could salvage at least one point. Baldur's attempt at an equaliser was stopped when his close-range free-kick struck the Blackburn wall. Later on in the half, I showed my attacking intent by replacing John Moser - one of my three centre-backs - with midfielder Dean Martin.

 

The gamble almost backfired after 80 minutes, thanks to yet another excellent Blackburn corner from Watts. The Belgian right-winger (his dad is English, hence the name) drifted a corner towards Rovers centre-half Vidoje Djurdjevic, whose header clipped the bar and deflected behind.

 

Two minutes after that, Virgo silenced Ewood Park with an excellent pass towards Svensson. The Swedish star silkily rode past a challenge from Blackburn's other central defender Stuart Johnson and drilled in his first Dagenham goal!

 

A six-goal thriller had begun with a Swede scoring, and it would end in the same manner! Although Johnson came close to restoring Blackburn's lead - and saving his own bacon - after 86 minutes, we would leave Lancashire with a very respectable draw.

 

Blackburn Rovers - 3 (Katsoulakis 16, Higginbotham 45,50)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Nomaou 48,65, Svensson 82)

Championship, Attendance 10,832 - POSITIONS: Blackburn 2nd, Dag & Red 14th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Moser (Martin), Darvill, Radosavljevic (Quinn), Puustinen, O'Reilly, Fraser, Barnes (Virgo), Svensson, Hreidarsson, Nomaou. BOOKED: Barnes.

 

The rest of January was fairly quiet, although we did make one final signing on transfer deadline day.

 

I was reading some of the transfer rumours online that morning when I came across a report saying that Southampton had made an offer to sign Heart of Midlothian prospect Christophe Smith. The energetic striker had already made eight substitute appearances for Hearts in the Scottish Premier League at the tender age of 16.

 

I sought an expert's opinion from our Scottish scout Dylan McGeouch, who gave a glowing review about Smith and said that he was destined to become a fine striker. I then decided to make my move, offering an attractive three-year deal to Smith, whose contract at the Ann Budge Stadium was due to expire at the end of May.

 

My last-minute move worked. Christophe turned down Southampton, and a new contract offer from Hearts, to pen a pre-contract agreement with Dagenham & Redbridge. The Scotland Under-19s international will officially move to Victoria Road next season, and I'm already looking forward to working with him!

[CFuller]

Championship Table (End of January 2033)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Watford                32    20    9     3     67    34    +33   69
2.          Blackburn              32    20    6     6     66    48    +18   66
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Southampton            32    18    11    3     59    30    +29   65
4.          Leeds                  32    15    11    6     46    35    +11   56
5.          Ipswich                32    14    10    8     62    47    +15   52
6.          Wrexham                32    12    13    7     47    41    +6    49
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Charlton               32    13    9     10    53    53    0     48
8.          Crewe                  32    13    8     11    48    38    +10   47
9.          Northampton            32    11    10    11    39    35    +4    43
10.         Stoke                  32    10    12    10    47    50    -3    42
11.         Cardiff                32    10    11    11    42    43    -1    41
12.         Aston Villa            32    10    11    11    46    50    -4    41
13.         Doncaster              32    11    8     13    37    41    -4    41
14.         Dag & Red              32    9     12    11    47    41    +6    39
15.         Bradford               32    9     11    12    44    54    -10   38
16.         Notts County           32    9     10    13    39    49    -10   37
17.         Peterborough           32    10    7     15    36    46    -10   37
18.         Luton                  32    8     11    13    36    40    -4    35
19.         Reading                32    9     7     16    39    51    -12   34
20.         Crystal Palace         32    7     11    14    39    49    -10   32
21.         Hull                   32    8     8     16    37    51    -14   32
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.         Plymouth               32    6     13    13    44    54    -10   31
23.         Millwall               32    6     11    15    30    50    -20   29
24.         Colchester             32    6     10    16    39    59    -20   28

 

[CFuller]

FEBRUARY 2033

As the transfer window slammed shut and February began, several Dagenham players went away for some midweek international service. Among them were Shaun Powell, who picked up just his second senior cap for Wales, and George Darvill, who made his England Under-21s debut in Lithuania.

 

Later that week, fragile attacking midfielder Jacques Polomat suffered his latest injury setback. He strained his wrist in weight training and would consequently miss our next couple of matches.

 

The first of our three matches in February was at home to Notts County - another team who were hoping to avoid getting dragged into a relegation battle. Asmir Begovic's Magpies had been thinking about a play-off challenge before they went on a nine-game winless run that lasted nearly two months and only ended in mid-January.

 

5 February 2033: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Notts County

Filip Svensson gave Notts County's defence a real fright in the 10th minute, when he chipped the ball towards the run of Souleymane Nomaou. County centre-back Bradley Walker could only head his clearance as far as Hreidarsson, who took the ball into the penalty area before Walker blocked his shot.

 

Baldur would be denied again in the 15th minute, this time by a save from Brandon Turner. The Magpies' goalkeeper then tipped behind the resulting corner delivery from Matthew Fraser. Matthew's follow-up corner almost found Daggers centre-half George Darvill in the six-yard box, but Dave Johnson nodded it off the line before William Barnes half-volleyed inches wide.

 

After surviving a number of early scares, those pesky Magpies pinched a goal against the run of play in the 27th minute. Sinclaire Lawson's left-wing cross was intercepted by Darvill, and Kieran Whalley then saved a follow-up shot from Ian Neary, but it was all to no avail as Jonathan Allan eventually made it 1-0 Notts County. That was how the scoreline stayed at half-time, as Fraser flighted a free-kick wide in the 32nd minute and Hreidarsson had another effort saved by Turner in injury time.

 

Hreidarsson was replaced for the second half by Paul Nixon, who won us a free-kick in the 54th minute after being pushed by teenage Notts County midfielder George Jones. Barnes curled a 30-yard free-kick inches wide of the target. Left-back Daniel O'Reilly then attempted to bend home a shot in the 59th minute, but he was rather further off the mark than Will.

 

As time passed by without us getting closer to goal, I threw on a couple of wingers in the hope that they could make something happen out wide. By the 79th minute, it seemed that the most likely thing to happen was for Notts County to go 2-0 up. Whalley had to tip away a threatening effort from County midfielder Kevin Thornton, whose next effort two minutes later drifted high and wide.

 

Eventually, though, right-winger Shaun Powell did begin to make his mark for Dagenham. With three minutes remaining, Powell nodded Souleymane Nomaou cross to Nixon, who smashed in what he thought was an equaliser - and his first Daggers goal. However, the referee's assistant raised his offside flag, prompting an angry reaction from the home fans.

 

Our agony only grew when Powell curled a byline cross against the woodwork in the last minute of normal time. As defeat loomed, Nomaou cut one final cross into the County box in the second minute of injury time. Allan tried to flick the ball away, but Powell squirmed it over the line to salvage a point. Despite that last-gasp equaliser from the 'Blond Bombshell', I was still furious that we had once again failed to win at Victoria Road.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Powell 90)

Notts County - 1 (Allan 27)

Championship, Attendance 10,930 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 15th, Notts County 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly, Virgo (Powell), Barnes, Fraser, Svensson (Honeyball), Hreidarsson (Nixon), Nomaou. BOOKED: Honeyball.

 

After another poor result, our players spent the next week-and-a-half working overtime on their fitness. One of our analysts behind the scenes had suggested that we were among the Championship's weakest sides when it came to stamina and physical strength. I could understand where he was coming from - the lads certainly needed some toughening up.

 

The increased training workload took its toll on midfielder Tom Virgo, who pulled his hamstring in training and was ruled out of action until next month.

 

We resumed our campaign in the middle of February when we faced fellow mid-tablers Bradford City at Valley Parade. The Bantams hadn't lost any of their previous eight league games.

 

15 February 2033: Bradford City vs Dagenham & Redbridge

After Baldur Hreidarsson drove wide our first shot of the game in the 7th minute, we began to come under extended pressure from Bradford. Ex-Daggers winger Lucky Okoli won a corner a minute later after his shot was palmed wide by Kieran Whalley. Billy Parle curled said corner to Bantams midfielder Vinny Ardley, whose header bounced off the underside of the bar and somehow stayed in play! Daggers fans were left fearing the worst before Daniel O'Reilly nodded the ball off the line and Matthew Fraser kicked it into touch.

 

Fraser would gift Bradford their next opportunity in the 12th minute, when Bantams right-back Pete Baker hoovered up a long pass aimed for Steven Shelton. Okoli received the ball moments later and dribbled towards goal before unleashing a shot that drifted well wide.

 

Bradford midfielder Dusan Petkovic also missed the target via a free-kick on 18 minutes. Nine minutes later, during a rare Dagenham attack, home striker Owen Hillier backed into our captain Joel Honeyball in the penalty area. Honeyball went down, and the ref awarded us a penalty. Matthew Fraser had the best penalty-taking record in the Dagenham team, but Hreidarsson elected to take this spot-kick... and he sent Bantams goalkeeper Ronnie Glavin the wrong way!

 

We were 1-0 up... for about five minutes. Bradford striker Robbie Cummins restored parity for his team when he turned away from Daggers centre-back Velimir Radosavljevic and blasted the ball emphatically into the net.

 

City looked to rub salt into our wounds by moving in front two minutes later. Luckily, Okoli's shot was too tame to seriously worry Whalley, and the half-time whistle blew with the scores still at 1-1.

 

Daggers left-back Daniel O'Reilly had struggled somewhat in that first half, so I replaced him with Ante Djuzel before the second period got underway. William Barnes also came on as a replacement for Filip Svensson, but our attack struggled to get going after the interval.

 

Fraser and Hreidarsson missed the target with our first couple of efforts before we went tantalisingly close to falling behind on 61 minutes. Okoli whipped a cross towards our six-yard box, and Cummins really should've nodded it home, but Whalley managed to get his gloves to the header. Bradford's wastefulness continued when Petkovic slipped a shot wide in the 66th minute.

 

Petkovic was immediately replaced with Bantams vice-captain Daren Atkinson, who was the recipient of a strong challenge from Fraser after 76 minutes. Matthew twisted his knee and would limp off hurt two minutes later, shortly after Joel agonisingly clipped the post for us.

 

Fraser's replacement Dean Martin would have our last opportunity to win the game in the 81st minute, but an excellent save from Glavin preserved Bradford's unbeaten run. City then created a host of potential match-winning opportunities in the closing stages. Whalley was forced into a couple of saves, while Hillier and Baker each sent efforts narrowly wide before the final whistle blew on yet another score draw.

 

Bradford City - 1 (Cummins 32)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Hreidarsson pen27)

Championship, Attendance 13,405 - POSITIONS: Bradford 12th, Dag & Red 13th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Radosavljevic, Darvill, O'Reilly (Djuzel), Powell, Fraser (Martin), Svensson (Barnes), Shelton, Hreidarsson, Honeyball. BOOKED: Powell, Radosavljevic.

 

Matthew Fraser's twisted knee meant that he wouldn't play for us again in February. That wasn't too big a blow, mind, as we only had one more match this month.

 

We had now drawn four consecutive games, as well as our last four at home. We hoped to end that latter sequence with a win against Ipswich Town, but with the Tractor Boys sitting in 5th place, that was not looking particularly likely.

 

26 February 2033: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Ipswich Town

Both teams started tentatively, and it wasn't until the 19th minute that the game saw its first shot on target. Ipswich centre-back Dirk Trares nodded Branko Simeunovic's free-kick goalwards, but Kieran Whalley made a comfortable catch for Dagenham.

 

At the other end, Ipswich's defence looked compact and watertight. We almost breached the walls in the 30th minute, but Tractor Boys goalkeeper Gary Ewart withstood successive efforts from Dean Martin and then Baldur Hreidarsson.

 

Though we won a couple of corners later in the first half, we would only launch one more serious attack before the interval. That was on 43 minutes, when Hreidarsson's header was caught by Ewart. Ipswich's last effort before half-time came about a minute later, but Barry Harris's long-ranger didn't cause Whalley any trouble.

 

It looked like the second half would be just as mundane as the first when Luke Boot pulled wide an awful shot for Ipswich in the 50th minute. With the Tractor Boys unable to take the initiative, we got ready to pounce. The away team's centre-backs weren't the quickest, so I encouraged my team to use Souleymane Nomaou's pace to exploit that weakness. After 60 minutes, our own defensive rock Gareth Lloyd sought out Nomaou with a superb long ball. Sol then surged past Trares and drilled in the opening goal!

 

Trares was later replaced with Jason Nolan in the Ipswich defence, but the sluggish Tractor Boys would be exposed again four minutes later. A Daggers counter-attack clicked into gear when captain William Barnes' long ball found Nomaou, who outpaced Nolan and struck for the second time! Victoria Road was rocking for the first time in ages, and our fourth home win of the season seemed to be in the bag.

 

Sol should have rubber-stamped victory by setting up a third Daggers goal on 68 minutes, but Dean Martin's shot went straight at Ewart. Nomaou and Martin each picked up injuries late on, and the former would come off with seven minutes to go, though not before he almost secured his hat-trick. Substitute Dave Hutchinson's long ball in the 83rd minute was nodded on by Baldur towards Sol, whose diving header was just about caught by Ewart.

 

Although he narrowly missed out on a treble, Nomaou's brace would be enough to win us this game. Aaran Guichard did drive in an injury-time consolation goal for Ipswich, whom we beat in competition for the first time.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Nomaou 60,64)

Ipswich Town - 1 (Guichard 90)

Championship, Attendance 11,641 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 12th, Ipswich 5th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Darvill, Mazzola, Barnes, Moser (Hutchinson), Martin, Svensson (Polomat), Hreidarsson, Nomaou (Djokic).

 

Souleymane Nomaou's 'injury' turned out to be little more than a knock, but Dean Martin had indeed been badly hurt. The attacking midfielder would be out for the next four weeks with a twisted knee.

 

At the end of February, we find ourselves 11 points clear of the drop zone - and 10 adrift of the play-off spots. Can we make a late surge towards the top six, or have we left it too late?

[CFuller]

MARCH 2033

We began March with a visit to Selhurst Park, and a clash with Rio Ferdinand's Crystal Palace. The Eagles were third-from-bottom and had picked up a solitary point from their last five Championship matches.

 

1 March 2033: Crystal Palace vs Dagenham & Redbridge

While Baldur Hreidarsson's opening shot for Dagenham missed the target completely in the third minute, Crystal Palace's first effort three minutes later most certainly did not. Eagles winger Jimmy Kyere sent a cross from the left flank to the far post and found midfielder Felipe, who aimed a diving header at goal. Daggers goalie Kieran Whalley parried it against the upright, and centre-back George Darvill could only slice his clearance across the line. 1-0 to Crystal Palace.

 

We twice threatened to draw level within the next 10 minutes, but Palace keeper Tom O'Reilly made a couple of fine saves from Hreidarsson and Mario Djokic. Baldur's next attempt, in the 19th minute, was cleared behind by Eagles right-back Anthony Carey. The next Dagger to try his luck was teenage midfielder Dave Hutchinson, whose 20th-minute strike was parried by O'Reilly. Crystal Palace counter-attacked moments later, but Duncan Roberts' header couldn't quite beat Whalley.

 

The remainder of the first half was fairly mundane, and I had plenty of reason to be concerned at half-time. Palace were creating the better scoring opportunities, our foul count was rising, and captain William Barnes was carrying a yellow card as well as a knock.

 

I brought on a pair of wingers for the second half, which we began by playing some excellent football. In the 52nd minute, Shaun Powell's back-heel to Djokic on the edge of the Palace area was followed by an excellent sidefooted first-time pass from Mario to Jacques Polomat. In the end, Jacques was very unlucky to see his shot miss the target by inches.

 

Two minutes after that, we were opened up by a brilliant attacking move from Crystal Palace. Felipe threaded the ball through a gap in our defence and found Roberts, who rushed onto it and made it 2-0.

 

The Eagles really were flying now, and they could've soared into a 3-0 lead after 63 minutes. Whalley needed to charge from his line to intercept a half-volley from Toby Cook and push it behind. Four minutes later, Cook nodded a Carey throw-in to his captain Bob Cairns, whose header was caught by Kieran.

 

Although Whalley and our defenders - Velimir Radosavljevic especially - were putting on a brave show of resistance, our attack offered little threat to Palace's backline. After 72 minutes, Djokic hit the side netting with his last chance to end a six-month-long goalless run in the league.

 

When I came to make my third and final substitution, though, I decided not to sacrifice Mario. Instead, I pondered replacing either Barnes or Polomat in midfield with Paul Nixon. After mulling over my options for a fair while, I opted to take off Polomat in the 77th minute.

 

That decision blew up in my face ten minutes later. A clumsy foul from captain Barnes on Kyere was a step too far for the referee, who dished out a second yellow card to Will, and then handed him a red. For the second time in his career, Barnesy had been sent off against Crystal Palace.

 

Although the Eagles' own skipper Cairns sustained a rib injury late on, it was us who were feeling all the pain at full-time. A 2-0 defeat to a relegation-battling team just wouldn't do if we were to make the play-offs.

 

Crystal Palace - 2 (Darvill og6, Roberts 54)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Championship, Attendance 10,274 - POSITIONS: Crystal Palace 22nd, Dag & Red 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Radosavljevic, Darvill, Djuzel, Hutchinson (Powell), Barnes, Svensson (Shelton), Polomat (Nixon), Hreidarsson, Djokic. BOOKED: Barnes. SENT OFF: Barnes.

 

A manager knows when they've screwed up tactically. I had definitely screwed up here, and I told the players that at full-time. I wasn't going to assign any blame to anyone else - not even William Barnes, whose sending-off would see him miss our next home game against Stoke City.

 

Souleymane Nomaou would also be absent for the Potters' visit to Victoria Road after damaging his heel in training. His injury meant that vice-captain Joel Honeyball would go into the starting XI for his 200th league appearance with Dagenham & Redbridge.

 

5 March 2033: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Stoke City

It was Stoke who showed the greater attacking intent early on, forcing us into conceding a number of corners. We also helped the Potters out with a bunch of needless fouls. We did, though, test the visitors' defence on a few occasions.

 

Jacques Polomat had our first real attempt at goal in the 14th minute, when his header was flicked off the line by Stoke centre-back Nathan Crossland. Filip Svensson also went close to scoring via a header nine minutes later, but the Swede's effort was caught by Sasa Vucemilovic-Grgic. The Potters' Croatian goalkeeper would make another save in the 26th minute from Paul Nixon.

 

A minute after that, however, we suffered a serious setback. Midfielder Matthew Fraser had to come off with a serious rib injury, forcing me to bring on centre-half George Darvill and push John Moser up into midfield. In spite of that, we continued to push forward. Nixon helped to win us a corner after half an hour, when his header was pushed behind by Vucemilovic-Grgic. Although Joel Honeyball's initial corner was cleared, he swung in a follow-up cross that Gareth Lloyd nodded just over.

 

Stoke's attackers had struggled to get going, but a weak headed interception from Darvill gifted Allan Moffat an opportunity to strike in the 46th minute. Moffat cut inside, had a shot blocked by Darvill, and then volleyed the rebound over the bar. It would be quite a while before the Potters attacked us again, as we controlled the game rather efficiently thereafter.

 

Svensson had a couple of long-distance punts caught by Vucemilovic-Grgic in the 54th minute. Five minutes later, Filip drove an excellent ball ahead of captain Joel, who raced into the penalty area but fired his shot just beyond the side netting.

 

As time went by, Stoke started conceding a load of fouls, and right-winger Adam Ceglarz was booked for one of them in the 72nd minute. The visitors' frustrations grew five minutes later, as they unsuccessfully protested for a penalty after left-winger Zoran Malovic was tackled in the Dagenham area by Heikki Puustinen.

 

Then, with just over nine minutes to go, Potters captain Strahil Pankov gave away the ball with an errant long pass. Dave Hutchinson picked it up and drove it ahead of Honeyball, who dribbled into the Stoke box before powering a superb shot into the top corner! Our persistence had paid off, and we were on course to win back-to-back home games for the first time this season!

 

Stoke's afternoon got worse when Pankov came off injured shortly afterwards, reducing them to 10 men. The Potters did, though, launch a last-minute attack in the dying moments of injury time. Fortunately, Moffat's diving header was comfortably blocked by Gareth, and George cleared the ball into touch to kick off our celebrations!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Honeyball 82)

Stoke City - 0

Championship, Attendance 10,988 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 13th, Stoke 8th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Puustinen, Lloyd, Moser, Mazzola, Hutchinson, Fraser (Darvill), Svensson, Polomat (Virgo), Nixon (Hreidarsson), Honeyball.

 

The joyful mood after our win was dampened down somewhat after Matthew Fraser was diagnosed with fractured ribs. Fraser was ruled out for six weeks and would miss most of our remaining fixtures.

 

Matthew's absence was likely to be keenly felt the following weekend, when we faced Championship leaders Watford. The Hornets had yet to suffer defeat at Vicarage Road this season.

[CFuller]

MARCH 2033 (continued)

12 March 2033: Watford vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Watford's Hornets tried to sting us early, but David Cabezas' third-minute header from Dragan Pavlovic's right-wing cross bounced wide. Home defender Yermy George then hurt himself in a collision with Daggers forward Baldur Hreidarsson and had to come off briefly for treatment.

 

In the fifth minute, whilst Watford were temporarily reduced to ten men, Heikki Puustinen exploited their vulnerability with a clever through-ball to Hreidarsson. Baldur raced past Hornets left-back Marcelo Silva and ran onto the ball, which he chipped over the crossbar.

 

George then returned to the pitch, but he and his Watford team-mates would soon face another strong Daggers attack. Joel Honeyball collected a pinpoint pass from Jacques Polomat and then turned past the hosts' centre-backs before smashing in a superb strike!

 

That completely changed the mood at Vicarage Road. Jure Miletic, Ryan Barnsley and Dean Golemac all missed chances to restore parity for Watford midway through the first half. Then, after 30 minutes, a defensive calamity from George saw us go 2-0 up! Polomat flicked the ball ahead of Honeyball, but Joel couldn't quite get to the ball before George intervened... and did his job for him! The Honduras defender inadvertently slid the ball past his own goalkeeper Mark Thomas and into the net!

 

Malky Mackay was apoplectic in the home dugout, but I was loving it. The smile was temporarily wiped off my face when Daggers right-back Puustinen injured his knee in a tackle from Golemac on 38 minutes, but things were still going surprisingly well for us.

 

Although Watford were unable to make any real inroads into our penalty area early in the second half, we were soon wishing that our midfield maestro Matthew Fraser had been fit and available. After just under an hour, Gareth Lloyd was brought down in the Hornets area by Miletic, prompting the referee to award us a penalty. Fraser's penalty-taking responsibilities fell to Hreidarsson... but the Icelander's spot-kick went straight down the middle and was comfortably parried away by Thomas.

 

Baldur clearly wasn't on fire, though he didn't need to be. Our opponents looked uncharacteristically dysfunctional, and things came to a head for them when George got into a furious row with Mackay after being subbed in the 73rd minute.

 

There was now very little chance of Watford coming back to prolong their unbeaten home run. We would leave Hertfordshire with a fantastic 2-0 win, although Honeyball was denied a third Daggers goal by a superb save from Thomas in the 86th minute.

 

Watford - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Honeyball 7, George og30)

Championship, Attendance 14,238 - POSITIONS: Watford 1st, Dag & Red 12th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Lloyd, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Puustinen (Moser), Mazzola, Hutchinson, Barnes (Shelton), Polomat (Svensson), Hreidarsson, Honeyball.

 

Right-back Heikki Puustinen was ruled out for around six weeks with strained knee ligaments after coming off late in the first half.

 

Domestic football then took a short break for international matches to be played. A host of Daggers were involved, including defender John Moser and midfielder Dave Hutchinson, who made their debuts for France Under-21s and England Under-19s respectively. George Darvill scored his first goal in an England Under-21s jersey, while Souleymane Nomaou also found the net for Niger against the Seychelles before sadly coming off with a rib injury.

 

Back at home, I ran the rule over our latest croup of youth-team candidates, who played our Under-18s in a trial match. Eight schoolboys were signed up to youth contracts afterwards, with the standout player being Toby Faithfull - an explosive forward who could become Dagenham's answer to Michael Owen, though hopefully without the injuries. I'll also be paying particularly close attention to right-back Thomas Jones and centre-halves Jameel Bailey and Duncan Rivers.

 

A fortnight after our incredible win over Watford, we looked to register our third straight victory at home to Wrexham. The Dragons were in 8th place, but had lost their last three matches.

 

26 March 2033: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Wrexham

Daggers captain William Barnes was involved as early as the second minute, as he fired a couple of promising shots at goal, the second of which was caught by Wrexham goalkeeper Paul Boyham. Another Dagenham midfielder made a rather less encouraging start, as teenager Dave Hutchinson was booked after three minutes following a trip on visiting left-winger Tyrone Lawford. Forward Baldur Hreidarsson also disappointed me early on by firing wide a couple of long-range efforts.

 

By the 19th minute, it was the Dagenham defence that was incurring my wrath. Lawford was left in too much space as he collected a pass from Jonathan Ferrell and took it into the penalty area. Goalkeeper Kieran Whalley was too slow to react to the resulting low drive from Lawford, which made it 1-0 Wrexham.

 

2-0 was looking like a possible scoreline in the 32nd minute, though Whalley redeemed himself somewhat by catching Rhys James' free-kick. Kieran's counterpart Boyham faced his first major test two minutes later, when he caught a shot from Hreidarsson. That effort was by far our best one before the half-time interval.

 

We briefly toyed with a direct long-ball approach early in the second half. However, that did nothing to penetrate a resilient Wrexham defence, and so we quickly reverted to our more typical short-passing strategy. I also replaced Hreidarsson with rising star Tristan Egueh, just before captain Barnes had a 60th-minute free-kick saved by Boyham.

 

Another youth player entered the field for Dagenham 15 minutes later, with Ross Pearson replacing Arran Banton at right-back. Pearson's cameo was a quiet but decent one, as Wrexham rarely threatened to increase their lead.

 

At the other end, Egueh showed his potential in the 79th minute by turning sharply past Dragons right-back Tony McGuigan and swerving in an excellent shot that Boyham did brilliantly to palm wide. Boyham frustrated us again on 83 minutes by saving an attempt from Joel Honeyball, who couldn't quite score for a third game in a row. Indeed, none of our players would find the Wrexham net, and a sequence of 12 consecutive games without losing at Victoria Road was burned to cinders by the Dragons.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Wrexham - 1 (Lawford 19)

Championship, Attendance 11,638 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 14th, Wrexham 7th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton (Pearson), Lloyd, Darvill, Mazzola, Hutchinson (Virgo), Barnes, Svensson, Polomat, Hreidarsson (Egueh), Honeyball. BOOKED: Hutchinson.

 

That home defeat was our first in six months, and it could be our most fateful. We're now 12 points adrift of the play-off zone, with only 21 left to play for.

 

It is now highly probable that we'll be staying in the Championship for a fifth straight season. Our fourth seems set to end in an anti-climax, especially with goalkeeper Kieran Whalley out for the next three weeks after twisting his ankle in training.

 

If you want late-season drama and intrigue, I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere.

[CFuller]

Championship Table (End of March 2033)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    Pl    Southampton            39    23    12    4     76    36    +40   81
2.    Pl    Watford                39    24    9     6     77    45    +32   81
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Blackburn              39    21    7     11    70    61    +9    70
4.          Leeds                  39    19    12    8     58    43    +15   69
5.          Crewe                  39    18    9     12    57    43    +14   63
6.          Ipswich                39    17    11    11    73    54    +19   62
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Wrexham                39    14    15    10    56    51    +5    57
8.          Stoke                  39    14    14    11    60    54    +6    56
9.          Aston Villa            39    13    13    13    58    61    -3    52
10.         Northampton            39    12    15    12    46    44    +2    51
11.         Cardiff                39    13    12    14    52    55    -3    51
12.         Doncaster              39    14    9     16    45    53    -8    51
13.         Charlton               39    13    12    14    62    71    -9    51
14.         Dag & Red              39    12    14    13    54    47    +7    50
15.         Bradford               39    12    12    15    53    66    -13   48
16.         Peterborough           39    12    10    17    48    57    -9    46
17.         Notts County           39    10    14    15    45    54    -9    44
18.         Luton                  39    10    13    16    48    51    -3    43
19.         Reading                39    12    7     20    48    61    -13   43
20.         Hull                   39    11    10    18    43    57    -14   43
21.         Crystal Palace         39    10    12    17    50    60    -10   42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.         Millwall               39    9     12    18    42    60    -18   39
23.         Plymouth               39    7     15    17    53    67    -14   36
24.         Colchester             39    7     13    19    41    64    -23   34

 

[CFuller]

APRIL 2033

As we rolled into the final month of the Championship campaign, I just wanted to get things over and done with. A dreadful home record had left us well adrift of the play-off zone, with our hopes of winning promotion almost completely destroyed.

 

Here were our final seven fixtures:

2 April: vs Cardiff City (H) - Cardiff were 11th, and had won three of their last four games

9 April: vs Plymouth Argyle (A) - Plymouth were 23rd, and had won just two home matches since November

12 April: vs Reading (A) - Reading were 19th, and had lost nine home games in the league this season

16 April: vs Doncaster Rovers (H) - Doncaster were 12th, and were among the lowest scorers in the division

18 April: vs Peterborough United (H) - Peterborough were 16th, and had won once away from home in 2033

23 April: vs Aston Villa (A) - Aston Villa were 9th, and were unbeaten in their last five matches

30 April: vs Leeds United (H) - Leeds were 4th, and hadn't won an away game since New Year's Day

 

The run-in started at home to Cardiff City, who were a single point ahead of us. Our last match at Victoria Road the previous weekend had resulted in defeat to Wrexham, so I was keen to get us back to winning ways quickly.

 

2 April 2033: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Cardiff City

Tom Virgo made a disappointing start, firing a shot high and wide in the third minute before getting booked a minute later. In the 8th minute, Cardiff winger Gareth Flood went close to starting his return to Victoria Road with a goal for the Bluebirds. Thankfully, teenage defender George Darvill was on hand to nod away the former Daggers winger's header before it could beat goalkeeper Daryl Ryan.

 

Cardiff lost midfielder Simon Dudley to injury in the 12th minute, and they would soon be losing the match itself. When Bluebirds left-back Nathan Walsh felled our right-back Arran Banton in the area after 14 minutes, the referee almost instantly pointed to the spot. Souleymane Nomaou took the penalty, and although the Nigerien's effort was a tame one, it still beat visiting goalie Keith Sheppard.

 

We now felt that we could take control of the game, which Dean Martin could've done had he got near the target with a shot in the 16th minute. Cardiff suffered another injury scare six minutes later. Walsh was hurt in a hefty collision with our target man Paul Nixon, and though he was able to play on, he looked far from his best.

 

Indeed, there was little to suggest that the Bluebirds could get back into this match... until Dagenham captain William Barnes fouled Walsh in injury time. Barnes was booked, and what followed was an absolute Daggers disaster.

 

Will Fox's free-kick delivery into the penalty area caught all our players off their guard, especially Ryan. Our Irish goalie misjudged the flight of the ball, allowing Josh Dumphy to collect it and dribble it across the goal line! Cardiff had claimed an equaliser from virtually out of nowhere!

 

Barnes came off at half-time to be replaced by youngster Dave Hutchinson, who swerved wide a shot at goal in the 51st minute. That free-kick fiasco before the interval was continuing to affect us, and after 56 minutes, we succumbed to another cunning Cardiff set-piece.

 

Bluebirds sub Connor Glover's outswinging corner found forward Dean Williams, whose header was nodded off the line by Banton. Williams quickly retrieved the ball and squared it for Malcolm MacKenzie - another substitute - to finish from point-blank range.

 

I almost hit the dugout roof. At 2-1 down, I switched to a quicker, more direct approach. Steven Shelton came on after an hour, as did Shaun Powell later in proceedings, as we tried to exploit the flanks.

 

However, our wingers struggled to get into the game as a stubborn Cardiff defence only allowed us two more shots at goal. The first one, after 66 minutes, was pulled well off target by Jacques Polomat. Jacques would have another go in injury time, but Sheppard pushed the ball behind with his only save of the match.

 

It would've been controversial had Polomat scored, as our left-back Ante Djuzel had injured Cardiff skipper Dan Milton in the process of setting up the Frenchman's chance. Milton had to come off, and the Bluebirds were down to 10 men. Mind you, we'd already been a man light for about five minutes beforehand, as Nixon's game had been ended prematurely by a knock. Just like when we had hosted North Wales' finest a weekend earlier, this visit from South Wales' premier team would end in disappointment for Dagenham fans.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Nomaou pen15)

Cardiff City - 2 (Dumphy 45, MacKenzie 56)

Championship, Attendance 11,546 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 15th, Cardiff 10th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Banton, Lloyd, Darvill, Djuzel, Virgo (Shelton), Barnes (Hutchinson), Martin (Powell), Polomat, Nixon, Nomaou. BOOKED: Virgo, Darvill, Barnes.

 

I'd managed to keep my temper in check during the match, but as soon as I followed my team into the dressing room, all hell broke loose. My most furious rant of the season would end with one Daggers stalwart fearing for his very future at the club.

 

Dean Martin had been low on confidence for some time, having failed to provide any goals or assists in four months. I told Martin that I wouldn't tolerate his inefficient performances any longer - and banished him to the reserves for the rest of the season. I also made it clear that if he didn't buck up his ideas, he could start packing his bags and prepare himself for a move away from Victoria Road.

 

As a lifelong Dagenham & Redbridge fan who'd come through the youth set-up and played 190 league games for the club, Dean was obviously very upset. He had never wanted to play for any other team than the Daggers. At the end of the day, though, there was little room for sentiment in the Championship, and this season was now very likely to be Martin's last with us.

 

Our away record was significantly better than our home form, so I was hopeful that we could rediscover our spark in Devon against Plymouth Argyle. The Pilgrims were bottom of the Championship, and only Charlton Athletic had shipped more goals than them.

 

9 April 2033: Plymouth Argyle vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Plymouth right-back Jonathan Lamb threatened to create a goal when he pumped a long ball into our box after just 20 seconds. Fortunately, Daryl Ryan punched the ball away just before Argyle frontman Ugonna Thompson could nod it home. We got lucky again in the third minute, as Pilgrims midfielder Mike Khan struck the bar with a free-kick, and striker Eddie Hughes fouled our left-back Ante Djuzel while attempting to get to the rebound.

 

We launched our first attack three minutes later, when Baldur Hreidarsson played Joel Honeyball through on goal. Sadly, Joel's second touch of the ball was hit just too hard, and Plymouth goalkeeper Graham Skinner made an easy catch. The Pilgrims countered moments later, but Ryan charged off his goal line and successfully closed down Thompson's shot.

 

Mick Connolly would also have a shot blocked midway through the half, as did Thompson again, before Plymouth finally found the net on 31 minutes. Our recent inability to defend against corners was exploited again when Khan swung in a delivery that Hughes nodded home.

 

Seven minutes later, however, Honeyball cancelled that out with a sublime solo goal. Filip Svensson slid the ball to the feet of Joel, who skilfully turned past a tackle from Plymouth centre-back Paul Harris and then slipped away from Skinner before finding the net! That put us level at 1-1, and when Hreidarsson narrowly fired over a free-kick two minutes later, it seemed that we had hit our stride.

 

Hreidarsson almost burst through the Plymouth defence in the 57th minute, only to be stopped by a superb slide tackle from Pilgrims centre-back Barry Bond. Thankfully, Baldur was not too badly hurt after what had looked like a particularly strong challenge. Three minutes later, another of our Nordic stars - Filip Svensson - pulled wide a chance to send us 2-1 up.

 

That would be a fateful miss, as it was Plymouth who scored the game's third goal after 62 minutes. Daggers defender Velimir Radosavljevic tried to knock Lamb's deep cross away from Thompson, but Hughes pounced on the loose ball and drilled in his second goal of the afternoon.

 

Honeyball looked for his second equaliser on 64 minutes, only to see his volley deflected behind by Argyle midfielder Velin Dimitrov. After that, I brought on Daniel O'Reilly as a replacement for Ante Djuzel, who had looked rather overwhelmed. This was O'Reilly's first senior appearance for us since I dropped him two months earlier following a dip in form.

 

Another out-of-favour stalwart who got a chance to get back into my good books was Mario Djokic, who replaced Shaun Powell for the final 15 minutes. Four minutes into his cameo, in the 79th minute, Djokic had a header comfortably saved by Skinner. That was our last opportunity to take away any points from Home Park, and we had wasted it.

 

Plymouth Argyle - 2 (Hughes 31,62)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Honeyball 38)

Championship, Attendance 9,536 - POSITIONS: Plymouth 23rd, Dag & Red 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Banton, Radosavljevic, Moser, Djuzel (O'Reilly), Powell (Djokic), Virgo, Svensson, Shelton (Barnes), Hreidarsson, Honeyball. BOOKED: Svensson.

 

"I wish we could just end the bloody season now," I told my assistant Fabio Saraiva on the journey back to Essex. "This has been a complete write-off. So much has got to change at this club, otherwise we're just going to keep going backwards and backwards, and then 'poof' - we're back in League One."

 

Fabio nodded quietly. I could sense that he was already counting down the days until his annual holiday in Portugal. As for me, I was also thinking long and hard about my plans for the summer.

[mark wilson27]

Its gone a bit Pete Tong recently, As you said write it off and start the build up for next season. Let's hope the board don't get that itchy trigger finger like you in real life.

[CFuller]

4 minutes ago, mark wilson27 said:

Its gone a bit Pete Tong recently, As you said write it off and start the build up for next season. Let's hope the board don't get that itchy trigger finger like you in real life.

I'm already looking ahead to next season, and thinking about who to sell and what to buy. Major changes will have to be made in the summer, because we're just not top-six quality at the moment.

My job status is currently at 'Stable', so I doubt that the chairman will be making any rash decisions. Never say never, though.

[JayR2003]

 

7 hours ago, CFuller said:

I'm already looking ahead to next season, and thinking about who to sell and what to buy. Major changes will have to be made in the summer, because we're just not top-six quality at the moment.

I know you've bumped up against the Board's financial constraints in the past.  Do you have transfer funds available or will you need to clear some payroll and create a kitty to work from for your additions?

[CFuller]

Just now, JayR2003 said:

I know you've bumped up against the Board's financial constraints in the past.  Do you have transfer funds available or will you need to clear some payroll and create a kitty to work from for your additions?

Probably the latter. There's an added complication with regards to next season's budgets, but I'll tell you more about that later in the week.

[CFuller]

APRIL 2033 (continued)

My head physio Sam Cutler gave me an excellent present for my 48th birthday - an injury report on Mario Djokic. Mario had twisted his knee earlier that day, and as a result, he was now unlikely to play any further part in our season. As the Montenegrin's contract was due to expire in the summer, it seemed that he had played his final game for us.

 

The following evening, we took on Reading at the Madejski Stadium. Although James Chester's Royals were four points and four places below us in the standings, many were predicting a comprehensive win for the hosts.

 

12 April 2033: Reading vs Dagenham & Redbridge

We threatened to hit Reading on the counter-attack after just six minutes. Arran Banton played an excellent pass to Souleymane Nomaou, who tried to get around a trio of Royals defenders before cracking his shot off target. Reading winger Sam Morley missed the mark with his team's first scoring chance a minute after that.

 

The next major opportunity went our way, as captain William Barnes drifted a free-kick just off target in the 11th minute. The pendulum continued to swing back and forth as the half went on. Reading had a decent spell midway through the period, with Danny Ceciliano and Morley each firing chances wide.

 

By the 31st minute, however, we were in the ascendancy. As heavy rain began to fall on the Madejski Stadium, Nomaou drifted in a byline cross that William Barnes headed home from close range. Our skipper's first goal of the season had given us first blood in Berkshire!

 

The Reading fans looked even more concerned in the 38th minute, when their team's experienced right-back Danny McVey picked up a knock. Home fears would be allayed just a couple of minutes later. Daggers defender George Darvill brilliantly nodded Aarran Bryant's header off our goal line, but our respite proved to be temporary. Royals midfielder Mick Roberts headed the ball square to Morley, whose subsequent centre was fired in by young striker Marc Bennett. Reading were back on level terms at 1-1.

 

Reading goalkeeper Glenn Nordh would have plenty to do early in the second half. Shortly after play restarted, he pushed away a powerful effort from Paul Nixon, who had looked for all the world like he was going to score his first competitive Dagenham goal.

 

Paul had another opportunity after being played in by Will on 55 minutes, but Nordh thwarted the Northern Irishman again. Reading defender Jesper Forsstrom tried to nod away the resulting corner from Daggers winger Shaun Powell, but Nomaou kept the ball in our possession with a clever flick-on to Joel Honeyball. Joel's half-volley deflected off home striker Peter Edwards and fell towards George, who squirmed it across the line for his maiden league goal!

 

After we retook the lead, things would get rather scrappy until Nixon had another opportunity to break his duck in the 67th minute. Sadly, a third excellent save from Nordh reaffirmed Paul's belief that this would not be this day. It would, though, be Nomaou's day. Sol made it 3-1 Dagenham on 69 minutes, prodding the ball home after Joel's centre to Paul was weakly intercepted by Royals captain Slavko Vuksa.

 

Nomaou threatened to kill the game off with a fourth Daggers goal four minutes later. Nordh charged out of his area to try and beat Sol to a loose ball, but it was our Nigerien striker who prevailed and found himself with an empty net to fire at. Fortunately for Reading, Nomaou was in too tight an angle to get a strong shot on target, and he could only pull it wide. From a more promising position, he could well have put us 4-1 ahead.

 

Back in the 67th minute, Reading substitute Billy Murphy had an opportunity to draw the hosts level at 2-2. On that occasion, Daryl Ryan had made a wondrous save to deflect Murphy's powerful drive wide. Ryan kept out another strong Murphy effort in the 76th minute, but the Glaswegian would beat our Irish custodian just moments later from a Bennett cross. Having got back to within one goal of parity, Reading were soon looking good for another equaliser.

 

Bryant volleyed a potential leveller high and wide on 79 minutes. Four minutes later, Bryant sought out Morley with a ball to the left wing that Banton couldn't cleanly intercept for the Daggers. Morley got to the ball and crossed low to Murphy, who struck for a second time at the near post.

 

Two potential away points for the Daggers had gone down the plughole... and the last one was soon put in serious jeopardy. The crossbar rescued us in the 89th minute, when 18-year-old Royals sub Carl Hubert's thunderous drive thundered off the woodwork and out of touch.

 

Reading were gifted one final opening in the third minute of injury time, when Daggers full-back Daniel O'Reilly's tackle on Morley inadvertently knocked the ball to Bennett on the edge of our area. Bennett only had to slot his shot beyond Ryan to win the game for Reading, and he did... but the ball drifted just the wrong side of Daryl's right-hand post! After a major let-off, we clung on for an away point that edged us closer to survival.

 

Reading - 3 (Bennett 40, Murphy 76,84)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Barnes 31, Darvill 56, Nomaou 69)

Championship, Attendance 12,380 - POSITIONS: Reading 19th, Dag & Red 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Banton (Mazzola), Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly, Barnes, Svensson (Hutchinson), Honeyball, Powell, Nixon, Nomaou (Egueh). BOOKED: Banton, Barnes, Lloyd.

 

Had Marc Bennett converted that last-minute chance for Reading, we would have been mathematically eliminated from play-off contention. As it was, we were still clinging onto our faint hopes by the time we welcomed Doncaster Rovers to Victoria Road.

 

16 April 2033: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Doncaster Rovers

I gave 16-year-old Ross Pearson his first senior start at right-back... and he didn't take very long to settle in. After six minutes, Pearson drilled in a promising centre towards striker Souleymane Nomaou, and Doncaster defender Jonathan Boateng could only knock it away as far as our other frontman. Baldur Hreidarsson's strike clipped the post, but Nomaou rushed to the rebound and secured the opening goal for Dagenham!

 

Two minutes after that, William Barnes headed a floated delivery from Pearson inches over the Rovers crossbar. Our early dominance of proceedings continued throughout the first period. Tom Virgo drove wide a long-distance shot in the 20th minute, shortly before being booked for pulling on Donny striker Matt Peters' shirt.

 

Peters had scored the decisive goal in our previous meeting at the Keepmoat Stadium, but he wouldn't be so effective here at Victoria Road. He had a 23rd-minute header saved by Daryl Ryan before receiving a yellow card six minutes later.

 

At the other end, Donny goalkeeper Charlie Gwyther was doing an excellent job of keeping our lead down to 1-0. He saved a trio of shots from Jacques Polomat, Nomaou and Hreidarsson before the half-time whistle blew on what was already looking like a fairly one-sided encounter. Then again, Peters had missed a couple of Doncaster openings late on in the period, so perhaps it was too early to write off the Yorkshiremen just yet.

 

Gwyther made two more saves in the first minute of the second half. After pushing behind a long-range curler from Hreidarsson, the on-loan Burnley goalkeeper blocked John Moser's strike from Virgo's corner. Baldur and Will then missed a couple of speculative efforts before Ross eyed up a dream goal on the hour mark. Gwyther had to brilliantly tip away the youngster's swerving effort, which had been struck from just outside the penalty area.

 

The next Dagger to seriously test Gwyther was Filip Svensson, who had a blistering strike pushed away just moments after coming on in the 62nd minute. It would have taken a fine player to beat the in-form 20-year-old for a second time... but Nomaou was more than just a fine striker. After 70 minutes, Sol ran onto Baldur's flick-on and half-volleyed us into a 2-0 lead!

 

Nomaou now had a couple of goals to his name, and Hreidarsson a brace of assists, but the latter was unlucky not to add his name to the scoresheet via a free-kick in the 75th minute. Polomat also had some late misfortune - on the injury front. After sustaining a rib injury on 78 minutes, Jacques came off to be replaced in midfield by 17-year-old senior debutant Aaron Megson.

 

In the 83rd minute, captain Barnes made a fantastic interception from Doncaster left-winger Themis Saunders' cross to keep the visitors at bay. Donny would return home empty-handed, though not before an 88th-minute injury to right-winger Sandro Franco forced them to finish the match with only 10 men.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Nomaou 7,70)

Doncaster Rovers - 0

Championship, Attendance 11,576 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 14th, Doncaster 13th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Pearson, Radosavljevic, Moser, Mazzola, Virgo (Svensson), Hutchinson, Barnes, Polomat (Megson), Hreidarsson (Shelton), Nomaou. BOOKED: Virgo.

 

With that result, we were now guaranteed to survive. A huge weight had been lifted off our shoulders, and we could take things rather easier for our final three games.

 

We had another home game a couple of days later - against Peterborough United, who were most certainly not safe from relegation. A winless run of six games had left the Posh just two points above the danger zone.

 

18 April 2033: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Peterborough United

A lack of concentration in our defence was to blame for us falling behind after just four minutes. Peterborough striker Joze Vukovic slid past Daggers centre-half George Darvill to turn Danny Armstrong's right-wing cross into the net and get the visitors off to a flyer.

 

We took a while to get our game going after that quick opener. In the 12th minute, reserve midfielder Tyrone Sedgley - making his senior debut for the Daggers - struck a powerful drive that was turned away by Posh goalkeeper Warren Holden. Two minutes after that, our captain Joel Honeyball got the better of Holden with an impressive header from Daniel O'Reilly's cross. Unfortunately, Joel was caught fractionally offside, but we didn't let the officials' decision to disallow our goal affect us.

 

Another Dagenham stalwart went for goal in the 21st minute, when midfielder Matthew Fraser's curler was caught by Holden. On 29 minutes, an incisive counter-attacking move saw Arran Banton play Honeyball through on the right flank. Despite being forced into a tight angle by Peterborough centre-back Gordon Ross, Joel continued his run and slotted the ball past Holden. The initial shot hit the post, but Joel tidied up the rebound, and we were level!

 

Honeyball was celebrating again two minutes later, as he flicked a Dean Martin cross over the onrushing Holden! With that, Joel reached double figures for goals in a season for the first time in his Dagenham career!

 

By the 35th minute, Honeyball was eyeing up his 11th goal of the campaign - and a hat-trick. He dribbled beyond three Posh defenders and bore down on goal... only to cleverly slide the ball forward for Martin to prod it across the line! In the space of about six minutes, we'd gone from 1-0 down to 3-1 up!

 

Peterborough did find our net for a second time on 43 minutes, as Armstrong's shot from the right flank looped over Daryl Ryan. However, that goal was chalked off after Vukovic was accused of impeding our goalkeeper, and so we remained two clear as we headed into the second period.

 

Having sat out our last few games, Martin was sending out a clear message that he didn't want to end his Victoria Road career just yet. The revitalised midfielder was denied a second goal in the 48th minute by a fine save from Holden. Five minutes later, Holden beat away a close-range effort for Honeyball, whose wait for his hat-trick rolled on.

 

By the 58th minute, one of Peterborough's frontmen had emulated Joel in scoring his 10th goal of the season. Vukovic lifted the ball over our defence and to on-loan Newcastle United forward Nikolaj Gyldenohr. The young Dane then took the ball past Ryan and found the net to reach his personal milestone.

 

At 3-2, the outcome was back up in the air... or so the travelling Peterborough fans hoped. Though Honeyball fired wide an opportunity to put us two ahead again on 72 minutes, a less prolific scorer would finish the job two minutes later. An underhit back-pass from the otherwise impressive Armstrong allowed Daggers left-back Daniel O'Reilly to rush in from behind and blast the ball into the net!

 

Daniel had scored for the first time this season... but another Irishman's goalless run would continue. The luckless Paul Nixon's 19th appearance of the campaign ended with him still stuck on zero goals after he wasted an absolute sitter on 75 minutes.

 

Substitute Souleymane Nomaou was also guilty of a horrible miss in the 86th minute after pulling an excellent Dave Hutchinson through-ball off target. Despite those two late clangers, we fully deserved this eggs-cellent Easter Monday victory. (That was an awful pun, Christopher. You should be sacked for that alone.)

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Honeyball 29,31, Martin 35, O'Reilly 74)

Peterborough United - 2 (Vukovic 4, Gyldenohr 58)

Championship, Attendance 9,454 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 13th, Peterborough 21st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Banton, Lloyd, Darvill, O'Reilly, Virgo, Sedgley, Fraser (Hutchinson), Martin (Nomaou), Nixon (Shelton), Honeyball. BOOKED: Banton.

 

After winning twice in the space of three days, we were incredibly STILL in the play-off race with just two rounds left to go! It was possible that we could sneak into 6th place if we won our final two games - and Ipswich Town, Stoke City, Cardiff City, Wrexham, Aston Villa, Bradford City and Charlton Athletic all dropped points. Nice and simple!

[CFuller]

APRIL 2033 (continued)

As we entered the final moments of the 2032/2033 season, I began handing out new contracts to some of my players. Left-back Daniel O'Reilly and defensive midfielder Tom Virgo were the first to sign theirs, each of them being rewarded with improved four-year deals.

 

Meanwhile, schoolboy midfielder George Conlon - a trialist with our Under-18s side - signed a youth contract for the Daggers. Local lad George hadn't quite done enough to earn a contract at the first time of asking following a trial match last month, but he'd certainly taken advantage of the 'second chance' we afford all of our youth candidates.

 

On St George's Day, we played what was very likely to be our final away match of the season, unless about half a dozen teams got struck down with food poisoning at the same time and we stumbled into the play-offs as a result. Our opponents were Aston Villa, who - like us - desperately needed a win to keep alive their hopes of extending their season.

 

23 April 2033: Aston Villa vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Baldur Hreidarsson hadn't scored in over two months, and his lack of confidence showed in the second minute. Souleymane Nomaou found Baldur with an excellent pass towards Aston Villa's penalty spot, but the Icelander pulled what should've been a simple finish against the post and out.

 

One of Villa's strikers also wasted a great chance in the 11th minute, as Sam Price - on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion - drifted a shot wide. The deadlock would be broken two minutes later - by an absolute howitzer from Tyrone Sedgley! On just his second senior appearance for Dagenham & Redbridge, the Scottish midfielder collected a superb square ball from Shaun Powell and drove it home from outside the Villa area!

 

Four minutes after giving us the lead, Tyrone set up a chance for Baldur to put us two ahead. Disappointingly, Hreidarsson dragged it off target from a long way out. A trio of Villans then sent shots wide before one of them fared rather better with their next attempt on 28 minutes. 20-year-old midfielder Luke O'Leary slipped the ball beyond Daryl Ryan to pull the hosts level.

 

Aston Villa's first opportunity to move in front was driven past the post by Harvey Jeffs just before the half-hour mark. Price was kept off the scoresheet about a minute later by a fine fingertip save from Ryan, who was making his 224th - and possibly final - league appearance in goal for the Daggers. The rest of the first period was rather dull, save for a couple of bookings - for Villa's top scorer Harvey Jeffs, and for our captain William Barnes.

 

I was forced to make my first substitution after just a couple of second-half minutes. Right-back Ross Pearson hurt his neck whilst tackling Villa winger Muharrem Kurt and had to be replaced with fellow youth player Carl Quinn. Our weakened defence would be left badly exposed in the 51st minute. Price found space in our penalty area and nodded a deep cross from Brazilian right-back José Roberto into the net.

 

Phil Parkinson's Villans were 2-1 up... or at least they were until the 54th minute. An excellent display from our Welsh right-winger Powell continued when Shaun squared the ball to Baldur, who shook off José Roberto's presence and ended a long wait for his 20th goal of the season!

 

Barely a minute after that, our other winger turned the game on its head. Left-sided Steven Shelton lobbed an excellent ball ahead of striker Souleymane Nomaou, who got past Villans defender Marius Pricop and goalkeeper Jonathan Hudson before finding the net! We were now leading by the odd goal in five!

 

After a frantic start to the second period, things went quiet attacking-wise - perhaps understandably - for the next half-hour or so. Jeffs missed a couple of Villa efforts from inside our penalty area, and Hudson saved a couple at the other end from Hreidarsson, but it seemed that the scoreline would remain at 3-2 to us.

 

Then Armenian midfielder Armen Nersesyan decided to make his mark for Aston Villa. The 34-year-old had a shot blocked by Velimir Radosavljevic in the 79th minute, but he made his next effort count seven minutes later. Nersesyan made his way through a crowd of Dagenham defenders to prod in a centre from Mostafa Youssef and send Villa Park rocking!

 

Long-time followers of the Daggers may remember that Nersesyan had scored a late equaliser against us once before, three seasons ago. The big difference here was that we did have enough time to muster a reply and retake the lead.

 

In literally the last few seconds of normal time, players from both sides scrapped for the ball on the halfway line before young Dagger Dave Hutchinson slid it forward to Hreidarsson. Baldur quickly passed forward to Nomaou, who then spotted Shelton making a run into space. Steven used his pace to get away from José Roberto and prod Sol's through-ball into the goal! Aston Villa thought that Shelton should've been flagged offside, but the goal stood, and we won a thrilling match 4-3! After many near-misses and what-ifs, we had finally managed to vanquish the mighty Villans - and at Villa Park to boot!

 

Aston Villa - 3 (O'Leary 28, Price 51, Nersesyan 86)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Sedgley 13, Hreidarsson 54, Nomaou 55, Shelton 90)

Championship, Attendance 30,432 - POSITIONS: Aston Villa 12th, Dag & Red 9th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Pearson (Quinn), Radosavljevic, Darvill, Mazzola, Powell, Barnes (Atta), Sedgley (Hutchinson), Shelton, Hreidarsson, Nomaou. BOOKED: Barnes.

 

Sadly, our third consecutive win was not enough to take our play-off challenge into the final weekend. 6th-placed Ipswich Town won their match to pull themselves out of our reach, and 7th-placed Stoke City followed suit in midweek.

 

We therefore went into our final game of the season - at home to Leeds United - knowing that we could finish anywhere between 8th and 13th. Leeds also had little to play for in this game, as they were already assured of a play-off spot.

 

As I usually do when the season-closer is a dead rubber, I used this match as an opportunity to blood some of our younger players. The only non-teenagers in the starting XI were skipper Joel Honeyball in attacking midfield, and a couple of strikers who had points to prove. Mario Djokic hadn't scored for the first-team since August, while Paul Nixon was still looking for his maiden competitive Daggers goal. Both of them were effectively playing for their long-term futures at Victoria Road.

 

30 April 2033: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Leeds United

Our defence was particularly youthful, with 18-year-old Jerome Farrell keeping goal in a competitive match for the first time. He would be beaten after just nine minutes. Our inability to effectively clear a corner delivery from Leeds winger Bozenko Mikulic was punished when the Bosnian played a superb follow-up centre towards the far post. United striker Nicky Garbutt then got past our rookie centre-half Carl Quinn to prod it home.

 

Garbutt was unlucky not to score a second goal in the 11th minute, when Farrell caught his header. Veterans Ron Cowlishaw and Mick Riley then missed further chances to extend Leeds' advantage as the visitors threatened to dominate.

 

We didn't even get a look-in on the attacking front until Joel Honeyball's 22nd-minute shot was caught by Whites keeper Grant White. Six minutes later, Honeyball played the ball short to Nigel Atta just outside the 'D'. Nigel hit a low shot that swerved beyond White's fingertips and into the net. That wasn't a bad way for him to score his first competitive goal for the Daggers!

 

Thanks to Nigel, the match would be level at half-time. Leeds were looking the slightly better team, though they had an injury concern when Mikulic hurt his elbow in a collision with Daggers midfielder Dave Hutchinson just before the break.

 

Five minutes into the second half, Tyrone Sedgley struck a 30-yard attempt to put us in the lead. White managed to secure the ball, and the Whites would soon be back on the attack. After 51 minutes, our young goalie Farrell had to push behind Aaron Ebdon's shot from a Mikulic free-kick. The resulting corner would lead to Leeds moving back into the, er, lead. Dagenham defender John Moser's attempted clearance only sent the ball to United striker Shane Gennings, who drove it back into the penalty area and watched Cowlishaw deflect it into the net.

 

Gennings then missed out on a goal for himself in the 62nd minute after flicking Vasil Popov's cross beyond the post. By then, I'd already subbed off the ineffectual Mario Djokic and brought on youth striker Tristan Egueh.

 

On 66 minutes, Tristan created a chance for Paul Nixon - our other misfiring striker - to finally get his first Daggers goal. However, as was typical of Paul this season, the Ulsterman screwed it wide. Our club-record signing seemed destined to end his debut season at Victoria Road without a single goal to his credit.

 

I gave Nixon another nine minutes to try and break his duck before eventually losing faith and sending on 15-year-old Toby Faithfull to replace him. Midfielder Martin Thompson - another very promising talent from our youth ranks - also got some late gametime as our campaign ended with a whimper. Leeds finished their regular season with a 2-1 victory, although a fine save from Farrell in the 75th minute prevented Cowlishaw from extending their winning margin.

 

Wrexham, Bradford City and Aston Villa all overtook us on the final day with victories, and Charlton Athletic would've done the same had they beaten champions Watford. In the end, Charlton could 'only' draw 3-3, and so we finished 12th - ahead of the Addicks on goal difference.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Atta 28)

Leeds United - 2 (Garbutt 9, Cowlishaw 52)

Championship, Attendance 11,679 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 12th, Leeds 4th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Farrell, Moser, Quinn, Darvill, Djuzel, Hutchinson, Sedgley (Thompson), Atta, Honeyball, Nixon (Faithfull), Djokic (Egueh). BOOKED: Sedgley, Hutchinson.

 

We had maintained our proud record of never finishing outside of the top half in the Championship... but only just. We'd also mustered our lowest points total in any division since we were last relegated from the Football League in 2021/2022.

 

For a team of our quality, 60 points is below my expectations. Inertia seems to have set into this side, and I must seriously consider making major changes over the summer.