CFuller

Meanwhile, Dave are simply saying, "Buckingham Palace has made an important announcement. Turn over to BBC News for more." No different from Prince Philip.

I'm not a republican, but can't say I disagree.

Charles is the King now. The dodgy one (Andrew) is the third child.

We all knew this day would eventually come, but living through it is no less of a shock. In just three days, we've gone from having a male PM and a Queen to having a female PM and a King. What a week.

Anyone else noticed the bruising on her hands in the Truss photos? That can't be a good sign either.

Seems like she's coming to the end.

DIVISION 3 TABLE (End of March 2005) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Cambridge Utd 39 15 3 2 45 20 8 6 5 28 25 78 2nd Dag & Red 39 14 4 1 52 14 9 3 8 33 29 76 3rd Shrewsbury 39 17 0 3 44 22 7 4 8 28 34 76 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th Oxford 39 12 3 4 29 12 10 3 7 43 40 72 5th Scunthorpe 39 9 6 4 37 26 11 2 7 46 33 68 6th Rushden 39 10 2 7 41 35 11 2 7 35 33 67 7th Torquay 39 13 5 2 51 27 6 3 10 30 37 65 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Brighton 39 12 3 5 32 19 7 5 7 27 25 65 9th Colchester 39 11 3 5 41 28 7 6 7 25 31 63 10th Leyton Orient 39 9 1 9 33 33 8 7 5 36 28 59 11th Doncaster 39 10 5 4 36 26 5 7 8 35 39 57 12th Wycombe 39 11 8 1 42 27 4 4 11 27 41 57 13th Stockport 39 8 5 7 37 31 6 7 6 31 34 54 14th Cheltenham 39 10 5 5 35 25 4 4 11 24 37 51 15th Macclesfield 39 9 4 7 44 36 5 4 10 32 43 50 16th Exeter 39 9 4 6 29 24 5 2 13 18 33 48 17th Darlington 39 8 5 7 41 26 5 3 11 21 31 47 18th Hartlepool 39 9 6 4 38 26 3 4 13 24 36 46 19th Plymouth 39 7 2 10 32 39 7 1 12 32 44 45 20th Rotherham 39 8 5 7 39 36 3 4 12 28 49 42 21st Mansfield 39 3 7 9 27 40 5 6 9 26 36 37 22nd Oldham 39 4 5 11 26 39 6 2 11 26 37 37 23rd Halifax 39 5 1 14 23 42 3 4 12 27 53 29 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th Northwich Vics 39 2 4 13 26 45 2 3 15 16 52 19 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Club Brugge cause a major shock by qualifying for the Champions League Quarter Finals, despite winning just once in the second group phase. The Belgians' 1-0 win over Manchester United in November is followed up with four draws, including a 2-2 thriller at Old Trafford this month, which sneaks them through ahead of the Red Devils. The fairytale probably won't last... Lazio await them next. A 3-0 loss at Real Madrid means that Bayern München miss out on the Quarter Finals once again, crashing out at Phase 2 for a fourth straight year. President Franz Beckenbauer quickly dries his tears after Bayern thrash rivals 1860 München 5-1 to take a huge step towards yet another Bundesliga title. Leeds spectacularly implode in their FA Cup Round 6 tie at Everton, losing 5-0 after going down to eight men! Rio Ferdinand and Ian Harte are both sent off, but it's midfielder Lee Bowyer who really sees red - ASSAULTING the referee after having a handball given against him! Bowyer is banned by FIFA for six months and forced to attend the Kieron Dyer School for Anger Management. Valencia go through five straight matches without scoring - an alarming run of form which puts Barcelona, Betis and Real Madrid back in contention to win La Liga. Rafa Benítez insists he isn't cracking under the pressure, and then spends three hours pointing out every refereeing decision that went against 'Los Murciélagos' this season. France suffer a huge blow to their World Cup qualifying hopes, as Tryggvi Guðmundsson scores a 79th-minute winner for underdogs Iceland in Reykjavík. Everybody in Les Bleus' camp blames Laurent Robert. IN OTHER NEWS... 50 Cent releases his second album “The Massacre”, where he delivers murderous gangsta rap and offers to take women to the “Candy Shop”. For music fans who don’t particularly like hip-hop, Mariah Carey takes a rather more subtle approach to writing a love song with “We Belong Together”. 16 years after its cancellation, "Doctor Who" is revived by the BBC. When asked why she decided to fight Daleks with a time-travelling alien who looks like Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper replies, "Because we want to." Former British Prime Minister James Callaghan dies just one day short of his 93rd birthday, and less than a fortnight after losing his wife Audrey. The former Labour leader was in Number 10 from 1976 to 1979, overseeing the ‘Winter of Discontent’ that ultimately brought about his election defeat to Margaret Thatcher. Jennifer Aniston decides she doesn’t want to be more than Friends with Brad Pitt anymore and files for divorce. The couple were married for nearly five years - a diamond anniversary by Hollywood standards.

MARCH 2005 We entered the final quarter of the Division 3 season with automatic promotion still within our sights. We were nine points clear in the play-off places, and only four off Cambridge United at the top... but these next few matches would sorely test our nerves. March began with Oxford paying a visit to Victoria Road, where victory would see us leapfrog the U's into the top three. One of our new signings Ian Sharps made his first start for the Daggers, replacing an out-of-form Kerry Mayo at left-back. 5 MARCH 2005: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Oxford United Oxford battered us with shots in the opening 15 minutes, with winger James Newell and midfielder Tommy Curtis coming the closest to breaking the deadlock. Thankfully, we held firm, and then sprung a counter-attack on them in the 17th minute. Captain Damien Lacey played an inspirational pass to our man of the moment - and once Des Hamilton unleashed his shot, you just knew it was finding the net! Hamilton almost unleashed another hammer on Oxford in the 33rd minute. The U's managed to crowd him out and force his volley from attacking midfielder Stephen Melton's cross off target. We then survived a scare three minutes before half-time, when Mike Pollitt parried a shot from United centre-back Darren Patterson, forcing Ian Sharps into a frantic clearance. The second half proved just as nerve-wracking. Neil Cooper's visitors cranked up the pressure, and it took some typical braveheart defending from John Anderson to keep their attackers at arm's reach. After Neil Mustoe's late volley narrowly missed the target, we tightened up and ground out a 1-0 win. Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Hamilton 17) Oxford United - 0 Division 3, Attendance 4,415 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Oxford 4th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins (Gledhill), Maher, Anderson, Sharps; Hamilton, Lacey, Weekes; Melton (Carter); Alsop (Devine), Mwaruwari. I can't believe just how devastating Des Hamilton has been since joining us in November. I originally signed the Yorkshireman as a tough-tackling midfield destroyer, but he's actually spent the last four months destroying defences - with eight goals and three assists in just 15 matches! We hoped for more brilliance of our Wednesday night game at Home Park against Plymouth. Our new Zimbabwean striker Benjani Mwaruwari sadly had to stay at home with a thigh strain. Fortunately, Daggers favourite Junior McDougald was back in the squad after recovering from a gashed head, which had ruled him out of our victory against Oxford. 9 MARCH 2005: Plymouth Argyle vs Dagenham & Redbridge The first half of this midweek clash was all about Nick Weekes. The midfield playmaker brought Des Hamilton's through-ball into the Argyle area and then fired an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Matt Lee, putting us ahead after just 11 minutes. As we continued to dominate our hosts, Lee's night went from bad to worse. Lee lost his composure when Sean Devine went through on goal in the 36th minute, wiping the Irish striker out with a mistimed challenge. Lee was sent off, and Plymouth's replacement goalkeeper Tony Warner had to try and keep out the resultant penalty from Weekes. He couldn't. Nick didn't quite complete his hat-trick before half-time, though we did get a third goal on 45 minutes to compound Plymouth's misery. Devine was brilliantly set up by strike partner Julian Alsop to bang in his ninth goal this season! We might have been in Devon, but it felt like we were in heaven! Our 3-0 half-time lead stayed the same at the final whistle. It wasn't so much that the Pilgrims played much better after the interval - more that Warner was a much better goalkeeper than Lee. The Trinidad & Tobago international pulled off a couple of excellent saves to stop Devine extending our advantage, though Sean wasn't complaining too much at full-time. After all, we'd got another three points on the board! Plymouth Argyle - 0 Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Weekes 11,pen37, Devine 45) Division 3, Attendance 6,141 - POSITIONS: Plymouth 16th, Dag & Red 2nd DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Maher, Anderson (Mayo), Sharps; Hamilton (Neil), Lacey, Weekes; Melton; Alsop (McDougald), Devine. Though our next game was only three days later, I kept the same starting line-up for our meeting with 21st-placed Mansfield. Now... wouldn't it be just typical if THIS was the match which ended our unbeaten home league run? 12 MARCH 2005: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Mansfield Town Dagenham's attacking midfielder Stephen Melton was determined that this match would go to the form book. He gave us the perfect start after just nine minutes, driving in a low cross from Des Hamilton. He then doubled our lead with a 26th-minute assist for Sean Devine, who became our third striker to hit double figures this term! Mind you, Mansfield showed just seven minutes later that they had a serious goal threat of their own. Shayne Bradley had taken up the mantle of the Stags' main striker following the departure of Chris Kiwomya last season. The visiting number 9 needed a couple of attempts to beat our number 1 Mike Pollitt, but his strike halved our lead to 2-1. Squeaky-bum time? Tensions started to rise early in the second half, when a clumsy tackle from left-back Kerry Mayo gave Mansfield a free-kick just outside our area. Neil Mann lined up the set-piece and then swung it in to ex-Manchester United forward George Clegg, whose shot was parried by Pollitt. Clegg got to the rebound... but a determined tackle from John Anderson kept our advantage intact! After that scare, we cranked up the pressure and took the game to our opponents. Teenage playmaker Ryan Carter came off the bench in the 68th minute and made an instant impact, converting Sean Devine's deflected corner at the far post. Hamilton then joined him on the scoresheet in the 82nd minute (well, duh) to secure victory before Julian Alsop added a FIFTH Daggers goal late on. Mansfield did have just enough injury time to grab a second goal of their own, through an impressive finish from their young midfielder Neil Lazarus. Mind you, it would have taken the greatest comeback since the Biblical Lazarus to get the Stags back level. Dagenham & Redbridge - 5 (Melton 9, Devine 26, Carter 68, Hamilton 82, Alsop 90) Mansfield Town - 2 (Bradley 33, Lazarus 90) Division 3, Attendance 3,947 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 1st, Mansfield 21st DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Maher, Anderson, Sharps (Mayo); Hamilton, Lacey, Weekes (Carter); Melton; Alsop, Devine (McDougald). BOOKED: Sharps, Mayo. We now found ourselves at the top of Division 3, with the most goals scored in the division, the joint-lowest goals conceded, and a goal difference of +41. Three days later, we went to Northwich, who by contrast had scored the fewest goals and conceded the most, leaving their goal difference at a pitiful -53! Of course, Vics were 11 points adrift at the bottom, and looked doomed to an immediate return to the Conference. You can probably guess what happens next, can't you? 15 MARCH 2005: Northwich Victoria vs Dagenham & Redbridge The hosts' hopes of causing an upset at the Drill Field took a dent after just a few seconds. Almost straight from the kick-off, Sean Devine made a beeline for their goal, effortlessly dribbling through their defence before banging in a third goal in as many starts! Vics barely held on for their lives over the next half-hour, bravely staving off every Daggers attack to keep the deficit at 1-0. When we started to lose our way in the 33rd minute, they sensed the chance to counter. Star striker Gregg Blundell ran onto a clever flick-on from Danny Stevens and then pulled Northwich level... ...for all of five minutes. Then Sean swung a corner into their box. Big Julian Alsop rose high to head the delivery goalwards, and though goalkeeper Danny Morton pushed it off his line, he couldn't stop the follow-up from John Anderson. The Daggers were back in front - and this time, we were determined not to let it slip! Our second-half performance could best be described as 'professional'. It wasn't pretty, but Anderson and co did at least work hard enough to stop Northwich from launching any more counter-strikes on us. Target man Alsop then linked up with winger Kerry Mayo to complete a 3-1 away win in the closing stages. Unusually, though, it was Jules who provided the cross, and Kerry who headed it home! Mayo's second goal for the Daggers had consolidated our position at the top of Division 3. Northwich Victoria - 1 (Blundell 33) Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Devine 1, Anderson 38, Mayo 84) Division 3, Attendance 2,739 - POSITION: Northwich 24th, Dag & Red 1st DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Maher, Anderson, Sharps; Hamilton, Lacey, Carter (Mayo); Melton (Neil); Alsop, Devine (Renner). After four wins in 11 days, we now had to wait over a week for our next match. Had this wait snapped our momentum... or could pick things back up again and complete a perfect month? If we were to make it five victories on the trot, we would need to overcome a stern challenge from Scunthorpe, who themselves were fighting to stay in the play-off places. Our matches with the Iron were never dull, so I expected another epic contest at Victoria Road. To further complicate matters for us, Hamilton picked up a shin injury in training, which meant our midfield marvel wasn't fit to start. Fortunately, Des still made it onto the bench, as did Benjani, who was making steady progress in his recovery from a thigh strain. 26 MARCH 2005: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe made their intentions clear from the second minute, when captain Andy Dawson's strike from left-back narrowly clipped the post. Sadly, the woodwork could not save us from their next attack 12 minutes later, when 19-year-old striker Brian Packham lost his marker and converted a cross from Garry Wood. As the match wore on, I got the sense that it wasn't going to be our lucky day. Kevin Miller was in inspired form in the Scunny goal, routinely keeping the likes of Julian Alsop and Sean Devine at bay. There was one shot that did beat Miller just before half-time... but unfortunately for Stephen Melton, the top of the crossbar deflected it behind. By contrast, Mike Pollitt was having one of his occasional bad days at the office. His fingertip save to deny Wood in the 54th minute was brilliant. His desperate attempt to claw away a long-range shot from Iron defender Greg Brown five minutes later? Not so much. 2-0 to Scunthorpe. With our unbeaten home record in mortal danger, we threw everything at Scunthorpe... and got the ball into their net twice in the next half hour. But while Benjani Mwaruwari's 90th-minute header from a Nick Weekes cross did count, Melton's fierce drive eight minutes later was sadly disallowed for offside. Despite a valiant effort from us late on, it was Brian Laws' visitors who returned to Lincolnshire with all the points. Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Mwaruwari 90) Scunthorpe United - 2 (Packham 14, Brown 59) Division 3, Attendance 4,427 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Scunthorpe 5th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Maher, Anderson, Sharps (Mayo); Weekes, Lacey, Carter (Gledhill); Melton; Alsop, Devine (Mwaruwari). BOOKED: Sharps, Anderson. This was the first time in over 18 months that we had lost a league match at Victoria Road... but there was absolutely no disgrace in going down to Scunthorpe. While I wouldn't rule the Iron out of the automatic promotion race just yet, they will probably be the team to beat in the play-offs if they qualify for that. As far as we're concerned, we still have a four-point lead on 4th-placed Oxford (and a huge advantage in goal difference too) with seven matches to play. We're also 11 points clear of Brighton in 8th. I'm trying not to get carried away... but it's looking good, folks!

I wasn't sure on this, but after a bit of searching, it appears they were introduced on FM 2009.

The 2D match engine was introduced on Championship Manager 4, released in March 2003. Not sure what you're specifically interested in, but media questions have actually been in the game for quite a long time. I am pretty sure you could answer basic media questions about player form and transfer rumours on CM99/00, so that's late 1999. (That feature was definitely on CM00/01.) I think newgens (as we know them) were introduced in one of the early SI Football Managers, so around about 2005 or 2006.

DIVISION 3 TABLE (End of February 2005) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Cambridge Utd 34 13 3 2 40 20 7 5 4 27 24 68 2nd Oxford 34 11 3 3 27 10 9 2 6 39 36 65 3rd Shrewsbury 34 15 0 3 41 22 6 2 8 25 32 65 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th Dag & Red 34 12 4 0 45 10 7 3 8 27 28 64 5th Torquay 34 12 4 2 47 25 6 3 7 30 31 61 6th Scunthorpe 34 7 6 3 33 24 10 2 6 44 30 59 7th Rushden 34 8 2 6 36 32 10 2 6 33 29 58 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Brighton 34 11 3 4 29 16 5 4 7 21 21 55 9th Wycombe 34 10 6 1 37 23 4 4 9 27 38 52 10th Colchester 34 8 3 5 34 28 6 6 6 22 27 51 11th Cheltenham 34 10 4 3 33 21 4 4 9 23 32 50 12th Macclesfield 34 9 3 5 42 31 5 4 8 30 37 49 13th Doncaster 34 8 5 4 33 26 4 6 7 29 34 47 14th Stockport 34 7 5 6 33 28 5 6 5 27 30 47 15th Leyton Orient 34 7 1 9 27 32 6 6 5 27 23 46 16th Hartlepool 34 8 6 3 34 24 3 3 11 21 30 42 17th Plymouth 34 7 2 8 31 34 6 1 10 27 39 42 18th Darlington 34 8 4 6 40 24 3 2 11 16 29 39 19th Exeter 34 7 3 6 24 21 4 2 12 16 31 38 20th Rotherham 34 7 4 6 33 30 3 4 10 27 44 38 21st Mansfield 34 2 5 9 20 35 5 6 7 24 28 32 22nd Halifax 34 5 1 12 20 37 3 4 9 26 45 29 23rd Oldham 34 3 4 10 23 34 4 2 11 23 36 27 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th Northwich Vics 34 1 4 11 21 38 2 2 14 14 49 15 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Manchester United's Champions League hopes lie in the balance after Roma thump them 3-0 in a vital group game at the Olimpico. The Red Devils get revenge just six days later, when they beat the Giallorossi 1-0 at Old Trafford thanks to a goal from... you guessed it. Ruud van Nistelrooy. 19-year-old Wayne Rooney scores twice in extra-time as Everton recover from a 2-1 first-leg deficit to beat Division 1 underdogs Wolves 5-3 on aggregate and reach their first League Cup Final since 1984! You could say it's the grandmother of all comebacks! Valencia are the first team to book their place in the Champions League Quarter Finals, knock Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey, and build a six-point lead over Barcelona in La Liga. Could Rafa Benítez and all his big-money signings be about to bring an incredible treble to the Mestalla? Just as Bayern München appear to be pulling away at the top of the Bundesliga, they hit a speed bump and lose 1-0 at Schalke 04. Ebbe Sand's strike just before half-time cuts Bayern's advantage to just four points. Rangers take another huge step towards an unbeaten Scottish Premier League season, as an early strike from midfielder Charlie Miller defeats Celtic 1-0 in the Old Firm derby at Ibrox. Celtic's frustrations are compounded when star defender Dianbobo Baldé is ruled out for the rest of the campaign after breaking his foot in a slide tackle on Tore Andre Flo. IN OTHER NEWS... Due to a lengthy labour dispute, the entire 2004/2005 National Hockey League season is cancelled. Canada goes into eight months of national mourning. Renowned American journalist and author Hunter S Thompson kills himself at the age of 67, following a series of health problems. Thompson came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s with works such as “Hell’s Angels” and “Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas”. Three years after winning the Best Actress Oscar, Halle Berry claims another prestigious honour - after being named Worst Actress at the Golden Raspberry Awards for her performance as “Catwoman”. Berry takes it with good grace, saying, “My mother told me that if you can’t be a good loser, you can’t be a good winner.” The BBC airs the first British series of business reality show "The Apprentice", inspired by the original American show starring Donald Trump. The first task Sir Alan Sugar sets for his candidates is to save Tottenham from relegation with only £5,000.

FEBRUARY 2005 Boy, oh boy, I've been building up to this moment for a while! So without further ado, let me introduce you to Dagenham & Redbridge's big new signing! Ladies and gentlemen, we've signed Ian Sharps from Tranmere for £35,000! Sharps is a 24-year-old left-back with great athleticism and superb positioning. His creative abilities aren't all that, but he will provide a stable and secure alternative to our more attacking full-backs, such as Kerry Mayo and Peter Hawkins. Wait, hang on... there's someone else, isn't there? Ah, yes! It's that new striker I've been raving about for the last six months! Six months after we signed him to a pre-contract agreement, Zimbabwe international Benjani Mwaruwari finally arrived at Victoria Road to complete his Bosman free transfer from Basel. The 26-year-old is a powerful frontman with lethal finishing ability, not to mention vast experience on the big stage. Frankly, I can't believe how this little club from the east London suburbs was able to bring in a striker with so much pedigree. Julian Alsop and Junior McDougald are rather handy frontmen themselves - but if we can make full use of Benjani's qualities, he could be the goal machine we need to take us up into Division 2. Mwaruwari made his debut when we kicked off our February schedule against fellow promotion contenders Shrewsbury. Unfortunately, Sharps had to miss the trip to Gay Meadow, as he was starting a three-match suspension after being sent off in a Tranmere reserve game. Apparently, some idiot forgot to take note of that when they signed him! 5 FEBRUARY 2005: Shrewsbury Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge Despite our excellent recent form, and despite losing their right-back Jonathan Bass to a twisted knee injury after just four minutes, Shrewsbury weren't scared to attack us early on. They utterly dominated the first half, with centre-half Steve Chettle and midfielder Chris McConville each going close to breaking the deadlock before right-winger Nick Evans did just that on 25 minutes. Evans' volley from McConville's cross put us firmly on the back foot... ...and worse was to come five minutes into the second half. The Shrews penned us in our half and then won a corner, which Karl Murray swung in for McConville to head in their second goal. That ended a difficult afternoon for Benjani Mwaruwari, who was soon substituted after being starved of service for practically his entire debut. His replacement Junior McDougald hit the post in the 61st minute, and that was as close as we came to getting back in contention. Not even another knee injury - this time to left-winger Sam Aiston - could stop Kevin Ratcliffe's Shrews from coming away victorious. Shrewsbury Town - 2 (Evans 25, McConville 50) Dagenham & Redbridge - 0 Division 3, Attendance 4,787 - POSITIONS: Shrewsbury 4th, Dag & Red 3rd DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Bayliss, Anderson, Mayo; Hamilton (Carter), Lacey (Clark), Weekes; Melton; Alsop, Mwaruwari (McDougald). BOOKED: Hawkins, Hamilton, Bayliss. Well, so much for the big build-up. Our first defeat of the new year showed that we still had a long way to go before we could think about promotion. Better things were expected the following week, when Benjani played in front of the Victoria Road for the first time. Providing the opposition were 7th-placed Brighton, whom we had not beaten in our previous three meetings. 12 FEBRUARY 2005: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Brighton & Hove Albion I dropped Julian Alsop for this game, and instead brought in Sean Devine to play up front alongside our new Zimbabwean star. Devine was denied an early opener by Brighton keeper Mark Clough in the 8th minute, but in the 29th, he selflessly played Benjani Mwaruwari through for his first scoring opportunity. Benjani gladly took it, with a powerful drive sending the Victoria Road crowd into raptures! Brighton were hoping that our surge ended there, but unfortunately for them - and their midfielder Richard Carpenter - we'd only just begun. Seven minutes later, the Seagulls made the mistake of leaving Des Hamilton wide open in their penalty area, leaving him free to fire home a cross from Peter Hawkins. Des had now scored six goals in just two-and-a-half months at Dagenham! The visitors' attackers were left wanting in the second half as they battled in vain to claw back a 2-0 deficit. After replacing Devine in the Daggers attack midway through the second half, their former striker Junior McDougald killed them off in the 73rd minute. McDougald's superb finish from an equally impressive pass by 'man of the match' Hamilton completed another comfortable home win. Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Mwaruwari 29, Hamilton 36, McDougald 73) Brighton & Hove Albion - 0 Division 3, Attendance 3,952 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Brighton 8th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins (Clark), Maher, Anderson, Mayo; Hamilton (Neil), Lacey, Weekes; Melton; Devine (McDougald), Mwaruwari. There we go! A clean sheet win at home was just what we needed to get our spirits back up. Next up was a long journey to Yorkshire to face Doncaster, who were mid-table but had a habit of falling apart defensively (case in point - they lost 8-0 to Huddersfield in the Football League Trophy!). Julian Alsop was back in the starting line-up for this one, with Sean Devine being left behind this time after showing poor fitness in training. 19 FEBRUARY 2005: Doncaster Rovers vs Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham midfielder Stephen Melton put Doncaster under pressure after just nine minutes at Belle Vue. A fierce shot from Benjani Mwaruwari's square ball almost beat Rovers keeper Justin Shuttlewood, who had to shuffle across his goal to push it away. Doncaster had a few chances to break the deadlock midway through the first half, but by half-time, we had firmly wrestled control of the match. Nick Weekes' playmaking abilities came to the fore again when his 44th-minute lob was headed in by Benjani for the opener. Weekes then followed up that assist with a goal of his own, making it 2-0 just before the ref called half-time! It had been a miserable afternoon for Doncaster's 18-year-old striker, who couldn't muster a shot at half-time. Manager Steve Wignall didn't want Rob Thomas to be lonely no more, so he subbed him off... and brought on his 19-year-old brother Tony Thomas instead! Tony couldn't break through the Daggers defence either, with centre-half Shaun Maher shutting him out superbly to secure us a rare clean sheet away from home! Doncaster Rovers - 0 Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Mwaruwari 44, Weekes 45) Division 3, Attendance 4,107 - POSITIONS: Doncaster 14th, Dag & Red 2nd DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins (Clark), Maher, Anderson, Mayo; Hamilton (Neil), Lacey, Weekes; Melton (McDougald); Alsop, Mwaruwari. BOOKED: Hamilton. I make that 7 goals and 12 assists this term for Nick Weekes! The midfielder was having his best season yet, and he was rewarded with a new £800-per-week(es) contract running until 2010. After being forced to wait for his Dagenham debut, our new left-back Ian Sharps would finally get a chance to impress his new fans when we hosted Hartlepool in midweek. Sharps was named on the bench, as was right-back Lee Gledhill, who was back in contention after serving a three-match ban of his own. 22 FEBRUARY 2005: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Hartlepool United Nick Weekes could have got yet another assist on the board in the 18th minute, but his chip to Julian Alsop was agonisingly volleyed against the post by our target man. Alsop missed again with a diving header in the 42nd minute... but then Ben Williams horribly screwed up his goal kick. Attacking midfielder Stephen Melton intercepted the kick, and then powerfully drove it past the embarrassed Hartlepool keeper for 1-0! The Pools defence were melting under pressure from Melton. Three minutes into the second half, Stephen sliced through the backline and found Des Hamilton, who continued his hot streak in a Dagenham jersey! And there was more to come! Melton eyed up the goal again in the 72nd minute, and though he was stopped by a firm tackle from Hartlepool captain Ritchie Humphreys, big Julian Alsop was on hand to bury the loose ball home! Three and easy once again for the deadly Daggers! Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Melton 43, Hamilton 48, Alsop 72) Hartlepool United - 0 Division 3, Attendance 4,357 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Hartlepool 16th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Maher, Anderson (Sharps), Mayo; Hamilton (Carter), Lacey, Weekes; Melton; Alsop, Mwaruwari (Renner). BOOKED: Lacey. You know what we can like, right? Two shutout wins in a row is impressive by our standards... but THREE? That tells you we really were in form! This incredible surge had put us two points clear in the automatic promotion places - and only one point behind leaders Cambridge! That meant we had a chance to go top if we could get a result at Brisbane Road against Leyton Orient - and the U's couldn't match it against Wycombe! 26 FEBRUARY 2005: Leyton Orient vs Dagenham & Redbridge A frustrating opening half-hour saw both Julian Alsop and Benjani Mwaruwari miss the target for Dagenham. We were punished after 32 minutes, when Leyton Orient countered from a sloppy goal kick by Mike Pollitt. Veteran forward Paul Shaw made the interception and flicked it on to Richard May, whose fierce shot beat Pollitt and broke the deadlock. Eight minutes later, though, we benefitted from some unconvincing goalkeeping by Orient's Gavin Kelly. The 36-year-old made a hash of Stephen Melton's long-distance drive, and the ball fell kindly for Benjani, who drove in his third goal in five Daggers matches! After that equaliser, could we now go and win the game in the second half? No, we couldn't. Benjani was a constant danger to the O's defence, but Kelly was in superb form after the break, keeping out everything the Zimbabwean and his colleagues could fire at him. Leyton Orient grew stronger as the half went on, and when Pollitt messed up another goal kick in the 77th minute, they had their best opportunity to retake the lead. Within a few moments, Albanian international midfielder Gezim Osmani played a defence-splitting pass to Shaw, who burst through and hit a devastating finish. Ultimately, Orient had been just that little bit more clinical when it mattered. Leyton Orient - 2 (May 32, Shaw 77) Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Mwaruwari 40) Division 3, Attendance 4,555 - POSITIONS: Leyton Orient 15th, Dag & Red 4th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Maher, Anderson, Mayo (Sharps); Neil (Weekes), Lacey, Hamilton; Melton; Alsop (McDougald), Mwaruwari. BOOKED: Mayo. That couldn't have gone much worse. Cambridge beat Wycombe 2-1 to stay top of Division 3, and we slipped back into the play-off spots. Have we missed our chance at automatic promotion - again?

It has been that way for years. Announcement in September, feature reveals and beta in October, release in November. People say they have to wait longer or that FM gets released later, but SI's schedule has always been pretty consistent. And is having to wait three months into the new (European) season really such a big deal? The F1 game consistently comes out about three months into the F1 season (and the new F1 Manager was released five months after the first race), but you don't hear their fans moaning that "oh, what's the point; the season's practically over".

DIVISION 3 TABLE (End of January 2005) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Cambridge Utd 29 12 2 1 38 17 6 4 4 23 22 60 2nd Oxford 29 10 2 2 23 7 8 1 6 34 34 57 3rd Dag & Red 29 10 4 0 39 10 6 3 6 24 24 55 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th Rushden 29 8 1 5 31 24 8 2 5 27 25 51 5th Scunthorpe 29 7 4 3 29 20 8 1 6 36 24 50 6th Shrewsbury 29 12 0 3 32 18 4 2 8 23 32 50 7th Brighton 29 9 3 3 26 13 5 4 5 20 16 49 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Torquay 29 10 3 2 38 21 4 3 7 27 30 48 9th Macclesfield 29 9 2 4 39 27 5 3 6 27 30 47 10th Cheltenham 29 10 3 2 33 20 3 3 8 17 25 45 11th Wycombe 29 9 6 1 35 22 3 3 7 22 32 45 12th Colchester 29 7 3 4 31 25 5 4 6 17 23 43 13th Doncaster 29 8 4 2 30 20 3 5 7 26 32 42 14th Leyton Orient 29 6 1 7 22 26 5 6 4 24 20 40 15th Stockport 29 6 4 5 27 22 4 5 5 24 29 39 16th Hartlepool 29 7 4 2 28 18 3 3 10 21 27 37 17th Darlington 29 8 3 4 36 18 2 2 10 13 26 35 18th Rotherham 29 6 4 5 30 27 3 3 8 23 37 34 19th Exeter 29 7 3 4 24 18 2 2 11 13 29 32 20th Plymouth 29 6 1 7 26 29 4 1 10 23 37 32 21st Mansfield 29 2 5 7 20 33 4 5 6 22 26 28 22nd Halifax 29 4 0 11 16 31 3 3 8 21 37 24 23rd Oldham 29 2 4 9 21 33 3 1 10 16 32 20 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th Northwich Vics 29 1 4 9 19 33 1 1 13 9 44 11 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Ruud van Nistelrooy takes his season tally up to 27 goals in 32 matches, as Manchester United thrash Arsenal 3-0 in Round 4 of the FA Cup. The Gunners lose all hope when the usually placid midfielder Ray Parlour is sent off for doing the one thing all his Arsenal team-mates secretly wanted to do - clobber Ariel Ortega in the face. Leeds' star forward Mark Viduka is seen as the only man who can stop van Nistelrooy from being named PFA Player of the Year for a fourth straight season. The 29-year-old Australian soon starts to believe the hype - and slaps his manager David O'Leary with a transfer request. Could Chesterfield soon be playing Premiership football? Managed by ex-England captain Bryan Robson, and with Romanian international forward Bogdan Mara wreaking havoc on the pitch, the Spireites climb into the Division 1 play-off places as they seek back-to-back promotions. Juventus go on a £29million spending spree and sign FIVE new players, including goalkeeper Franco Costanzo and centre-back Martín Demichelis from Argentine champions River Plate. With the Old Lady still struggling in the middle of the Serie A table, manager Bum-Kun Cha must hope that his gambles pay off. After finishing 7th, 6th and 5th in the previous three seasons, Atalanta climb into the top four - and emerge as unlikely challengers to Lazio's and Roma's recent scudetto dominance. They also have the best defensive record in Serie A, which is even more surprising when you realise that their goalkeeper is Massimo Taibi! IN OTHER NEWS... Adriana Iliescu - a university lecturer from Romania - gives birth to her first daughter Eliza in Bucharest. At the grand age of 66, Iliescu is believed to be the oldest birth mother in history. You’re hired! New York entrepreneur and fake tan enthusiast Donald Trump marries his third wife - Slovenian model Melania Knauss - in Florida. Aged 34, Melania is just seven years older than Trump’s first son Donald Jr. Former England and QPR forward Rodney Marsh is sacked as a Sky Sports pundit after making a joke about Newcastle, David Beckham, and last month's Indian Ocean tsunami. Forget that the joke was in very bad taste; Sky would probably have sacked Marsh regardless, just because it was such a very bad joke! Speaking of very bad taste, Prince Harry is photographed wearing a Nazi uniform - complete with swastika flag - at a fancy dress party in Wiltshire. The 20-year-old royal is forced to apologise, and questions are asked about whether he should be allowed to attend the Sandhurst military academy later this year.

JANUARY 2005 Midway through the Division 2 season, we were still on course to reach the play-offs again - sitting in 6th place. However, it hadn't been a great season for two of our most loyal players, who had both lost their spots as first-team regulars. Right-back Lee Goodwin had found life especially difficult in the Football League. After recording a 6.42 average rating last season, he had made just four appearances this term - and averaged just 5.75. Goodwin's passing and tackling abilities were sadly not good enough for this level, and with less than six months remaining on his contract, I reluctantly told him that he was free to leave the club. Lee went on the transfer list, along with right-winger Mark Janney, whose 35 appearances for us at this level had yielded just one goal and one assist. Janney's contract was due to run until 2007, but if any clubs were interested in signing him before then, I wouldn't stand in their way. With Janney no longer in the first-team picture, I decided to bring in a right-sided midfielder who could actually hack it at this level. 26-year-old Alex Neil arrived on a four-month loan from Barnsley, where he had spent the last couple of seasons stuck in the reserves. The small but tenacious Scotsman was an exceptional dribbler with equally fine crossing ability, and he could also play in central midfield, adding further depth to that position. Neil wasn't yet sharp enough to start, but he did at least make it onto the bench in time for our big play-off clash on New Year's Day. We put our unbeaten home league run on the line against Chris Kamara's Torquay, who were one position and one point ahead of us in 5th, albeit having played one game more. 1 JANUARY 2005: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Torquay United My only Daggers original who was still playing regularly was striker Junior McDougald. The hotshot striker was back in form, as he showed 36 minutes into a tense match. Attacking midfielder Stephen Melton's killer ball sent McDougald through on goal, and Junior smashed in his 11th of the season! The match had been pretty close up until that point, but we blew Torquay with two more goals either side of half-time. Vice-captain John Anderson found the net with a strong header from Damien Lacey's corner just before the break. Then, a minute into the second period, Melton made it 3-0 with an astonishing solo effort. At the other end, the Gulls had mixed fortunes. Till Furthmann - a defender/striker nicknamed the 'German Dion Dublin' - hardly got a sniff at Mike Pollitt's goal and wasted the only chance he had. Furthmann did make his mark in the 58th minute with a superb flick-on to ex-Aston Villa midfielder Michael Standing, whose volley left Mike... well, standing. After losing our clean sheet, we set about stopping the Torquay fightback in its tracks. Though visiting goalkeeper Tony Pinnock denied McDougald a second goal on 66 minutes, he couldn't stop midfielder Dean Clark from burying the rebound - and wrapping up a 4-1 win for the Daggers! It was going to take a mighty team to breach Fortress Victoria Road! Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (McDougald 36, Anderson 45, Melton 46, Clark 66) Torquay United - 1 (Standing 58) Division 3, Attendance 5,256 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 3rd, Torquay 7th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Bayliss, Anderson (Maher), Hawkins; Weekes (Neil), Lacey, Clark; Melton; Alsop (Devine), McDougald. BOOKED: Anderson. Back in the automatic promotion places, just like that! A lot of credit had to go to Dave Bayliss, who had put in another solid central defensive performance. He was another player whose contract was due up for renewal, so I thought it was high time the popular Scouser was offered a new, improved deal. After comfortably beating one of the best teams in the division, I named the same starting XI for our next home match, against one of the worst. Oldham had spent much of the season lagging behind everyone else, but a late-autumn upturn in form had lifted them to the giddy heights of 23rd. They were also one of the few teams whose away record was better than their home record, so we had to beware their counter-attacking threat. 5 JANUARY 2005: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Oldham Athletic Dagenham’s target man Julian Alsop made a confident start to this match, charging through the Oldham defence in the 10th minute before blazing a shot over the bar. A more clinical strike from Big Jules could have opened the floodgates... ...but just eight minutes later, the Latics hit us with a mighty counter-punch. 18-year-old midfielder Stephen McCarthy unleashed a fierce strike to give them an unlikely away lead, which they managed to protect until half-time. Needless to say, I was an exasperated man at the interval. I tore strips into my players during the break, benched attacking midfielder Stephen Melton, and brought on a third striker in Victor Renner. We were going direct, and we were going to break Oldham's resistance - no matter how long it took. The answer was ten minutes. In the 55th minute, our set-piece specialist Nick Weekes delivered a sublime corner to Alsop, who towered over Oldham keeper Saliou Diallo and headed home. Nick then provided another assist two minutes later, deftly sliding the ball through for Junior McDougald to give us the lead. While Weekes could not complete the set by getting Renner on the scoresheet, his playmaking skills had made all the difference and helped us squeak home with all three points! Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Alsop 55, McDougald 57) Oldham Athletic - 1 (McCarthy 18) Division 3, Attendance 4,949 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Oldham 23rd DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Bayliss, Anderson (Maher), Hawkins; Weekes, Lacey, Clark (Neil); Melton (Renner); Alsop, McDougald. After that match, we were delighted to announce that Bayliss had indeed signed a new contract. After some tough negotiations, he had agreed a £1,000-per-week deal running until the summer of 2008. We also welcomed pacey forward John McGlynn to the reserve team after his promotion from the youth set-up. Unfortunately, John can't finish - and he isn't even the most promising 17-year-old Irish striker at the club (Robbie Walsh has been a very prolific scorer for our reserves). I probably wouldn’t expect McGlynn to make the grade any time soon. Fortunately, I have much higher hopes for another youth team promotee. Simon Warren is an aggressive holding midfielder with fantastic passing ability and a high work rate - and he's only 15! Our first match since rising back up to 2nd place was - of course - away to the only team now ahead of us. Cambridge United were the runaway leaders by eight points and had only lost one league game at the Abbey Stadium so far this term (against Colchester). For this match, I switched to a conservative 3-5-2 - but with a flat midfield three, rather than having one player play either in defensive or attacking midfield. I also brought left-back Kerry Mayo and midfielder Des Hamilton back into the squad after their recent injuries. 15 JANUARY 2005: Cambridge United vs Dagenham & Redbridge This Cambridge team had a very different outset to the side which had shipped four goals at Victoria Road back in September. John Beck's long-ball merchants were on a run of six wins from seven matches, and after 29 minutes, the league leaders were on course for another. Scott Bannerman's left-wing cross was finished by 35-year-old midfielder Ray Wallace (the lesser-known brother of Rod and Danny). We had been playing defensively up until that point, but the opener forced us out of our shell. 12 minutes later, Junior McDougald bore down on the Cambridge goal, only to be denied by a parry from keeper Michel Kuipers. Fortunately, the rebound was smashed in by perhaps the last player we expected to score - left-back Peter Hawkins, who had somehow broken his Daggers duck! Cambridge took the game to us again after the break. It looked like they'd regained the lead after 55 minutes, when leading scorer Demba Traore fired in a flick-on from his strike partner Carl Martin... and then an offside flag went up against Martin. We then had to hold firm against everything the U's threw at us, with Traore wasting a couple of golden chances to win the game late on. Cambridge United - 1 (Wallace 29) Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Hawkins 41) Division 3, Attendance 2,643 - POSITIONS: Cambridge Utd 1st, Dag & Red 3rd DAG & RED LINE-UP (3-5-2): Pollitt; Bayliss, Maher, Anderson; Gledhill (Clark), Hawkins; Weekes, Lacey, Melton (Hamilton); Alsop, McDougald (Renner). A day later, we said goodbye to Goodwin, who moved on a free transfer to Heracles Almelo. I'm not quite sure why a Dutch second-division club was even interested in signing a 26-year-old right-back who'd spent most of his career in the English lower leagues... but okay! Lee made 127 appearances for Dagenham & Redbridge after I became manager in July 2001, and spent six-and-a-half years at Victoria Road all in all. He will go down as a club stalwart, but it's a shame his Daggers career has ended on a bit of a whimper. We had to move on quickly, as next up was our rearranged match at promotion rivals Macclesfield. The Silkmen had actually slipped out of the top seven since the original fixture was postponed just before Christmas, but with their firepower, they would surely be back up there before long. 19 JANUARY 2005: Macclesfield Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge Des Hamilton was back in our starting line-up, and the midfielder almost instantly continued his scoring form, breaking the deadlock after 17 minutes. Sadly, it took Macclesfield just six minutes to counter. Richard Eyre might have provided an eye-watering 20 league assists already this season, but a silky daisy-cutter showed that the right-winger could also score the goals himself! Macc almost pulled ahead in the 37th minute, when strikers Rickie Lambert and Damien Whitehead were denied by an astonishing double save from Mike Pollitt. That was a massive turning point, as within four minutes, the momentum was back with us! Nick Weekes added yet another assist to his record, weighting a cross just right for Junior McDougald to volley us into a 2-1 lead! Six minutes into the second half, the Silkmen were back on the offensive, as Whitehead looked to find his captain Lambert with a through-ball. Daggers right-back Lee Gledhill was the last man between Lambert and Pollitt, and he desperately pulled on the back on the striker's shirt. Gledhill knew straight away that he was a goner, heading for the tunnel before the referee drew his red card! Down to 10 men, we now faced an almighty struggle against one of the deadliest strike duos in the league. But then we got a huge stroke of luck in the 61st minute, when Lambert sustained a dead leg and had to come off. A weakened Macc side would only threaten us once in the final half-hour, when midfielder Danny Venables scooped over the rebound after Pollitt had stopped Whitehead's header. A narrow escape, and another narrow victory! Macclesfield Town - 1 (Eyre 23) Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Hamilton 17, McDougald 41) Division 3, Attendance 2,594 - POSITIONS: Macclesfield 9th, Dag & Red 2nd DAG & RED LINE-UP (3-5-2): Pollitt; Bayliss, Anderson, Anderson; Gledhill, Hawkins (Mayo); Weekes, Lacey (Clark), Hamilton; Alsop (Carter), McDougald. BOOKED: Carter. SENT OFF: Gledhill. Lee Gledhill's dismissal meant he was banned for our first three games of February. I usually drop a player anyway after a red card, but as we were so short on full-back options, Gledhill was merely relegated to the bench for our next match. We were at home to Stockport, who sat in 15th spot. 22 JANUARY 2005: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Stockport County Stockport goalkeeper Gary Martin was kept busy early on, with the England Under-21s international keeping out early strikes from Daggers midfielders Des Hamilton and Stephen Melton. Our third shot on target was the lucky one, though. Just as the game reached the half-hour mark, Junior McDougald grabbed his fourth goal in five games by hitting an unstoppable volley from Julian Alsop's lobbed pass! The visitors hadn't come close to scoring at any point before that goal - and midway through the second half, it looked like Mike Pollitt would have an unusually quiet afternoon. Then, in the 68th minute, the Hatters pulled out a rabbit from nowhere. A string of impressive and incisive passes ended with experienced wideman John McQuade heading in their first shot on target! Substitute midfielder Andy McKenzie was the man who provided the assist for McQuade's equaliser. McKenzie also had a chance to win the game for Stockport with a powerful strike in the 86th minute, but Pollitt caught it well and kept the final score at 1-1. Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (McDougald 30) Stockport County - 1 (McQuade 68) Division 3, Attendance 4,753 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 3rd, Stockport 15th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Bayliss, Anderson, Mayo; Hamilton, Lacey, Weekes (Carter); Melton (Renner); Alsop, McDougald. A disappointing end to an otherwise fine month, but we still went unbeaten - and we're still in the top three! If we can just shore up those defensive issues that have crept back into our game lately, then I have a feeling February could be even better. Oh yeah, and we have that new international striker who's coming over from Switzerland! I can't wait for you to meet him!

DIVISION 3 TABLE (End of December 2004) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Cambridge Utd 25 12 1 1 37 16 5 3 3 16 17 55 2nd Oxford 24 8 2 1 20 6 7 0 6 29 30 47 3rd Shrewsbury 26 11 0 3 30 17 4 1 7 19 27 46 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th Scunthorpe 25 6 3 2 24 14 8 0 6 35 23 45 5th Torquay 25 9 3 2 33 19 4 3 4 25 22 45 6th Dag & Red 24 8 3 0 32 7 5 2 6 21 22 44 7th Rushden 24 6 1 4 24 19 8 0 5 25 23 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Cheltenham 25 10 2 2 30 17 2 3 6 9 17 41 9th Macclesfield 23 8 2 2 34 20 4 2 5 23 26 40 10th Doncaster 26 7 4 2 27 19 3 4 6 23 27 38 11th Brighton 25 8 3 3 23 12 2 4 5 13 16 37 12th Leyton Orient 25 5 1 5 17 19 5 5 4 22 18 36 13th Colchester 26 6 2 4 28 23 4 4 6 14 22 36 14th Wycombe 24 6 5 1 28 19 3 3 6 20 29 35 15th Stockport 26 6 3 5 26 21 3 4 5 21 27 34 16th Hartlepool 24 6 3 2 23 14 3 3 7 19 20 33 17th Rotherham 24 6 3 4 28 24 3 2 6 17 26 32 18th Darlington 24 8 1 4 33 15 1 1 9 9 23 29 19th Plymouth 25 5 1 5 22 21 4 1 9 22 34 29 20th Mansfield 26 2 3 7 16 29 4 5 5 21 23 26 21st Exeter 24 5 2 4 15 12 2 2 9 12 25 25 22nd Halifax 25 3 0 11 14 30 2 1 8 13 30 16 23rd Oldham 24 1 3 9 18 31 2 1 8 13 28 13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th Northwich Vics 25 1 4 6 15 25 1 1 12 8 42 11 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Manchester United's relentless pursuit of a third consecutive Premiership title continues, despite suffering their second league defeat of the season. Everton secure a famous 2-1 win at their new Kings Dock stadium after a stunning performance from 19-year-old Wayne Rooney. Even Sir Alex Ferguson admits he is impressed. The Red Devils' closest rivals Leeds undergo a mid-season reshuffle. The Whites sign ex-France forward Sylvain Wiltord from Rangers, and Sweden defender Olof Mellberg from Aston Villa... but legendary captain Lucas Radebe is released after 10 years at Elland Road. I predict a riot. The Arsenal exodus continues, as Sol Campbell makes a £5.75million move to Real Madrid, while winger Laurent Robert agrees a £3.3million deal with Milan. The Gunners bring in two experienced centre-backs to replace Campbell, with Teddy Lucic and Alpay arriving from Newcastle (of course) and Aston Villa respectively. Leverkusen unveil their new manager - 51-year-old Fatih Terim, who leaves Marseille just before they crash out of the UEFA Cup with a shock Round 3 defeat to Motherwell. Despite that, Marseille are still in the thick of a five-way fight for the Ligue 1, with Bordeaux sitting top after a goal glut from Portuguese striker Pauleta. There's drama at Parma, who are in a battle to stay in Serie A after their finances spiral out of control. To make matters worse, their big summer signing - Romania striker Adrian Mutu - has scored just once in 14 games. Mutu also may or may not have a drug problem. IN OTHER NEWS... A huge earthquake strikes just west of Indonesia, leading to a series of massive tsunami waves that devastate the surrounding coasts of the Indian Ocean. Over 200,000 people in 14 countries lose their lives in one of the worst natural disasters in history. 36-year-old crooner Steve Brookstein from south London looks destined for superstardom after winning the first series of ITV's "The X Factor". In the final vote, he defeats opera quartet G4, who aren't to be confused with former England midfielder (and current Hartlepool scout) Paul Gascoigne. Clint Eastwood directs and stars in the year’s last big box-office smash - “Million Dollar Baby”. Hilary Swank plays the lead role as an amateur boxer who aspires to turn pro, enlisting the help of Eastwood’s elderly trainer. Heavy metal guitarist ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott is shot dead by a deranged fan while performing with his band Damageplan at a nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. Three other people are killed before the gunman is taken out by a police officer. Abbott was just 38 years old.

DECEMBER 2004 The fixture list can get a bit quirky, especially around the Christmas period. Of the seven matches we had scheduled for December, SIX were away from home. You know just how poor our record outside of Victoria Road is, so I certainly wasn't looking forward to this run of games! First up... mid-table Wycombe, at Adams Park. Julian Alsop had recovered from injury and was back on the bench, though fellow striker Victor Renner and right-back Lee Gledhill were still in the treatment room. 4 DECEMBER 2004: Wycombe Wanderers vs Dagenham & Redbridge Des Hamilton's madcap start to his Daggers career continued midway through the first half. The midfielder headed us into the lead in the 19th minute after a brilliant assist from captain Damien Lacey. Barely a minute later, though, Hamilton also collected a yellow card for a mistimed slide tackle on Wycombe's Peruvian midfielder José Pereda. At the other end, the Chairboys struggled. They might have had the division's top scorer in Mozambique striker Manuel Bucuane - better-known as Tico-Tico - but some tight marking from John Anderson ensured he didn't even get a shot at goal. Tico-Tico's team-mates fared little better in front of goal, with midfielder Stewart Talbot being especially wasteful. By contrast, we were much more clinical. Though Sean Devine didn't score against his former club, his second-half substitute Julian Alsop did find the target - twice. A 68th-minute header from Nick Weekes' corner was followed five minutes later by a simpler tap-in, and so we left Buckinghamshire with a comfortable 3-0 win. Wycombe Wanderers - 0 Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Hamilton 19, Alsop 68,73) Division 3, Attendance 2,949 - POSITIONS: Wycombe 15th, Dag & Red 4th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Bayliss, Anderson, Mayo (Goodwin); Hamilton, Lacey, Weekes; Melton (Carter); Devine (Alsop), McDougald. BOOKED: Hamilton. This result made us just that little bit more secure in the play-off places, putting us four points clear of Stockport in 8th. We were also only two points off the automatic promotion spots! In midweek, we travelled to Vicarage Road to take on Watford in Round 1 of the Football League Trophy. Mark McGhee's Hornets were right in the middle of the Division 2 table, but they were still strong favourites for this match. 7 DECEMBER 2004: Watford vs Dagenham & Redbridge Watford's chairman might not have been in the Vicarage Road stands (I guess Elton John isn't that interested in the LDV Vans Trophy), but his team had a rocket man up front. Heidar Helguson fired the Hornets in front in the 6th minute, and the Icelander added another goal from Imants Bleidilis' cross in the 31st. In truth, Watford were so dominant in the first half that they looked like a Premiership team who had no right to be playing as low as the third tier. Though we tried to go toe-to-toe with them after the break, cracking a back four full of international players - and Alan Wright - proved easier said than done. By the 65th minute, the contest was effectively done. Just like Helguson, Gifton Noel-Williams had stayed loyal to Watford in spite of their recent relegations, and he showed his top-flight class in the 65th minute with a beautiful header from Peter Ndlovu's cross. Noel-Williams then twisted his knee 10 minutes later, prompting Dave Bayliss and the rest of our defence to breathe huge sighs of relief! At 3-0 up, the Hornets decided to ease off. Our midfielders took advantage, with Des Hamilton and the excellent Nick Weekes each pulling goals back in the final five minutes. Unfortunately, we had left it too late to complete the comeback, and so our Football League Trophy campaign ended after just one match. Watford - 3 (Helguson 6,31, Noel-Williams 65) Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Hamilton 85, Weekes 90) Football League Trophy South Round 1, Attendance 10,017 DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Pollitt; Goodwin, Bayliss, Anderson, Hawkins (Clark); Janney (Weekes), Hamilton, Lacey, Mayo; Alsop (Devine), McDougald. Out of all the cups before Christmas. Well... at least we could now solely focus on winning promotion. We also had a nice week-long break before our next match. In the meantime, out-of-favour midfielder Ian Selley finally left the club, moving to Rushden & Diamonds on a free transfer. The 30-year-old had cost us £60,000 last summer, but he had been such an unmitigated disaster that I just wanted his £1,000-per-week wages off the books. Good riddance. So... would you like to guess who our next match was against? That's right! Rushden & Diamonds, who sat just one point behind us ahead of our clash at Nene Park! This match would see both Gledhill and Renner return from injury. Renner's comeback was particularly timely, as Sean Devine was now out until the new year with a calf strain. 15 DECEMBER 2004: Rushden & Diamonds vs Dagenham & Redbridge Rushden rushed into the lead after just eight minutes. Andy Burgess' cross from the left wing was finished by midfielder Ben Sedgemore, but the Diamonds still wanted more! In the 22nd minute, a handball from Julian Alsop gave Rushden a free-kick just outside our penalty area. Sedgemore provided an excellent delivery for striker Scott Partridge, whose header left our goalkeeper looking more like Alan Partridge. Mike Pollitt's positional awareness was comical, to say the least. Things had got so bad that I changed tactics midway through the half, replacing attacking midfielder Stephen Melton with wideman Peter Hawkins. To be fair, we played a bit better after going wider and more direct, certainly in terms of preventing Diamonds from pulling even further ahead... ...but our big second-half issues came at the other end. Neither Junior McDougald nor Julian Alsop could get their shots anywhere near the target, and substitute Victor Renner looked like a more ill-fitting right-winger than Arthur Scargill. Frankly, it was such an appalling performance all round that a 2-0 defeat was probably the best result we could've had. Rushden & Diamonds - 2 (Sedgemore 8, Partridge 22) Dagenham & Redbridge - 0 Division 3, Attendance 2,611 - POSITIONS: Rushden 4th, Dag & Red 5th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Bayliss, Anderson, Mayo; Hamilton (Weekes), Lacey, Carter (Renner); Melton (Hawkins); Alsop, McDougald. Well, that was about as bad as we've ever played in the Football League. Goalkeeper Mike Pollitt and midfielder Ryan Carter were so shocking that they were both fined and dropped for our next away trip - to 13th-placed Cheltenham. You probably remember what happened the last time we went to Whaddon Road. I would rather not. 18 DECEMBER 2004: Cheltenham Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge After an encouraging start to the match, we started getting sloppy with our passing, which allowed Cheltenham to assume control. By the 28th minute, Steve Cotterill's Robins had pulled ahead, with young striker Scott Forrester racing past our vice-captain John Anderson before slotting a cool finish beyond goalkeeper Andy Woodman. Within eight minutes, though, we were back level - and no prizes for guessing who scored our equaliser. Yes, it was Des Hamilton who got his head to Damien Lacey's corner - the midfielder scoring his fourth goal in six matches since signing for us last month! Unfortunately, Cheltenham regained the lead just before half-time through on-loan Charlton midfielder David Fox, and so we trailed 2-1 at the break. An edgy second half saw few chances, as we struggled to get back in the game. Cheltenham eventually sealed victory in the 89th minute, with midfielder Paul Bedder teeing up a second goal for Forrester. Ex-Robins striker Julian Alsop did hit back in stoppage time, but we still went down by the odd goal in five. Cheltenham Town - 3 (Forrester 28,89, Fox 43) Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Hamilton 36, Alsop 90) Division 3, Attendance 3,703 - POSITIONS: Cheltenham 12th, Dag & Red 7th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Woodman; Goodwin (Gledhill), Maher, Anderson (Bayliss), Hawkins; Janney, Hamilton, Lacey, Mayo; Alsop, Renner (McDougald). That was our third defeat in a row - the worst run the Daggers have had since I became manager. It wasn't likely to get better any time soon, as our next match on the schedule was against Macclesfield at Moss Rose. The Silkmen's promotion challenge was going as well as many people had expected pre-season, as Damien Whitehead had continued to bang in the goals, firing them up to 3rd place. Some Daggers fans were probably fearing a pre-Christmas stuffing. Fortunately, the good old British weather came to our rescue. We arrived in Cheshire to find that the Moss Rose pitch was frozen up, and that the match had been postponed until mid-January. A stay of execution, perhaps? Relieved, we went back home to have a much-needed Christmas break. Sadly, it wasn't a particularly jolly time for our new hero Des Hamilton, who spent Christmas Day with his arm in a sling after a nasty fall in training. Des was out of action for a fortnight. We then made a welcome return to action at Victoria Road on Boxing Day. We had the last unbeaten home record in Division 3... but what odds on that run being broken by lowly Halifax, who had lost 10 of their last 11 matches and were in a three-way battle to avoid relegation? 26 DECEMBER 2004: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Halifax Town The first half-hour was a real struggle for both teams - especially at the full-back area. Halifax lost their right-back Craig Smith to a gashed leg in the unlucky 13th minute, while a thigh strain forced our left-back Kerry Mayo off six minutes later. In terms of scoring chances, things didn't pick up until the half-hour mark, when Dagenham midfielder Nick Weekes' half-volley from Junior McDougald's through-ball broke the Halifax resistance. Captain Damien Lacey doubled our lead two minutes later, with his furious long-ranger exposing the fragilities in the Shaymen defence. It was easy to work out why they were only ahead of Oldham and Northwich in the standings. The few signs of quality in this Halifax team were further up the pitch. After we wasted some early chances to kill the game off, we were punished with an incisive 66th-minute counter-attack. 19-year-old striker Ashley Beech gave fresh hope to the travelling supporters after our defence failed to clear James Howarth's right-wing cross away from danger. Beech's goal came just moments after I brought Victor Renner on for Stephen Melton, hoping that he would inject some fresh energy to our attack. Vic did that - and more! A couple of quickfire goals in the 70th and 72nd minute nipped Halifax's fightback in the bud, and he then completed his hat-trick with a 76th-minute penalty after Julian Alsop had been fouled by Town defender Troy Douglin. Our final goal was a homage to our first. Weekes played a one-two with McDougald before bursting through the backline and comfortably beating a despairing Colin Hunwick in the Halifax goals. We had scored SIX goals in our most emphatic Football League win ever! Dagenham & Redbridge - 6 (Weekes 30,78, Lacey 32, Renner 70,72,pen76) Halifax Town - 1 (Beech 66) Division 3, Attendance 3,666 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 6th, Halifax 22nd DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Bayliss, Anderson, Mayo (Hawkins); Weekes, Lacey, Carter (McLean); Melton (Renner); Alsop, McDougald. Kerry Mayo's thigh strain ruled him out for a fortnight. Adding to that growing injury list was backup winger Mark Janney, who gashed his head in training and was out for 10 days. After winning 6-1 at home, I fully expected us to return to our erratic ways when we made the long trip to Durham two days later. After all, six of our dozen away league games this season had ended in defeats. Awaiting us at Feethams was a Darlington side now managed by the former Leeds, Newcastle and Wales midfielder Gary Speed. 28 DECEMBER 2004: Darlington vs Dagenham & Redbridge After playing a key role in our last victory just two days earlier, Nick Weekes looked ready to deliver another midfield masterclass. Less than three minutes after kick-off, the ex-cricketer bowled Darlington over with a killer ball to Julian Alsop, who batted in his 50th league goal for Dagenham! Darlo responded with a barrage of attacks, one of which led to them winning a corner in the 26th minute. As Welsh winger Andy Williams swung the corner to the near post, ex-Tottenham striker Rory Allen leaped ahead of Mike Pollitt to flick in the equaliser. Though Victor Renner came close to restoring our lead later on, the scoreline remained 1-1 at the break. The Quakers had their oats during the interval and came back a more fearsome team. Their other striker Lenny Walker had two attempts to beat Pollitt on 57 minutes, firing home the second after the initial effort was parried back to him. Darlington were now 2-1 up... but only until Junior McDougald single-handedly took on their defence before equalising nine minutes later! The hosts' substitute winger Ashley White looked on at McDougald's solo goal and thought, "Anything you can do, I can do better." After collecting the ball in the 69th minute, the Irishman went on a mazy dribbling run that took him past four Daggers, before stroking a deft left-footer into Pollitt's net! 3-2 to Darlington, and we were heading for another away defeat! Having made two changes earlier, my last resort was to bench a tiring Alsop - and bring on an Irish supersub of my own. Sean Devine's impact was almost instant. In the 77th minute, he left the Darlo defence chasing shadows as he latched onto Damien Lacey's slide-rule pass and made it 3-3. I would have been perfectly happy with a point after such a close contest, but Devine didn't want to settle for a draw. As the game entered injury-time, we launched one last counter-attack against a Darlington team who'd thrown everything at us after losing their lead again. Devine eventually took the ball into their penalty area... and fired his shot against the crossbar... but then McDougald thundered in the rebound! Dagenham had WON 4-3 - right at the death!! Darlington - 3 (Allen 26, Walker 57, White 70) Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Alsop 3, McDougald 66,90, Devine 77) Division 3, Attendance 4,533 - POSITIONS: Darlington 18th, Dag & Red 6th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Bayliss, Anderson (Maher), Hawkins; Weekes, Lacey, Carter; Renner (Melton); Alsop (Devine), McDougald. God bless these wonderfully mad fellas. They can be a joy to watch and a nightmare to manage, but you can't help loving them!

DIVISION 3 TABLE (End of November 2004) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Oxford 19 8 1 1 20 6 5 0 4 22 22 40 2nd Cambridge Utd 19 8 0 1 22 10 4 3 3 14 16 39 3rd Macclesfield 19 7 2 0 26 11 4 2 4 21 23 37 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th Shrewsbury 19 8 0 2 23 12 4 1 4 18 18 37 5th Rushden 19 5 1 3 20 16 7 0 3 20 16 37 6th Dag & Red 19 7 3 0 26 6 3 2 4 12 14 35 7th Stockport 19 6 3 1 24 13 3 4 2 19 20 34 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Scunthorpe 19 5 3 2 21 14 5 0 4 24 12 33 9th Torquay 19 6 2 1 21 11 3 3 4 22 20 32 10th Brighton 19 5 2 2 16 8 2 4 4 10 12 27 11th Doncaster 19 6 2 2 22 16 1 4 4 15 19 27 12th Wycombe 19 4 5 0 22 13 2 3 5 15 23 26 13th Leyton Orient 19 4 1 5 14 18 3 4 2 12 9 26 14th Hartlepool 19 5 3 2 18 12 2 1 6 16 17 25 15th Mansfield 19 2 3 5 13 22 4 4 1 17 13 25 16th Cheltenham 19 5 2 2 15 13 2 2 6 7 15 25 17th Colchester 19 4 1 4 17 17 3 2 5 10 16 24 18th Plymouth 19 4 1 5 19 21 3 0 6 13 22 22 19th Exeter 19 4 2 4 13 12 2 1 6 6 15 21 20th Darlington 19 5 1 3 22 10 1 1 8 9 21 20 21st Rotherham 19 2 3 4 16 20 3 2 5 17 24 20 22nd Halifax 19 1 0 8 7 21 2 1 7 12 24 10 23rd Oldham 19 0 1 8 12 24 2 1 7 11 24 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th Northwich Vics 19 0 4 6 11 22 1 1 7 6 25 8 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Manchester United turn on the afterburners and go eight points clear at the Premiership summit. So of course, the Red Devils start their Champions League Phase 2 with a shock 1-0 defeat at Club Brugge. After the match, Sir Alex Ferguson claims the referee gave United midfielder Roy Keane a yellow card for "looking at him funny". Leverkusen's hopes of a Bundesliga title push fizzle out, amid an alarming dip in form - and reports of a player mutiny against manager Klaus Toppmöller. The final straw comes with the sale of popular left-back Diego Placente to Werder Bremen for £5million. Toppmöller is sacked a few days later. There is also unrest at Arsenal, who drop to 7th in the Premiership after several players fall out with Argentine forward Ariel Ortega and urge manager Arsène Wenger to sell him. You know things are bad when Laurent Robert asks to leave after saying he can't play with someone as arrogant as 'El Burrito'! After starting their Serie A challenge with a perfect 10 wins in a row, Lazio finally come a cropper at Torino. Biancocelesti goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi is sent off for a professional foul after 19 minutes, and Torino's Cristiano Lucarelli scores the resulting penalty past 20-year-old substitute Alessandro Boccolini. Rangers stay unbeaten at the top of the Scottish Premier League, as Dick Advocaat continues his quest to build an all-Dutch team. Having signed defender Michael Reiziger from Barcelona in July, Advocaat lures defensive midfielder Giovanni Van Bronckhorst back to Ibrox in a £7million transfer from Arsenal. Fierce rivals Celtic respond with a big signing of their own - Leeds centre-back Michael Duberry. IN OTHER NEWS... George W Bush is somehow re-elected President of the United States after defeating John Kerry. That presidential election goes much more smoothly than the one in Ukraine, which Viktor Yanukovych wins amid allegations of electoral fraud and the poisoning of his rival Viktor Yushchenko, leading to widespread protests and the ballot eventually being re-run. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat dies aged 75. Depending on who you speak to, he was either a Nobel laureate who brought peace to the Israel-Palestine conflict, or a terrorist who engaged in corrupt financial dealings. Sci-fi first-person shooter Half-Life 2 goes on sale, and instantly becomes one of the most acclaimed video games in history. Developers Valve promise that they will release the third game in the series very, very soon. A big month for animated kids’ films starts with the release of “The Incredibles”, starring Iain Dowie as the father of an all-superhero family. Two weeks later... “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” hits cinemas.

NOVEMBER 2004 With just four matches scheduled for November, I hoped that this month would be less stressful than a busy and often turbulent October. Oh, how I wished... After his sending-off in our last game, Victor Renner was working hard in training to get into my good books. Unfortunately, the striker worked himself a bit too hard and suffered a serious calf strain. That ruled him out of pretty much all our November games, rather than just the one he was already suspended for. In-form strike partners Julian Alsop and Junior McDougald stayed up front for the first of those games - away to 19th-placed Colchester. United's shaky defence had kept just two clean sheets all season, so this match felt like a great opportunity for us to strengthen our play-off position. 6 NOVEMBER 2004: Colchester United vs Dagenham & Redbridge Steve Whitton's side had other ideas. Colchester won themselves a corner in the 15th minute, after Daggers keeper Mike Pollitt tipped behind Alex Higgins' free-kick. Pollitt also tried to deal with Marvin Bryan's corner delivery, but an unconvincing save gave veteran midfielder Pete Batey an easy opener. With us trailing 1-0, I called Julian Alsop to the touchline and ordered him to impose himself more on the U's defence. He took my instructions a bit too literally, getting into a scuffle with home left-back Chris Beech in the 33rd minute. Alsop bundled Beech to the floor, and the referee showed him the red card! Worse was to follow in the 54th minute, when we lost our heads from another Bryan corner. Nick Weekes carelessly bundled Colchester's substitute striker Leon Constantine over in the penalty area, prompting the ref to appoint to the spot. James Flood scored the penalty, and we had to battle hard for the next half-hour just to stop the floodgates from opening. A 2-0 defeat, and a huge blow to our play-off challenge. Colchester United - 2 (Batey 15, Flood pen55) Dagenham & Redbridge - 0 Division 3, Attendance 2,437 - POSITIONS: Colchester 16th, Dag & Red 9th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Maher, Anderson, Hawkins; Janney, Weekes (Carter), Lacey, Mayo (Davis); Alsop, McDougald (Devine). SENT OFF: Alsop. What a farce. Instead of consolidating our play-off place, we had dropped to 9th - our lowest placing since the opening day of the season. Julian Alsop was fined a week's wages and suspended from our FA Cup Round 1 match at Huddersfield later in the month. Not that it would have mattered, as Jules conveniently strained his knee ligaments in training a few days later! I also fined left-back Kerry Mayo and midfielder Nick Weekes for their particularly disappointing performances. Despite our rough patch, my performances as manager had attracted interest from abroad. Bohemian had approached me about becoming their new manager... but I didn't think the Irish Premier Division was a big enough step up for me to leave Dagenham & Redbridge just yet. Instead, I turned my attention to our upcoming trip to bogey team Mansfield, where would need some luck of the Irish. Sean Devine stepped up to partner McDougald, while 17-year-old striker Robbie Walsh was in line to make his debut from the bench after showing some impressive form for our reserves. 13 NOVEMBER 2004: Mansfield Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge Mansfield beat us home-and-away last season, but we were determined to put that right. After 26 minutes, Stephen Melton's through-ball to Sean Devine was met with a confident low finish from the Republic of Ireland B international, and we were 1-0 up. Nine minutes later, though, the Stags were back level. Ex-Wales defender Kit Symons cleverly flicked Lee Williamson's corner on to his centre-back partner Bobby Hassell, whose volley proved too much for Mike Pollitt in the Daggers goal. Once again, our set-piece defending had been called into question. We took the game to our opponents a bit more in the second half, with Devine, Nick Weekes and debutant Robbie Walsh having chances to restore our lead. Even full-back Peter Hawkins tried his luck in the 84th minute, when his long-ranger was pushed away by Mansfield captain Lee Harrison. Fortunately, playmaker Ryan Carter got to the rebound first, with a vicious strike not only breaking his season duck, but also breaking our Stags hoodoo! Mansfield Town - 1 (Hassell 35) Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Devine 26, Carter 84) Division 3, Attendance 6,284 - POSITIONS: Mansfield 17th, Dag & Red 7th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Maher, Anderson (Clark), Hawkins; Janney (Weekes), Lacey, Carter; Melton; Devine, McDougald (Walsh). The Football League Trophy Round 1 draw gave us one of the trickiest ties we could have had. We will travel to Vicarage Road to take on Division 2 mid-tablers Watford next month, and though we did actually beat them in pre-season, I'm sure the Hornets will be fired up for the rematch. Before that, we kicked off our FA Cup Round 1 campaign - also against third-tier opposition. Huddersfield were 18th in Division 2 after an erratic run of form, so we had to believe that we could cause an upset at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium. We arrived in West Yorkshire with a new signing - someone who knew the area very well. Bradford-born former Newcastle and Sheffield United midfielder Des Hamilton had just completed a club-record £100,000 transfer from Cardiff a few days earlier. The 28-year-old is an unflappable ball-winner with energy for days, and he can also hit a mean long shot. 20 NOVEMBER 2004: Huddersfield Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge Things got off to an inauspicious start for Mike Pollitt after only five minutes. Our usually dependable goalkeeper tried to catch a powerful shot from Kenny Irons but could only spill it back to the 34-year-old midfielder, who scored at the second attempt. Junior McDougald managed to spare Pollitt's blushes eight minutes later, volleying in Damien Lacey's chip to draw us level. Sadly, it would only be a temporary reprieve, as the Terriers were soon nipping at our defenders' heels again. By the 29th minute, Irons had restored Huddersfield's advantage, finding the top corner again with a fierce shot from a low cross by attacking midfielder Chris Beech (not the same Chris Beech who got Julian Alsop in trouble against Colchester!). That lead was then doubled just before half-time by former Iceland Under-21s defender Reynir Leósson. Kerry Katona would have been proud. Dave Bayliss replaced the disappointing Shaun Maher at half-time, but I would soon have to make another change to my defence. Lee Gledhill pulled up clutching his knee just two minutes into the second half, which meant Peter Hawkins took his place at right-back. Despite those changes, we at least stemmed the bleeding and stopped Town from pulling further ahead, even if we never came close to mounting a fightback from 3-1 down. Huddersfield Town - 3 (Irons 5,29, Leósson 45) Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (McDougald 13) FA Cup Round 1, Attendance 6,038 DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill (Hawkins), Maher (Bayliss), Anderson, Mayo; Hamilton, Lacey, Carter; Melton; Devine (Walsh), McDougald. We were out of the FA Cup, and Lee Gledhill was out for three weeks with strained knee ligaments. Not a fun day at all. Given that our away form was so much worse than our home form, I was pleased that we got to finish the month back at Victoria Road. Or at least I was until I realised that our next visitors were Rotherham, who were the only team to keep two league clean sheets against us last season. Thankfully, Canadian goalkeeper Craig Forrest was no longer playing for them... otherwise I would have asked the referee to check his gloves for magnets before kick-off. 27 NOVEMBER 2004: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Rotherham United Des Hamilton's home debut for the Daggers got off to a mixed start. The ball-winner got a little carried away in the third minute, getting booked for a holding foul on his Rotherham midfield counterpart Craig Russell. In the 30th minute, Des had the perfect excuse for losing his cool, celebrating wildly with the Victoria Road faithful after his pot-shot from 20 yards out broke the deadlock! Rotherham went into this game sitting fourth-from-bottom, and going off their pitiful response to falling behind, I was not surprised. After one woeful shot from Murray McDowell just before half-time, the Millers pretty much folded in the second half. United's new first-choice goalkeeper Gareth Powell was no Craig Forrest, put it that way. The loanee from Crewe conceded a left-footer from Stephen Melton in the 52nd minute and a header from Junior McDougald in the 55th, as we put the result beyond any doubt. Hamilton's robust tackling and equally impressive passing helped us see out a 3-0 win, and he rightfully got the 'man of the match' award at full-time. Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Hamilton 30, Melton 52, McDougald 55) Rotherham United - 0 Division 3, Attendance 5,034 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 6th, Rotherham 21st DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Bayliss, Anderson, Mayo (Davis); Hamilton (Carter), Lacey, Weekes; Melton (Walsh); Devine, McDougald. BOOKED: Hamilton. As we celebrated another impressive home win, full-back Sol Davis said his goodbyes before returning to Swindon at the end of his four-month loan. Davis made seven appearances for the Daggers (all but one as a substitute) and posted an average rating of 6.57. Erm... so long, Sol... I guess.

Here's my rough guide... Shouts to use for whole team Encourage: If drawing or losing by 1 goal against better team / if players have low morale No pressure: if losing by 1 goal against much better team / if players are nervous Demand more: if drawing or losing against similar (or worse) team Fire up: if drawing or losing against rivals Berate: if losing against worse team / don't use if multiple players are nervous Praise: if winning by 2+ goals with not long to go / don't use if multiple players are complacent Shouts to use for individual players (not whole team) Calm down: if player is aggressive or frustrated Focus: if player is complacent It might be a bug. When reserve/youth teams don't have enough players to naturally fill all the positions, the managers prefer to fit other players into the team, even if they can't play in those positions. That's why you may end up with GKs in midfield, or wing-backs up front. The reserve/youth manager usually sets up their team on the day before the match, but you can actually change this if you want to. Go to the U20/U18 team (or whatever team it is), then change the line-up as much as you want. You don't have to fill all the spaces - the manager will do this automatically when the game comes. This method does take up some time, but it works very well, especially when you're retraining a young player in a new position and want to make sure they actually play there. I just wish the manager AI showed more sense with its team selections, instead of blindly picking a GK in midfield and expecting you to stop them.

Three weeks into the new season and I already forgot to set up my team for the next round. This is going well.

Not specifically, but I have seen the 'realism' line trotted out a couple of times before when certain features have been removed. The weather info is just another feature that's disappeared for seemingly no reason at all. In terms of providing feedback, your earlier post about player conversations has just reminded me - press conferences and media interviews really need a lot more work done on them. I'm not saying "remove press conferences" or "less repetitive questions". They're a big part of modern football (certainly at the professional level) and managers do get asked the same ol' questions all the time. I just want more contexual questions and answers, and less pointless guff like this... It's 15 minutes before the gosh-darn Champions League Final, and I am being asked about whether the new manager of Luton Town (just relegated from the Premier League) was right to put one of his players up for sale? Imagine if this was real-life. "Hey, Jürgen, HUGE game tonight against Real Madrid... but tell me how you feel about Norwich releasing Josip Drmic?" Oh, and my new favourite thing right now is when a player picks up a knock, misses training for a few days, and then some journo asks me, "I heard Tomiyasu got blisters the other day. Have you set a date for when he could potentially return to action? I'm going to have to push you for an answer." I do think SI have done a decent job adding more questions to press interviews in recent years, but a lot of those questions are being used in completely the wrong context. If I'm chasing a league title with Arsenal, I don't really need to give an opinion on whether the struggling Leicester manager should keep his job - and please don't ask me the same question about VAR for the 57th time when I've given the same reply 56 times before. I hope SI can look into that.

I absolutely agree with this, although I'm definitely not old enough to know who Dominic O'Brien is. The player conversation log is just another of those features that SI took away 'in the name of rEaLiSm'. I'm still not over them removing the timebar and match reports on FM21. Remember when you could scroll through the report and click on any highlight you wanted to watch it back? While FM is a simulation at its core, I think SI sometimes lose sight of the fact that it's also a game. Removing useful QoL features because they're not realistic is not good news, especially if you're a casual player.

DIVISION 3 TABLE (End of October 2004) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Cambridge Utd 16 7 0 0 18 7 4 2 3 14 16 35 2nd Oxford 16 6 1 1 15 6 5 0 3 22 19 34 3rd Torquay 16 6 1 1 19 9 3 3 2 18 13 31 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th Macclesfield 16 6 2 0 23 11 3 2 3 15 17 31 5th Stockport 16 5 2 1 19 9 3 4 1 18 16 30 6th Dag & Red 16 6 3 0 23 6 2 2 3 10 11 29 7th Shrewsbury 16 6 0 2 19 11 3 1 4 15 17 28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Rushden 16 4 1 3 16 14 5 0 3 16 14 28 9th Scunthorpe 16 4 3 1 17 10 4 0 4 21 12 27 10th Wycombe 16 4 4 0 21 12 2 3 3 13 17 25 11th Brighton 16 4 2 2 11 6 2 3 3 8 8 23 12th Doncaster 16 5 1 2 18 13 1 3 4 13 17 22 13th Mansfield 16 1 3 4 11 20 4 3 1 17 13 21 14th Cheltenham 16 4 2 2 13 12 2 1 5 7 14 21 15th Hartlepool 15 4 2 2 15 11 2 0 5 13 12 20 16th Leyton Orient 16 2 1 5 10 18 3 3 2 11 8 19 17th Exeter 16 4 1 3 12 10 2 0 6 5 14 19 18th Plymouth 16 3 1 4 14 16 3 0 5 12 20 19 19th Colchester 16 3 1 4 15 17 2 2 4 8 14 18 20th Darlington 16 4 1 3 18 9 1 1 6 8 16 17 21st Rotherham 15 1 3 3 13 16 3 2 3 15 18 17 22nd Halifax 16 1 0 7 6 18 2 1 5 10 17 10 23rd Northwich Vics 16 0 3 5 10 19 1 1 6 4 21 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th Oldham 16 0 0 8 10 22 1 1 6 9 22 4 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... Ten days after Manchester United lose their unbeaten record at Aston Villa, Leeds' own run of seven straight Premiership wins is broken by newcomers Gillingham. Leeds midfielder Lee Bowyer is sent off in the 17th minute for using his head to rearrange visiting defender Ben Thatcher's nose. Marlon King then wins the game after heading in a free-kick from yet another Gills hardman - Jamie Redknapp. Leeds endure more heartache in the Champions League, where a shock defeat at Bulgarian champions Litex condemns them to finishing bottom of their group. Barcelona also face an early exit from the competition after another defeat to Porto. In hindsight, starting Mattias Jonson in midfield and subbing him off after 29 minutes was not Carlos Bianchi’s smartest tactical move ever. Serie A leaders Lazio extend their 100% start in dramatic fashion, surviving a Javier Mascherano red card to twice come back from behind and defeat Vicenza 4-3. The architect of their excellent form is once again Juan Sebastián Verón, who has 10 assists in as many matches this season. Stoke striker Robert Earnshaw puts Wales on the brink of a famous World Cup qualifying win over France... until Real Madrid's Robert Pires equalises with a free-kick two minutes from time. Meanwhile, England fans can't contain their excitement after Emile Heskey wraps up a stunning 1-0 win over nine-man Bosnia & Herzegovina. South Africa soar to 2nd in the FIFA World Rankings (behind only Argentina), while Canada break into the top 10. Professor Stephen Hawking says he doesn't have the foggiest idea how the rankings work. IN OTHER NEWS... A team of Ukrainian explorers reach the bottom of the world's deepest cave - the Krubera Cave in Abkhazia. At 2,080 metres, they plumb greater depths than Alan Cork’s Tottenham team. Speaking of massive lows, pop star Ashlee Simpson is accused of lip-synching after a disastrous performance on "Saturday Night Live". Thankfully, her older sister Jessica shows little desire to embarrass the Simpson family name any further. The Boston Red Sox whitewash the St Louis Cardinals to win their first World Series in 86 years, thus breaking the 'Curse of the Bambino'. They hadn't won a Major League Baseball championship since selling the legendary Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920 - two years after their last triumph. Superman is dead. Christopher Reeve - the actor who played the quintessential comic book superhero in four hit movies - passes away aged 52, nine years after being paralysed in a horse-riding accident.

OCTOBER 2004 We might have been flying high at the top of Division 3, but a packed October schedule would push a thin Dagenham & Redbridge squad to its limits. We had seven league matches to get through this month - and it all kicked off with a tricky trip to Oxford, who were three points behind us in 6th place. 2 OCTOBER 2004: Oxford United vs Dagenham & Redbridge Worryingly, Oxford found the net after just seven minutes. I was thankful to see the offside flag save us after Mike Pollitt had failed to save James Newell's header from a premature right-wing cross by Jamie Brooks. Newell would have another chance on the half-hour mark, but he blazed it well over. Otherwise, most of the attacking play in the first half came from us. Unfortunately, it turned out that Oxford's 17-year-old keeper Michael Turner was the next Gordon Banks, saving everything that Julian Alsop and company could fire his way. It was just another of those days where nothing we tried could get past the opposition goalie. The U's caused us more agony in the 60th minute, when Dean Whitehead presented Newell with another scoring opportunity. This time, the pacey 18-year-old volleyed it home, and Turner held firm for the final 30 minutes to secure victory for Oxford. It just shows that Alan Hansen was wrong all along: you can win with kids. Oxford United - 1 (Newell 60) Dagenham & Redbridge - 0 Division 3, Attendance 4,882 - POSITIONS: Oxford 6th, Dag & Red 5th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Bayliss, Anderson, Hawkins; Carter (Clark), Lacey, Weekes (Maher); Melton; Alsop, McDougald (Devine). After tumbling from 1st place to 5th, there was more bad news when we heard more about Shaun Maher's injury. The Irish defender had strained his knee ligaments and was out for around three weeks. Though that was our third away league defeat of the season, we were at least still unbeaten at Victoria Road (the League Cup game against Newcastle notwithstanding). We hoped to continue our impressive home form when 17th-placed Plymouth came to town. 9 OCTOBER 2004: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Plymouth Argyle Junior McDougald was still seething after being shut out at Oxford, so he took his anger out on Plymouth. After just three minutes, Junior ran onto a marvellous chipped ball from strike partner Julian Alsop and volleyed it beyond the reach of the Argyle keeper Tony Warner. Despite creating several more chances in the first half, we could not increase our lead before half-time. The second half, however, was a different matter. Nick Weekes had broken through as our creator-in-chief this season, and his 56th-minute corner produced another assist when it was fired home by centre-half Dave Bayliss. The Pilgrims had done well to survive relatively unscathed up to that point, but now their ship was sinking. McDougald added his second goal on 62 minutes, with Weekes the architect once again. Supersub Sean Devine completed the onslaught eight minutes later, and our fans left Victoria Road celebrating another four-goal victory! Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (McDougald 3,62, Bayliss 56, Devine 70) Plymouth Argyle - 0 Division 3, Attendance 4,512 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 1st, Plymouth 18th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill (Clark), Bayliss, Anderson, Mayo (Hawkins); Carter, Lacey, Weekes; Renner (Devine); Alsop, McDougald. 14 shots, 12 on target, 4 goals. When we're on it, we are ON IT. A week later, we made the long journey to the north-east to take on Hartlepool at Victoria Park. Despite being a quintessential mid-table team who had gone through four managers in as many years, the Pools were not a team to write off lightly. 16 OCTOBER 2004: Hartlepool United vs Dagenham & Redbridge Both teams had opportunities early on, with Dagenham left-back Peter Hawkins and Hartlepool captain Ritchie Humphreys each having their shots saved. That set the tone for a competitive first period, in which both teams threatened to score without ever quite managing it. Perhaps the best effort came five minutes from half-time, when Humphreys' strike partner Joe Osei-Kuffour grazed the bar. Dagenham defender Dave Bayliss looked shaky early in the second half, almost gifting Hartlepool a couple of openings. Sure enough, he would play a key role when the opening goal finally came after 63 minutes. Pools goalkeeper Martin Hollund saved Julian Alsop's close-range header but couldn't keep the loose ball away from Bayliss, who improbably fired us ahead! Sadly, Dave's strike would be cancelled out 15 minutes before the end. Left-back Matt Robinson's cross broke through our defence and found substitute striker Bryan Caldwell, whose powerful header earned Hartlepool a hard-fought equaliser. Junior McDougald then rattled the side netting six minutes later as we unsuccessfully fought to regain our lead. Hartlepool United - 1 (Caldwell 75) Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Bayliss 63) Division 3, Attendance 3,206 - POSITIONS: Hartlepool 12th, Dag & Red 4th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-4-2): Pollitt; Gledhill (Davis), Bayliss, Anderson, Hawkins; Janney, Weekes (Carter), Lacey, Mayo; Alsop, McDougald (Devine). BOOKED: Gledhill, Davis. Once again, a disappointing away result saw us lose top spot and fall out of the automatic promotion places. This battle to get out of Division 3 really was a free-for-all, with just THREE points separating the top nine teams after a dozen matches! The FA Cup Round 1 took place the following afternoon - and much to my relief, we avoided a potential upset against non-league opposition this time. Instead, we would face an almighty tougher test away to Division 2 Huddersfield next month. Meanwhile, we sought a sixth win in seven home league games in midweek. A mediocre Leyton Orient side provided the opposition in this east London derby. 19 OCTOBER 2004: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Leyton Orient Leyton Orient might have failed to score in either of our two meetings last season, but this local showdown was a much trickier affair. After 22 minutes, O's striker Richard May pounced on a mistake by Daggers skipper Damien Lacey and emphatically fired the visitors ahead. May could even have doubled his money just before half-time, but his header from midfielder James Dicks' free-kick was well stopped by Mike Pollitt. Our struggles continued early in the second half, so I switched from the usual 4-3-1-2 to the more direct 4-4-2. Full-backs Sol Davis and Lee Gledhill both came on, with Kerry Mayo and Peter Hawkins both pushed forward onto the wings, while Julian Alsop was replaced up front with Sean Devine. After unsuccessfully attacking Leyton Orient for nearly half an hour, the changes eventually paid off four minutes from the end. Mayo's clever cross played in Devine, who escaped his marker Leam Richardson and fired a shot in off the post to grab us a point! Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Devine 86) Leyton Orient - 1 (May 22) Division 3, Attendance 4,918 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 7th, Leyton Orient 13th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Hawkins, Bayliss, Anderson, Mayo; Carter, Lacey, Weekes (Davis); Melton (Gledhill); Renner, Alsop (Devine). Sean Devine had now scored five goals from substitute appearances. I'd now got the message loud and clear, and Sean made just his second Daggers start in our next away match. 9th-placed Scunthorpe would overtake us and knock us out of the play-off spots with a victory at Glanford Park. 23 OCTOBER 2004: Scunthorpe United vs Dagenham & Redbridge Junior McDougald's renaissance continued after just 11 minutes, when he opened the scoring via a Stephen Melton through-ball. Our lead would last just eight minutes before Scunthorpe midfielder Steve Bushell equalised by heading in Kim Grant's corner delivery. Those two goals were a sign of all the excitement that would soon come. Melton had mixed fortunes later on in the first half. A devastating cross from left-back Kerry Mayo set up Stephen to restore our advantage in the 35th minute... at least until Grant grabbed a second Scunny equaliser five minutes later. Not long after that, Melton suddenly pulled up with a calf strain, which would rule him out for the next fortnight. As Mark Janney came on for the injured Melton, the Iron smelt an opportunity. When the hosts won another corner just before half-time, Grant swung in another killer ball. This time, our defence failed to pick up striker Lee Morris, whose header gave Scunthorpe a 3-2 lead heading into the second period. Brian Laws' side restarted the match strongly as well. By the 58th minute, winger and captain Richard Graham had doubled their advantage to 4-2, skipping past Daggers defenders Dean Clark and John Anderson before blasting home. Incidentally, that was the Northern Irishman's 50th league goal for Scunthorpe. Mind you, Sean Devine was rather clinical himself, having notched over 100 goals in League football. Seven minutes later, the in-form Republic of Ireland B international got his head onto Nick Weekes' cross and grabbed his sixth Dagenham goal - his first as a starter! Suddenly, we were back in the game at only 4-3 behind! With our confidence restored, we took the game to Scunny in the closing stages. With two minutes to go, a promising header from Devine was superbly blocked by Iron defender Lee Collins. Anderson got to the loose ball first and tried a low drive, which beat goalkeeper Kevin Miller and stunned Glanford Park into silence. From two goals down, we had somehow salvaged a 4-4 draw! Scunthorpe United - 4 (Bushell 19, Grant 40, Morris 45, Graham 58) Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (McDougald 11, Melton 35, Devine 65, Anderson 88) Division 3, Attendance 3,454 - POSITIONS: Scunthorpe 9th, Dag & Red 6th DAG & RED LINE-UP (3-5-2 Attacking): Pollitt; Bayliss (Maher), Clark, Anderson; Gledhill (Hawkins), Mayo; Weekes, Lacey; Melton (Janney); Devine, McDougald. BOOKED: Maher. Crikey. Need a bit more time to get your breath back? We were now three points off the top three. That put us under pressure when we hosted Conference champions Northwich, who’d won just one of their first 14 Football League matches - and were only being kept off the bottom by an even worse Oldham side. Victor Renner slotted into the attacking midfield space vacated by Stephen Melton's injury. 26 OCTOBER 2004: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Northwich Victoria Midfield orchestrator Nick Weekes was a thorn in Northwich's side throughout the first half. Nick's 16th-minute shot was parried by Vics goalkeeper Paul Gibson, while his 18th-minute free-kick crashed into the defensive wall. In the 24th minute, though, Weekes made his mark with a chipped delivery that big Julian Alsop nodded home! Our dominance continued either side of the break. Alsop's aerial prowess and Junior McDougald's explosive pace wreaked havoc upon the Northwich backline. Had it not been for the robust tackling of Matthew Barrass and some excellent goalkeeping for Gibson, the final score could have been em-Barrassing for the visitors. As it transpired, though, we would be left red-faced when Northwich launched a rare attack in the 76th minute. Their first shot on target was a peach of a volley from substitute midfielder Marcus Jones, which secured one point for Vics. They could have left with two more in stoppage time, but Ben Buckley's header hit the bar, denying them a shock smash-and-grab win. Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Alsop 24) Northwich Victoria - 1 (Jones 76) Division 3, Attendance 3,756 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 8th, Northwich 23rd DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Bayliss (Maher), Anderson, Hawkins (Mayo); Weekes, Clark, Carter; Renner (Devine); Alsop, McDougald. We had dropped out of the top seven after that match. Frankly, if you dominate one of the weakest teams in the league at home and still cannot win, you don't deserve to be in the play-offs. After four consecutive draws, would our luck finally turn when Exeter came to Victoria Road? The Grecians' last twelve matches had yielded five wins and seven defeats, so another stalemate perhaps looked unlikely. 30 OCTOBER 2004: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Exeter City In a repeat of the Northwich game, we bossed Exeter in the first half, yet somehow had only one goal to show for our efforts. That too came in the 24th minute, but while Julian Alsop had found the target four days earlier, he instead provided the assist for Junior McDougald. That was Junior's fifth goal in 10 games this season - equalling his total haul from 38 matches last term! McDougald was at it again after 62 minutes. After Exeter's Steve Rimmer messed up a defensive interception, our born-again American marksman smashed in his sixth goal of the campaign - drawing him level with both Alsop and Sean Devine. After all the problems we had up front last season, it was a delight to see three of our strikers banging in the goals! What wasn't such a delight was seeing our fourth striker Victor Renner lose his cool in the 80th minute. A slagging match with David Wilson ended in Renner shoving Exeter's experienced defender to the floor - and getting a straight red card for his troubles! The Grecians had been so overwhelmed that they had no real chance of fighting back, but Victor's rush of blood put a damper on an otherwise solid Daggers win. Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (McDougald 24,62) Exeter City - 0 Division 3, Attendance 4,474 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 6th, Exeter 17th DAG & RED LINE-UP (4-3-1-2): Pollitt; Gledhill, Maher, Anderson, Mayo (Hawkins); Weekes, Lacey, Clark (Carter); Renner; Alsop (Devine), McDougald. BOOKED: Clark, Alsop. SENT OFF: Renner. The Daggers were back in business, but Renner was in hot water after his moment of madness. Victor received a one-match ban, as well as a two-week fine (one week for violent conduct, the other for his sending off). He's not exactly been in great form either, so it may be a while before he gets back into the team.