House of Flying Daggers

[CFuller]

7 minutes ago, mark wilson27 said:

The issue with the coding etc will be sorted within the next few days....

Their is a few issues at the moment as expected with a forum move but should be back to normal soon. I'll put a link into the Community thread regarding this

 

Thanks for the heads-up, Mark. I'll still go ahead with reformatting this story - along with Jeux Sans Frontière - myself, as I feel it'll generally make it look easier on the eye.

[CFuller]

SEPTEMBER 2027

Before our home league game against Oldham Athletic, we watched the draw for Round 2 of the Football League Trophy. It didn't exactly bring good news, because we would have to return to Gillingham in October. If we started at Priestfield in the same manner that we did in the league, our Trophy hopes wouldn't survive for much longer.

 

Of course, that match was a month away. A more pressing concern for us was Oldham, who'd now been resident in English football's third tier for an incredible three decades! The Latics had seldom threatened to leave League One via either promotion or relegation since 1997, but with just one win from their opening fixtures, the latter was looking more likely.

 

4 September 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Oldham Athletic

After we wasted a couple of early corners, Oldham registered the game's first shot on target in the sixth minute. Midfielder Matthew Haley's shot didn't exactly fly like a comet, and Louis Newman caught it with ease. We quickly launched a counter-attack, which culminated in Paul Hart's swerver being saved by Latics keeper Stoyan Karaneychev. The Bulgarian made another strong save to push away Mark West's first attempt in the 15th minute. Hart then messed up another banana shot two minutes later.

 

On 24 minutes, Paul floated a promising cross to Mark, who headed it straight into Karaneychev's hands. We wouldn't again threaten to score before half-time, as Oldham had the better opportunities later on. In the 30th minute, Haley exchanged passes with winger Lewis Williams and then tried to bend the ball into the goal from 25 yards out. Newman was caught unawares, but the crossbar was his saviour.

 

Louis was much more focused in the 44th minute, when he tipped over another ambitious long drive, this time from the experienced Patrick Bamford. At half-time, a goalless draw looked to be on the cards.

 

West's woes in front of goal continued after the break. Mark pulled wide a couple of edge-of-the-area efforts in the 48th and 58th minutes, with Karaneychev saving a 30-yard attempt in between. Our skipper's luck changed after 59 minutes, when Oldham defender Alan McGarvey's interception from a Tim Beech header went awry. As the ball headed towards goal, Mark pounced on it and claimed his free gift. With his sixth goal of the season, West had edged us into the lead.

 

Austin Bartlett could've changed the game after 65 minutes, but the Latics substitute fizzed a drive over the crossbar. Another chance came Bartlett's way four minutes later, and Newman got down to tip his shot away.

 

Shortly afterwards, Daggers sub Dean Martin twisted his knee in a tackle from Oldham defender Olly Ghent. Despite that, Dean played on until just before injury time, and he even helped to create another great Dagenham chance on 77 minutes. After Martin's attempted pass to West was knocked on by Frank McConville, Geraint Harding went through the defence and stung Karaneychev's palms with a fierce strike.

 

There was more drama to come in the dying moments of added-on time. With victory all but sealed, we had one last opportunity to double our lead via a Matthew Fraser corner. Matthew found Mark at the near post, and the skipper's point-blank header was tipped away by Karaneychev. William Barnes then performed a stunning bicycle kick to get the ball back to West, who nodded it into the keeper's hands. It had not been Mark's lucky day, as he had nine shots - six of them on target - but only ended up with one goal. Nonetheless, that one goal was enough.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (West 59)

Oldham Athletic - 0

League One, Attendance 5,941 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 3rd, Oldham 21st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Newman, Beech, Charles, Coton, Warren, Fraser, Harding, Roche (Martin (Barnes)), Hart, Ibrahim (Hands), West. BOOKED: West.

 

Dean Martin's twisted knee would rule the youngster out for three weeks. There was better news to come for another midfielder, as Geraint Harding was rewarded for his encouraging start to the campaign with a new contract. Geraint's latest deal will run until the summer of 2030.

 

The following week saw us travel to New Bucks Head - the home of league leaders AFC Telford United. The Shropshire side enjoyed a meteoric rise under their former manager Gerry Taggart, who took them from the Conference Premier to a League One Play-Off Final in 2023 and a Football League Trophy win in 2026. Taggart moved to Stoke City last year, but Tom Taiwo was continuing his magnificent work.

 

11 September 2027: AFC Telford United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Wayne Coton's return to his native Shropshire started worryingly, as he narrowly avoided a booking for a reckless tackle on Nigel Hilton after just ten seconds. Telford couldn't create anything from the resulting free-kick, and striker James Walsh headed their first real chance wide in the 8th minute.

 

Three minutes later, a superb fingertip save from Sam Walker prevented Gavin Dalton from heading us into the lead. The ball fell to Wayne, who was scythed down by Bucks captain Niall Keown. It was a tackle every bit as ugly as Niall's old man Martin, and it resulted in a penalty that Paul Hart easily converted. 1-0 to the Daggers!

 

With Walsh and left-back Jimmy Atherton both off target with woeful shots just before the 20-minute mark, that lead looked a bit more secure than it actually was. A second Dagenham goal would've made life much easier for us, and a promising 22nd-minute counter-attack with Troy Hands' drive being parried by Walker. Patrick Naylor then knocked the ball behind for a corner, which Matthew Fraser curled beautifully towards Dalton. Unfortunately, Gavin's header was nodded off the line by Keown. Although Coton was booked in the 27th minute for tripping Walsh, our slender lead remained intact at half-time.

 

Daryl Ryan didn't have to make a single save during the first hour of his comeback from injury. That all changed in the 63rd minute, when he turned behind Walsh's shot after Jack Dunn had found Telford's Irish striker in acres of space. Coton easily cleared a poor Dunn corner, but the Bucks were only just starting to buck up their ideas. Clark Mitchell exploited a gap in our defence on 65 minutes, prompting Ryan to bail out his defenders with another top save. Daryl also showed coolness when gathering a header from Graham Wedderburn in the 71st minute.

 

Two minutes later, Daggers sub Joel Honeyball burst clear of the Telford defence to pick up Mark West's through-ball. Joel simply had to slot the ball beyond Walker for 2-0, but he fired straight at the 35-year-old.

 

The last quarter-hour was spent almost exclusively sucking up the Bucks' desperate last attempts to claw back a point or three. The hosts' best chance in that time was an 87th-minute half-volley from Dunn, which Ryan palmed away to retain his fourth clean sheet in four starts this season.

 

Daryl's goalkeeping heroics, plus a couple of first-class defensive displays from centre-backs Gavin and Wayne, earned us a well-deserved win. With 2nd-placed Northampton Town failing to beat Bradford City, we took over from AFC Telford as leaders of League One!

 

AFC Telford United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Hart pen11)

League One, Attendance 9,085 - POSITIONS: AFC Telford 2nd, Dag & Red 1st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton, Warren, Roche (Harding), Fraser, Hart, Flood, West, Hands (Honeyball). BOOKED: Coton.

 

If we could follow up that excellent away win with another at Chester three days later, it would let everyone in League One know that we were a force to be reckoned with. Chester won League Two at a canter last season, and Marcus Bignot's men had quickly taken to life in a more competitive division.

 

14 September 2027: Chester vs Dagenham & Redbridge

After just two minutes, our teenage midfielder William Barnes floated an excellent cross to Troy Hands, who nodded it to Paul Hart. Paul struck a left-footed half-volley that Chester goalkeeper Alan Page could only help into his own net, and we seemed to have an early lead.

 

There was just one small problem. Chester defender Tim Haining had tripped over Mark West's leg as the ball was crossing the line, and the referee saw that as reason enough to award a free-kick against West. I was not at all happy that an otherwise perfectly good goal had been disallowed.

 

My mood didn't get any better when Troy Hands blazed a shot over the crossbar in the third minute. Josh Charles went closer with a header from a promising Hart corner in the 18th minute, but Josh's game would soon turn sourer. On 26 minutes, Charles came off worse in a collision with Blues striker Robbie Shenton, bruising his shin. Josh bravely soldiered on until half-time, by which time Chester still hadn't threatened our goal.

 

It was a different story for us on the attacking front. Geraint Harding headed a half-chance into Page's hands on 30 minutes, and we had an even more clear-cut opportunity nine minutes later. A clearance from Tim Beech went straight through a hesitant Chester defence, and Troy raced onto the ball to leave himself one-on-one with Page! A Dagenham goal seemed inevitable... until Hands contrived to pull his shot wide. How costly would that dreadful miss be?

 

Troy's clanger cost him a place in my second-half plans, with Joel Honeyball taking his spot up front. Joel's first contribution was to strike a 25-yarder well off target shortly after the kick-off. Meanwhile, Gavin Dalton came on as a replacement for Charles, whose shin injury would rule him out of our next match. As far as this game went, our defence received its first major test in the 48th minute, when Daryl Ryan pushed away a strong effort from Bickram Cook.

 

After 55 minutes, a flick-on from Honeyball sent West through, and I expected Mark to find the net yet again. As our skipper bore down on goal, Page just about knocked the ball away from his feet before Haining booted it upfield.

 

Our agony would be compounded two minutes later. Chester's left-winger Peter Clark crossed past Beech to try and find Deale Flynn in the six-yard box. Gavin knocked the ball away from Flynn, but Shenton poked in the rebound to leave us trailing 1-0.

 

By that stage, we'd had 11 shots at goal, and only two were on target. Our 12th would be much more successful. In the 65th minute, shortly after coming on, Yasser Ibrahim curled in a right-wing cross that deflected off Haining before being hammered home by Hart!

 

Paul's lucky seventh goal of the season put us back in the game, but fortune continued to elude Mark when he attempted to give us the lead after 68 minutes. The Dagenham team's collective luck ran out after 80. An inspired weighted ball from Flynn found Clark in acres of room, and the former Dagenham loanee's cross was headed home by another. Shenton's second goal of the night brought our five-game winning run to a sudden halt, and we ceded top spot back to AFC Telford United.

 

Chester - 2 (Shenton 57,80)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Hart 65)

League One, Attendance 5,823 - POSITIONS: Chester 5th, Dag & Red 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles (Dalton), Coton, Warren, Hart, Barnes, Harding (Ibrahim), Flood, West, Hands (Honeyball).

 

In those circumstances, that was a pretty disturbing defeat. Troy Hands' big miss late in the first half arguably changed the course of the match, and his inconsistency was a real cause for concern. Any more horror shows like that, and I would have to seriously consider his long-term future at Dagenham & Redbridge.

[CFuller]

SEPTEMBER 2027 (continued)

While we were flying at the upper end of League One, Bradford City seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. The Bantams had won just two league games since dropping out of the Championship. Significantly, though, both of those wins had come away from home, so they had that going for them when they visited Victoria Road.

 

18 September 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Bradford City

The visitors got off to such a bright start that they won five corners inside the first eight minutes. However, the game's first real scoring chance would come through a corner at the other end. Dagenham defender Wayne Coton narrowly headed over a 13th-minute delivery from Matthew Fraser.

 

After 16 minutes, a free-kick from Yasser Ibrahim skimmed the Bradford crossbar. Those near-misses would prove costly, as the Bantams went in front a minute later. Former Belgium right-back Jonathan Kindermans drilled in an excellent cross that was thrashed home by Australian-born Irish international Robbie Cummins.

 

Cummins almost scored for a second time after 22 minutes with a blistering strike from 20 yards out. The ball bounced off the bar, and then the back of Daryl Ryan's left hand before bobbling towards the goal line. Daggers left-back Matt Warren tried to clear the danger before Bradford striker Gareth Hyland could finish it off, but Matt succeeded only in scoring an own goal. We now had to fight back from 2-0 behind.

 

Two minutes later, Jonathan Roche gave us hope with a promising flick-on towards Mark West. Alas, his header evaded both West and Bradford keeper Matty Miller and clipped the post before Gareth Lloyd cleared for the Bantams. Another great Daggers chance went to waste when Yasser fired straight at Miller just before half-time.

 

We returned for the second period intent on repairing the damage we had sustained. On 54 minutes, Geraint Harding unleashed a fierce strike that Miller could only push aside to Ibrahim. Yasser then squared the ball to Mark, whose bullet header was kept out by a much more convincing save from Miller.

 

Bradford then threatened to kill us off from a counter-attack in the 66th minute. Cummins weighted a lovely pass into the penalty area for Hyland, who would surely have made it 3-0 had Daggers sub Daniel O'Reilly not come in with a crucial challenge. Hyland fell awkwardly in the tackle, twisting his knee and ending his game prematurely.

 

In the 68th minute, my other half-time substitute almost got us back into the game. Paul Hart had a crack from distance, and Miller did well to catch our in-form midfielder's strike. Hart was much more lethal six minutes later, blasting home after a smart-thinking West had drawn Bradford's defenders towards him, leaving Paul unmarked.

 

On another day, that goal might have swung things firmly towards us. That wasn't to be the case here, as Bradford shut up shop magnificently and consigned us to our first home league defeat of the season. The Bantams also won a handful of late corners and may well have finished with a more comfortable lead were it not for some excellent defending from Gavin Dalton.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Hart 74)

Bradford City - 2 (Cummins 16, Warren og22)

League One, Attendance 6,022 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Bradford 14th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Plummer, Dalton, Coton, Warren (O'Reilly), Fraser, Harding, Roche (Pert), Honeyball (Hart), Ibrahim, West. BOOKED: Dalton.

 

After two narrow defeats on the trot, I was concerned that our excellent start to the season may have been simply beginner's luck, and that we were now regressing towards the mean.

 

Our next away game would surely give me more of an idea about how our season was going to progress. Although Colchester United were in 21st place, we could not have visited the Weston Homes Community Stadium at a worse time. A United team who picked up one point from their first seven games had now earned 10 in their last four. They'd also just defeated Northampton Town 4-3 away to end the division's last surviving unbeaten record.

 

25 September 2027: Colchester United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

We so nearly got off to the perfect start, with Mark West latching onto a Tim Beech cross into Colchester's area after just 50 seconds. U's goalie David Croft somehow kept West's strike out of the net with a brilliant low save. The hosts' first forays into our half were a bit less threatening. Winger Joel Ashley drove a vicious shot well over in the fifth minute, and left-back Dale Miller didn't fare much better in the 14th.

 

Colchester's early nerves continued midway through the half, with midfielder Louis Billings and striker Grant Ellis both getting booked. They finally started to frighten us in the 34th minute, when George Lawrie's attempt was superbly tipped away by Daryl Ryan.

 

The first half would end disappointingly for two of our midfield men. Paul Hart thumped a shot clean over the bar on 41 minutes, while Matthew Fraser was forced off with a knock just prior to the interval.

 

In the 47th minute, our defence almost paid the price for a shaky start to the second period. Ellis passed through a gap in our backline to find Lawrie, whose shot Ryan blocked with an outstretched leg. Lawrie then slid in to beat Wayne Coton to the rebound, but he couldn't direct the ball towards goal.

 

Colchester's defensive players got panicky when Gareth Flood drilled a left-wing cross into their box on 55 minutes. Miller's interception only knocked the ball towards Troy Hands, who again fluffed his lines from a great position. Croft blocked a weak shot from point-blank range, and Brett Vaughan half-volleyed it clear.

 

Hands wasted another chance in the 60th minute, but four minutes after that, he brilliantly made amends. As a Dagenham counter-attack clicked into gear, Troy controlled a chipped pass from Gareth and then slid it through to Geraint Harding. The pass drifted wide, but Geraint was still able to latch onto it and fire it left-footed past Croft for the opening goal!

 

Most of the remaining 25 minutes were spent trying to make sure that that was the only one. Our defence proved up to the task, with several superb headed clearances from Coton and Matt Warren keeping the hosts at bay. With Colchester unable to register another shot on target, we took home the three points - and the Essex bragging rights!

 

Colchester United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Harding 64)

League One, Attendance 3,212 - POSITIONS: Colchester 22nd, Dag & Red 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton (Busetto), Coton, Warren, Hart (Martin), Fraser (Barnes), Harding, Flood, West, Hands. BOOKED: Dalton, Flood.

 

That was just the tonic we needed!

 

With a little over a quarter of the league campaign already completed, we're looking in fine shape. We're back in the automatic promotion places, our attack looks pretty sharp, and our defence has held up reasonably well. This is such a tight division, though, that a bad run of form in the autumn could send us hurtling down the table, so I'm not getting too excited right now.

[CFuller]

League One Table (End of September 2027)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Chester                12    7     3     2     21    16    +5    24
2.          Dag & Red              12    7     1     4     21    11    +10   22
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          AFC Telford            12    7     1     4     20    11    +9    22
4.          Luton                  12    7     1     4     16    15    +1    22
5.          Northampton            12    5     6     1     14    9     +5    21
6.          Gillingham             12    5     5     2     19    16    +3    20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Oxford                 12    6     2     4     17    14    +3    20
8.          Scunthorpe             12    4     6     2     13    7     +6    18
9.          Charlton               12    5     3     4     18    16    +2    18
10.         Hartlepool             12    4     5     3     23    18    +5    17
11.         Portsmouth             12    4     4     4     11    9     +2    16
12.         Leeds                  12    4     4     4     12    13    -1    16
13.         Walsall                12    4     3     5     18    16    +2    15
14.         Shrewsbury             12    3     6     3     11    9     +2    15
15.         Wrexham                12    3     6     3     13    14    -1    15
16.         Bradford               12    3     5     4     13    16    -3    14
17.         Fleetwood              12    3     5     4     14    18    -4    14
18.         Sheff Wed              12    2     7     3     14    14    0     13
19.         Rotherham              12    3     4     5     12    18    -6    13
20.         Rochdale               12    2     5     5     10    15    -5    11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.         Stockport              12    3     2     7     14    21    -7    11
22.         Colchester             12    3     2     7     20    28    -8    11
23.         Oldham                 12    2     4     6     9     19    -10   10
24.         Brentford              12    0     6     6     4     14    -10   6

[CFuller]

OCTOBER 2027

On the day after my fifth anniversary as Dagenham & Redbridge boss, we faced a Sheffield Wednesday side whose manager Charlie Adam was under pressure following a very disappointing start. This was my first ever visit to Hillsborough - a historic ground that opened way back in 1899, and one that will forever be linked with one tragic April afternoon in 1989.

 

Alex Busetto was unable to join us in Sheffield, as he suffered a chest injury on the eve of the game. The Italian defender would be out of action for three weeks.

 

2 October 2027: Sheffield Wednesday vs Dagenham & Redbridge

A wonderful through-ball from Yasser Ibrahim after two minutes presented Joel Honeyball with a great chance to give us the perfect start. Honeyball only had to beat Angus Gunn, but the Sheffield Wednesday keeper plucked the ball from Joel's feet just as he was about to strike. About half a minute later, Dagenham goalkeeper Daryl Ryan was having to produce a stunning fingertip save from a long-range strike by Biser Varadinov.

 

Daryl's day would soon get worse, as after eight minutes, he palmed a Pirmin Tache cross into the net. That was Tache's fourth goal in his first seven matches for Wednesday, and the Hillsborough faithful were cheerily chanting the Swiss midfielder's name in the stands.

 

The home fans almost had another reason to celebrate in the 18th minute, when attacking midfielder Rasmus Hojlund bore down on goal. Tim Beech did well to tackle the Wigan Athletic loanee, but the ball fell to Neil Briers, whose strike was caught on the line by Ryan! Six minutes later, Honeyball wasted another opportunity for the Daggers, firing over the bar.

 

There then followed a scrappy period of play that saw each side pick up a yellow card before Ryan saved two more Wednesday efforts in the 38th minute - one from Tache, and another from Briers. Four minutes after that, William Barnes - who had been booked earlier on - executed a perfectly-timed tackle on Hojlund in the Daggers 'D'. Will then hit the ball long to Yasser, who dribbled virtually unchallenged to the Owls' penalty area before slipping an equaliser past Gunn! This match was getting really interesting...

 

Daryl's heroics in goal continued two minutes into the second half with a fine save from Tache's edge-of-the-area drive. At the opposite end, our away fans briefly roared to life when West fired Matt Warren's volleyed cross into the net after 49 minutes. Mark was miles offside when Matt delivered his cross, so the goal didn't stand. West did hit the target again on 56 minutes from a Troy Hands centre... and this time, he was allowed to celebrate!

 

That goal put us 2-1 up and made us feel a whole lot better, having lost Wayne Coton to a knee injury three minutes earlier. Josh Charles was now on in Wayne's place, and he was unlucky not to head us into a 3-1 lead after 59 minutes.

 

Our advantage was still a fragile one, so I was thankful that we had reliable Ryan in between the sticks. Daryl showed great awareness in the 69th minute to catch a weighted ball from Tibebu Debebe before Themis Norman could stick it into the net for Sheffield Wednesday. Norman was left frustrated again a minute later, as Daryl pushed Bertie Tomlinson's cross away from the ex-Middlesbrough striker.

 

The Owls continued to get into a flap late on, with Norman and Tache both being carded. As the game ticked into injury time, we appeared to have done enough for a famous victory. That was until Norman played an exquisite long ball to Wednesday left-winger Mariyan Belchev, who had broken free from any Daggers defenders. Ryan was unable to keep out the Bulgarian's volley, and the division's draw specialists had stolen another point. Oh, the agony.

 

Sheffield Wednesday - 2 (Tache 8, Belchev 90)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Ibrahim 42, West 56)

League One, Attendance 15,519 - POSITIONS: Sheff Wed 16th, Dag & Red 4th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton (Charles), Warren, Hart, Barnes (Fraser), Harding, Ibrahim, West, Honeyball (Hands). BOOKED: Barnes.

 

That late Sheffield Wednesday knocked us down two places from 2nd to 4th. As if that wasn't painful enough, the physio confirmed that Wayne Coton had twisted his knee, ruling him out for the next three weeks.

 

We now had two centre-backs out of contention for our next few games, but Alex and Wayne's misfortune gave Harry Gorman an opportunity to make his mark on the senior side. Harry made his first competitive start in our midweek Football League Trophy game at Gillingham. We'd never gone past Round 2 in this competition since our return to the Football League, but could we finally progress to the Quarter Finals?

 

5 October 2027: Gillingham vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Gillingham winger Matteo Cragnotti was denied a goal after just six minutes, when Daggers right-back Dan Plummer chested his header off the line at the far post. Toby Cook was also unlucky not to score for the hosts in the 11th minute. He put a free-kick just over the bar after Matthew Fraser had been booked for fouling Philip Gray. Cragnotti's name also went into the ref's notebook a minute later following his rough challenge on Fraser.

 

Matthew was seeing plenty of action, and in the 25th minute, he registered our first shot on target. Jonathan Flatt tipped the Scottish midfielder's drive behind for a corner that Gillingham managed to deal with.

 

The rest of the first half was very closely fought, with the Gills winning a couple of corners and Plummer twice getting close to scoring his first Dagenham goal. On 45 minutes, another Daggers defender - Josh Charles - almost scored with his header from a Fraser corner. Making a goal-line interception this time was Gills midfielder Gray, who had also been booked earlier on. At half-time, the game was still goalless and there was very little to separate the two teams.

 

Gillingham's first shot after the break was a wild one from striker Regan Stroud in the 54th minute. Dagenham's Dean Martin was much more controlled when he had a couple of attempts in the 59th and 64th minutes, but two Flatt saves kept the deadlock intact.

 

The stalemate would eventually end after 67 minutes. William Barnes was penalised for a trip on Gills captain Ellis Chant, whose free-kick was volleyed in by Stroud.

 

After going behind, I sent on Gianluca Cecere to replace Hands in the hope that the young Italian would make an impact. My decision was vindicated within five minutes, as Luca received Ollie Pert's pass into the area and drilled it in off the upright! Cecere had scored his second Daggers goal in his second competitive match, and we were level at 1-1!

 

However, we had to be careful not to concede too many free-kicks, because the Gills fancied themselves to score from another set-piece. They delivered a warning in the 77th minute, when Plummer's barge on Cragnotti allowed Chant to swing another free-kick into our area. Chant found former Arsenal and England left-back James Rose, whose header bounced off the crossbar!

 

With about three minutes to go, Chant got one last chance to create a Gillingham winner after Harry Gorman pushed Stroud. Although he was about 45 yards from goal, Chant went straight for the target with a powerful punt. It appeared to be heading safely into Dagenham goalkeeper Louis Newman's hands... until Newman lost his grip, leaving Simon Spelman with the easiest of tap-ins! Gillingham had knocked us out of the Football League Trophy for the second year in a row, and this was an especially gutting way to exit the competition.

 

Gillingham - 2 (Stroud 67, Spelman 88)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Cecere 72)

Football League Trophy South Round 2, Attendance 1,603

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Newman, Charles, Dalton, Gorman, Plummer, Warren, Fraser (Harding), Barnes, Martin, Pert, Hands (Cecere). BOOKED: Fraser, Plummer.

 

You can't legislate for individual mistakes.

 

I was very sympathetic towards my outfield players in the dressing room at full-time. They'd done as much as I'd asked for before kick-off, and I wasn't too concerned that we'd gone out of a minor competition such as the Football League Trophy. What I was unhappy about was the circumstance in which we lost the game.

 

While the other players were showering off, I hauled Louis Newman outside the ground and onto the coach, where I told him, "This was all your fault. All you had to do was keep your cool, and then we'd be going to penalties, but you didn't. You f***ed up big time, and now you'll have to live with the consequences. You'll be playing with the reserves for the rest of this month."

 

Louis wasn't exactly delighted, but this wasn't his first off-day at Gillingham. On our last visit to Priestfield, he only lasted 13 minutes before I hauled him off with the score already 3-0 to the Gills. Newman wouldn't be getting anywhere near the first-team again until he had proven himself with the reserves.

[CFuller]

OCTOBER 2027 (continued)

It was back to Victoria Road for our next league match - a battle against 3rd-placed Northampton Town. The Cobblers made a strong start to the campaign, but then went on a shaky run of five draws in six games before beating Oxford United 3-0 in their most recent match.

 

9 October 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Northampton Town

Paul Hart failed to impress with a dismal opening salvo for Dagenham after 15 seconds, while Richard Williams was no more accurate for Northampton in the 4th minute. Indeed, both teams struggled to retain possession during a poor opening quarter-hour. Yasser Ibrahim capped off those first 15 minutes with a horrible miss from outside Northampton's six-yard box after latching onto a poor clearance from Cobblers defender Mark Goodacre.

 

Yasser frustrated me again in the 22nd minute, as he dribbled inside from the left flank before pulling an awful 20-yarder wide. The mercurial Egyptian got another chance after 28 minutes, when visiting midfielder Angel Mitric struggled to clear away a cross from Tim Beech. The ball dipped towards Ibrahim, who flicked a weak header into goalkeeper Ryan Chillingworth's hands.

 

A minute later, Gavin Dalton nodded Matthew Fraser's corner on to Mark West, who would surely have scored but for a vital block by Williams. We won another corner, and although Northampton defender Dino Cully hacked that one clear, we were evidently looking the better side.

 

West attempted to score a cheeky header with his back to goal in the 40th minute, and he came within inches of doing just that. Mark would finally get lucky just as first-half regulation time was about to expire. After receiving the ball from Jonathan Roche, the Dagenham skipper turned past Cully and slotted in the goal that broke the deadlock!

 

Northampton's reaction in the second half was rather worrying. On 54 minutes, striker Liam Rankin laid the ball off to England Under-19s starlet Nathaniel Yiadom, and the West Ham United loanee curled it just over the bar. Williams tried to rifle in a shot in the 62nd minute, only to see it drift wide.

 

Four minutes later, Dagenham left-back Matt Warren sustained a dead leg in a tackle on Cobblers winger Sol Mackey. Warren had to come off, so Harry Gorman made his league debut from the bench and Dalton shifted over to the left flank. Those changes left our defence looking rather less solid, and that was no more evident than in the 70th minute.

 

Williams' attempted long ball to Northampton substitute Felix Tetteh was intercepted by Dalton, who nodded it back towards Daryl Ryan. Much to Gavin's horror, his former Cobblers team-mate Rankin burst through the defence to reach the ball first and fire it past Daryl!

 

The match was now Northampton's for the taking, and on 76 minutes, Rankin flicked a Williams corner to Oscar Brown in the six-yard box. Fortunately, Beech was in just the right place to nod Brown's header off the line. The pendulum swung back our way three minutes later, as West restored our advantage from a deflected Roche cross!

 

A team from Northampton's calibre wouldn't be dispatched that easily, mind, and the visitors created one last chance to save themselves late on. With barely three minutes left, a mistimed jump from Gorman allowed Maison Taylor's long ball to find Rankin in space. Rankin raced clear and attempted to drill a low shot beyond Ryan... but Daryl got just enough of his fingers to the ball to see the attack off! The next few minutes were very anxious ones, but the final whistle confirmed that we were back to winning ways - and back in the top two!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (West 45,79)

Northampton Town - 1 (Rankin 70)

League One, Attendance 6,028 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Northampton 4th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles, Dalton, Warren (Gorman), Fraser, Hands, Roche, Hart, Ibrahim (Honeyball), West.

 

Geraint Harding had a good excuse for missing that match. 24 hours earlier, he won his first senior cap for Wales against Bosnia & Herzegovina in Sarajevo. Wales lost 2-0, but they'd already qualified for UEFA Euro 2028 - their first major tournament for 70 years - and so Geraint returned home very happy.

 

Harding was back in the Daggers squad when we hosted Hartlepool United. The Pools were in 10th place but had just lost a six-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

 

16 October 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Hartlepool United

The match was barely half a minute old when Bram Pemberton struck a vicious shot for Hartlepool. Daryl Ryan was forced into a difficult save, and his left-back Daniel O'Reilly knocked the ball behind for a Pools corner. Jake Kirby curled the corner to the near post, where Courtney Wade jumped above O'Reilly to head in an early opener for the visitors.

 

Hartlepool could've had another goal in the 9th minute, but Pemberton couldn't keep his angled shot low or on target. We struck back a minute later, as Mark West controlled a deep Tim Beech cross and fired a thunderbolt past goalkeeper Remi Matthews! That was Mark's 10th goal of the campaign, and incredibly, it was also the first time this season that we had scored within the first 10 minutes of a match!

 

West had a couple of opportunities to score again during the next 10 minutes, but Matthews saved both efforts. Apart from a 23rd-minute free-kick by Kirby, which Ryan fumbled behind, we had most of the attacks in the first half. All too often, however, those attacks broke down as we conceded needless fouls. One example of that took place in the 29th minute.

 

After Matthews had produced a stunning save to push away Josh Charles' header, Jonathan Roche brought down Pools right-back Declan McMullan as both men chased the loose ball. Roche's punishment came in the form of the game's first yellow card. After a scrappy period, the half ended with both sides having long-distance punts at goal. Wade drove a 43rd-minute effort straight at Ryan, while West's 30-yard attempt a minute later didn't cause Matthews too much bother.

 

Dean Martin came on as a half-time substitute for the Daggers, and he was very unlucky to hit the post from Paul Hart's cross four minutes into the second period. Another attempted cross by Hart a minute later was volleyed clear by Hartlepool defender Willie McAllister.

 

Criminally, we only had two outfielders back in our half - and neither of them were anywhere near Wade when he picked up the loose ball. With as much time and space at his disposal as Doctor Who, Wade went head-to-head with Ryan, turned past the keeper, and scored one of the easiest goals of his career. Quite frankly, I would have been embarrassed if my old school team had conceded a goal like that!

 

Hands attempted to get us back on terms after 52 minutes, but Matthews did brilliantly to stop his crashing half-volley. Things didn't get much better for Troy, who was booked two minutes later for obstructing Pools midfielder Aaron Bulley. Another couple of minutes after that, the crossbar denied Wade what would've been a hat-trick goal from Kirby's left-wing delivery.

 

The woodwork was Yasser Ibrahim's enemy on 60 minutes, as he pulled an equalising chance against the post. As more Dagenham shots went to pot, the pressure on us increased, as did the foul count. Indeed, Geraint Harding became the third Dagger to be booked just five minutes after replacing Hands.

 

Martin then missed the target twice in the 85th minute before Wade put the game beyond our reach in the 89th. His third goal of the afternoon sealed a 3-1 home defeat, which ended with a booking for our very frustrated skipper West.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (West 10)

Hartlepool United - 3 (Wade 2,50,89)

League One, Attendance 5,942 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Hartlepool 7th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles, Dalton, O'Reilly (Gorman), Barnes, Hands (Harding), Roche (Martin), Hart, Ibrahim, West. BOOKED: Roche, Hands, Harding, West.

 

After that shocking display, I demanded a significant improvement in our next match - away to mid-table Oxford United, whose manager Steve King had now been in charge for 12 years. King was without a number of key players due to injury, most notably Reis Collins, who was League One's top scorer last season with 29 goals.

 

19 October 2027: Oxford United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Mark West's match started with a wayward pass back to Tim Beech in the second minute that was intercepted by Oxford winger Themis Saunders. The on-loan Blackburn Rovers youngster then sprayed the ball out right to his captain Jack McBean. The American's first shot came back to him off Josh Charles, and the follow-up volley drifted wide.

 

We didn't get our first real pop at goal until the 18th minute, when West went close from the edge of the area. Three minutes later, Mark knocked Matthew Fraser's direct ball on to Troy Hands. Troy moved into a channel, entered the area, and drove an incisive finish past Oxford goalkeeper Mel Hinton.

 

The U's reacted to going behind by winning a corner off Beech in the 25th minute. Matthew's clearance from the Saunders corner only went as far as Ryan Lynch, and we were fortunate that the ex-Blackpool winger couldn't strike the ball accurately enough. Our lead came under much greater threat when Geraint Harding clattered into McBean just outside our penalty box after 29 minutes. Austin O'Sullivan sent the free-kick goalwards, and Daryl Ryan acrobatically tipped it over.

 

Oxford failed to make the resulting corner count, and for that, they would be punished in the 36th minute. West drove the ball over the United defence for Hands to latch onto, and unlike in several other one-on-one confrontations earlier this season, Troy did not baulk against Hinton.

 

A 2-0 away lead became 3-0 when our star strikers swapped roles in the 42nd minute. Mark powered past centre-back Andrew Burnett to connect with Troy's weighted pass and drill it beyond Hinton's reach. Hopeless Hinton was only in goal because Oxford's regular number 1 had broken his leg the previous week. By half-time, he was in need of much more than good luck!

 

Oxford desperately needed to score early in the second half to have any hope of getting back into the game. The chances of that happening were greatly reduced in the 54th minute, when McBean picked up a game-ending injury after being fouled by Gavin Dalton. We easily dealt with the resulting free-kick, and by the hour mark, we would be leading 4-0! West scored his second goal in a similar fashion to his first, as he beat Burnett to Hands' through-ball and swerved a deadly strike past Hinton.

 

Burnett was getting sick of seeing West, so he must have been relieved when I decided to give Mark a well-earned rest after 65 minutes. At that point, West had just earned us a free-kick after being fouled by Welsh international Burnett, who was booked for his trouble. Wales' newest senior cap would take full advantage of the set-piece, as Harding finished from Fraser's free-kick for an improbable 5-0 Dagenham lead!

 

The marmalisation of Oxford United continued after 70 minutes. Mark's replacement Ollie Pert stroked forward a weighted pass that Troy awkwardly but successfully knocked through the legs of Hinton!

 

It wasn't the prettiest way for Hands to wrap up his hat-trick, but his FOURTH goal in the 74th minute was much more convincing. The Lancastrian's virtuoso display continued when he drove Jonathan Roche's first-time cross home for our SEVENTH goal without reply! A team whose famous supporters include comedian Timmy Mallett were getting hammered, and their defence looked as exposed as a young woman in an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini!

 

Oxford became even more of a laughing stock in the 88th minute, as Hands found the net for a fifth time after scoring from a Fraser free-kick that had rebounded off the bar. It wouldn't quite be a five-star display for Troy, though, as the referee's assistant had flagged him offside. Regardless, Dagenham & Redbridge had still recorded the joint-biggest win in their history, matching the seven-goal margin of their 8-1 victory against Woking back in 1994. Furthermore, we returned to 2nd place in the table!

 

Oxford United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 7 (Hands 21,36,70,74, West 42,60, Harding 65)

League One, Attendance 6,308 - POSITIONS: Oxford 13th, Dag & Red 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Charles, Warren (Hopkins), Martin (Roche), Fraser, Harding, Flood, West (Pert), Hands.

 

Well... I certainly didn't expect that! Oxford United weren't an average team by any means - they finished 5th and reached the Play-Offs last season - so to beat them so comprehensively showed just how far we had come in a short space of time.

 

Mind you, I wasn't going to let my players get too cocky. Our next match at Griffin Park against Brentford had the potential to knock us back down to terra firma. Although the Bees were bottom of League One with just nine goals and nine points, their most recent match at Charlton Athletic had finally brought them their first win of the season.

[CFuller]

OCTOBER 2027 (continued)

23 October 2027: Brentford vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Less than 90 seconds into the match, Matthew Fraser hit a long ball ahead of Gareth Flood into the Brentford area. Flood sensed a great chance to give us an early opener, but he could only put his header over the crossbar. Geraint Harding needlessly gave away a corner after three minutes, but Josh Charles easily cut out the delivery from Bees winger Shane Barnett.

 

Those first few minutes set the tone for an absolutely dire first period that had few scoring chances and many fouls conceded at both ends. There were boos from both sets of supporters at half-time, and rightly so.

 

Troy Hands saw very little of the ball in the first half, and things didn't get better for the striker after the break. Troy's 49th-minute header from Gareth's cross lacked any of the precision that he possessed at the Kassam Stadium. A minute later, some good teamwork between Brentford forwards Craig Hodgkiss and Craig Mulligan ended with the latter firing inches wide.

 

The game badly needed livening up, and that's what happened when Mark West's header forced Bees goalkeeper Gary Ewart to concede a corner after 52 minutes. Fraser floated it into the box, and Gavin Dalton leapt above a crowd of red-and-white-striped shirts to head home the overdue opener!

 

Brentford's first attempt to pull level was a weak effort from Hodgkiss in the 63rd minute, which Daryl Ryan comfortably saved. Up front, our strikers continued to toil. Yasser Ibrahim was now up front instead of Hands, but the Egyptian's only shot at goal was blocked by Tony Johnston in the 74th minute.

 

West had tested Ewart from just outside the area in the 72nd minute, but there would be no goals for him either. Our skipper was already on a yellow card from earlier in the half, and with his no-holds-barred tackling, there were times when I feared Mark would get himself sent off.

 

Mark managed to keep his discipline, which was more than could be said of Brentford midfielder Juan Pablo Byrne. The young Jamaican received a second yellow card for pushing William Barnes in the 89th minute, and his dismissal ended any fleeting hopes that the hosts had of taking anything from this game.

 

Brentford - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Dalton 52)

League One, Attendance 5,173 - POSITIONS: Brentford 24th, Dag & Red 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Charles, Warren, Hart (Roche), Fraser (Barnes), Harding, Flood, West, Hands (Ibrahim). BOOKED: West.

 

That wasn't quite the vintage display we produced at Oxford United, but at least it got us the three points.

 

We confronted another relegation-threatened side in our next game, with Stockport County paying us a visit. Stockport were facing the biggest threat to their League One status since returning to the third tier in 2022.

 

26 October 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Stockport County

Troy Hands and Mark West were both off target with their first shots, but it wouldn't be long before we opened the scoring. We were less than six minutes into the game, in fact, when West hammered in a loose ball after Hands had been tackled by Stockport defender Gary Harris.

 

The Hatters were struck down by another thunderbolt two minutes later. Paul Hart made a very welcome return to form, as the Liverpudlian attacking midfielder blasted home our second goal following a clever one-two with Troy!

 

Stockport did well not to cave in after that, with Michael Edwards' block stopping Tim Beech from putting us 3-0 ahead after 11 minutes. Goalkeeper Mitchell Beeney made a strong save five minutes later to keep out a promising strike from Hands.

 

The visitors made their first excursion into our area after 23 minutes, when Stuart Ferguson's free-kick was headed against the woodwork by defender Malcolm MacKenzie. Normal service resumed shortly afterwards, with Beeney having to make two more excellent saves from Hart in the 25th and 32nd minutes. He also caught a fierce effort from Matthew Fraser four minutes before the end of a one-sided first half.

 

Although we led 2-0, there was still work to do in the second half, so we quickly went looking for another goal. An opportunity arose when Hands robbed MacKenzie off the ball after 51 minutes and played in Hart. Beeney spilled Paul's first shot, but he made light work of a much weaker follow-up. The goalkeeper then rolled the ball out left to on-loan Manchester United centre-back Anton Eckersley. The 18-year-old took far too long on the ball and was eventually outmuscled by West. Mark started off another Daggers attack, and he finished it a few moments later with a well-placed low drive into the corner!

 

With the Hatters' defence in such disarray, Beeney was all that stood between us and a rout. His excellent 54th-minute save from another Hart effort controlled the bleeding, but there would be no way back into the game for his Stockport team-mates. With a pass completion rate of 87% for Dagenham, it would've taken a really strong team to take the ball off us and turn things around.

 

After a low-key half-hour of play, we put the seal on a resounding 4-0 victory in the 83rd minute. Left wing-back Daniel O'Reilly capped off arguably his best performance in a Daggers jersey with an excellent long ball over the defence to Joel Honeyball, who broke free and struck the final blow. Like Fleetwood Town and Oxford United before them, Stockport County had felt the full force of a Dagenham & Redbridge hurricane!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (West 6,51, Hart 8, Honeyball 83)

Stockport County - 0

League One, Attendance 5,996 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Stockport 22nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Charles, Dalton, Coton, Beech, O'Reilly, Harding, Fraser (Barnes), Hart, West (Pert), Hands (Ibrahim). BOOKED: Hands.

 

That was Stephen Stirling's last match in charge of Stockport, as he was swiftly handed his P45. While the hapless Hatters had lost patience with their manager, one of my players was about to lose patience with me.

 

A couple of days after that win, Louis Newman asked to speak with me in my office. He wanted to know why he hadn't been in the first-team squad since his costly mistake in the Football League Trophy game against Gillingham. When I told him that he hadn't played well enough to justify a place on the bench, let alone between the posts, Louis blew his top, yelling, "I came here to be part of the first-team, not play for the f***ing reserves!"

 

I suggested to Newman that he should grow up and get on with his job, but that only agitated him further. "I came here in good faith," he replied. "I came here for the opportunities that I weren't getting at Charlton. If that's not gonna happen here, then I'd be better off going somewhere else."

 

Louis then left my office abruptly, returning about an hour later with a formal written transfer request, which I accepted. As I wasn't going to let one miserable c**t ruin the harmony of a tightly-knit squad, I also told him that he'd be going out on loan until a permanent buyer could be found.

 

There was no competitive action for us over the weekend, so I set about finding Newman a new club as quickly as possible. Burton Albion were happy to not only take Louis on board for three months, but also pay 20% of his wages, and so our backup goalkeeper joined Tommy Scott on loan at the Pirelli Stadium. That brought a sad end to what had otherwise been a pretty good month.

[CFuller]

NOVEMBER 2027

The League One campaign was in full swing, and I was already having to reconsider my expectations. Against the odds, we were still battling away at the upper end of the table, which looked a very pleasant sight from a Dagenham perspective:

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Chester                18    11    4     3     32    21    +11   37
2.          Dag & Red              18    11    2     5     38    17    +21   35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Luton                  18    11    1     6     22    18    +4    34
4.          Northampton            18    9     6     3     26    16    +10   33
5.          Gillingham             18    9     5     4     32    22    +10   32
6.          Hartlepool             18    7     7     4     35    27    +8    28
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Wrexham                18    7     7     4     25    19    +6    28
8.          Charlton               18    8     4     6     27    25    +2    28

 

The bottom four were so far away from us that we could almost forget about battling just to stay in the division. If we could sustain our current form over the course of the season, there was no reason why we could not finish in the top six in our first year up. The prospect of back-to-back promotions wasn't off the table, either.

 

In order to take our promotion challenge all the way, we really needed Mark West to keep on scoring. Mark was named League One Player of the Month for October after scoring eight goals in just six matches, and his first strike against Oxford United also saw him earn the Goal of the Month award. With 14 goals to his name already, West was now leading the division's Golden Boot race.

 

Our captain hoped to continue his rich vein of form when we played Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park. If we won, and leaders Chester didn't do likewise at Rotherham United, we would go back to the top of League One. However, we were without the services of vice-skipper Tim Beech, who was sidelined with a strained wrist.

 

3 November 2027: Scunthorpe United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

We made a confident start, registering several shots at goal early on. In the 5th minute, Paul Hart tried to beat Kenny Acott directly from a 30-yard free-kick, but the Iron goalkeeper was having none of that. Acott also saved a 12th-minute Mark West header in between two less impressive attempts from our skipper.

 

Scunthorpe's first strong sniff at goal came after 26 minutes, when midfielder Robin Gould sent a free-kick just off target. On 37 minutes, Daggers keeper Daryl Ryan turned another Gould effort behind his goal. Daryll Westhead then swung in a corner for Scunthorpe, which Martin Crowder headed over the top.

 

Acott was forced into another save by Joel Honeyball in the 41st minute, but I could tell that we were not operating on full power. That was confirmed in the last minute of normal time, when Scunny striker Tommy Ellis played a slide-rule pass that winger Richard McGlynn hammered first-time into the net.

 

Daryl did well to stop Gould from bagging a second Iron goal in added-on time. That said, we still had plenty of work to do after the interval if we were to draw level and keep our good run going.

 

Scunthorpe were edging a close match, but the last thing they wanted was to lose their captain early in the second half. That was exactly what happened after 53 minutes, when midfielder Steve Anderson flew in on Matt Warren. Scunny's 21-year-old skipper was already on a booking from the first half, so there was no surprise when the referee brought out his yellow card again, followed by the red.

 

Having an extra man inspired us to really take the game to the hosts. By the 60th minute, we had equalised. West's hot streak continued with an impeccable finish from half-time substitute Yasser Ibrahim's pass into the middle of the penalty area.

 

Iron boss Grant Murray reacted by making a surprising substitution, with Ellis coming off to be replaced by right-back Tim Weatherstone. His gamble almost paid off when Weatherstone floated a cross to Crowder in the 70th minute, but Crowder's header was from too far out to seriously threaten the goal.

 

Another of Scunny's subs - Australian midfielder Jim Yates - made a significant impact in the 79th minute. Hart felt the full force of Yates' sliding tackle, picking up a knock. Although Paul wasn't too badly hurt, I took my star playmaker off to avoid taking any undue risks. Two minutes later, a miscued pass from Acott well outside his penalty area presented us with a golden opportunity to snatch a win. Troy Hands made the interception and played the ball forward to West, who fired it towards a gaping goal! The ball ricocheted off the near post and then the other upright, somehow staying in play before Iron defender Darius Burgess cleared!

 

Daggers fans were wondering if we'd blown our big chance to win. The answer was no. After 87 minutes, Matthew Fraser fed the ball back into Scunthorpe's area, where Mark finally gave us the lead with another powerful finish!

 

We couldn't quite celebrate victory yet, as we had to survive a 90th-minute penalty claim and an injury-time Crowder header, which Ryan caught, before the final whistle blew. When news filtered through that Chester had been thumped 5-0 at Rotherham United, we were confirmed as League One leaders again!

 

Scunthorpe United - 1 (McGlynn 45)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (West 60,87)

League One, Attendance 6,197 - POSITIONS: Scunthorpe 14th, Dag & Red 1st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Charles, Dalton, Coton, Warren, Roche, Fraser, Hart (Martin), Flood (Ibrahim), West, Honeyball (Hands).

 

After returning to the League One summit, we took on another Lincolnshire side in Round 1 of the FA Cup. We had been drawn at home to Conference Premier strugglers Lincoln City, who'd recently appointed Rowan Vine as their new manager.

 

There was a new face on the Dagenham bench, as 18-year-old former West Ham United goalkeeper Tony Rattle had just arrived on a free transfer. The East End boy would serve as the new backup to Daryl Ryan, who was one of the few experienced stars in an otherwise youthful Daggers XI that started against Lincoln.

 

6 November 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Lincoln City

The match began with a host of Dagenham chances, but only one of our first five shots at goal was on target. That was skipper Gavin Dalton's 8th-minute header from a Mitchell Paratusic corner, and Lincoln goalkeeper Alan Pell came forward to easily claim the ball.

 

Pell was next tested in the 14th minute by a fierce half-volley from Ollie Pert. Pell pushed that away, but he was unable to deny our other striker a goal from an incisive breakaway move two minutes later. Ollie provided an excellent pass for Gianluca Cecere, who drove in our opening goal.

 

Lincoln boss Rowan Vine was fuming on the touchline, claiming that his skipper David Davidson had been unfairly tackled by Dalton on the edge of our penalty area before the counter-attack began. Davidson was still writhing in pain on the ground by the time Cecere scored, and that prompted Vine to accuse us of bad sportsmanship.

 

In the 28th minute, our defender Alex Busetto pulled up with a painful cramp in his right leg while running back to our area from an unsuccessful attacking corner. The Imps tried to continue play with a counter-attack of their own, and Dan Plummer had to knock the ball out so that his defensive colleague could receive treatment.

 

As Alex limped out of action, I called out to Vine, "Hey, pot! Don't go calling us kettles black again! You got that?" Rowan shook his head in revulsion, and I was doing the same when Yasser Ibrahim made a complete hash of a great Daggers chance in the 30th minute. We didn't get close to scoring again before half-time, but neither did Lincoln, and so we remained narrowly in the lead.

 

Another Daggers counter almost resulted in a second Cecere goal after 47 minutes, but the Italian striker was unlucky to put his half-volley over. Cecere did find the net again two minutes later after Paratusic's cross had been met by a far from convincing interception by Imps centre-back Alex Calvert. However, Yasser had pushed Calvert's team-mate Kyle Osbourne into the goal just before Luca's shot found the net, so our lead was still only 1-0.

 

Ibrahim apologised to Cecere after the incident, and he made amends with an excellent corner in the 53rd minute. Dalton headed Yasser's delivery home, and so we were 2-0 up after all!

 

Pert now wanted to get his name on the scoresheet, but a wayward effort a minute after the restart was about as good as it got for Ollie. This was very much Cecere's afternoon, as he proved with a close-range finish from an Ibrahim centre on 64 minutes. His second strike put us 3-0 ahead and firmly on course for Round 2.

 

Yasser tried to follow up his two assists with a goal in the 75th minute, but his free-kick unfortunately hit the bar. A fourth Dagenham goal would have made things even more embarrassing for a sub-par Lincoln side who failed to register a shot on target in the second half. A narrow miss in the 78th minute from Tom McInnes - not to be confused with the Luton Town striker of the same name - was the closest they came to salvaging something from the wreckage of their FA Cup campaign.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Cecere 16,64, Dalton 53)

Lincoln City - 0

FA Cup Round 1, Attendance 5,815

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Plummer, Dalton, Busetto (Gorman), O'Reilly, Paratusic (Parkinson), Barnes (Harding), Martin, Ibrahim, Pert, Cecere.

 

That comfortable victory had brought mixed fortunes for our two Italian stallions. Alex Busetto had to come off with a dead leg after less than half an hour, though that was thankfully all that was.

 

Gianluca Cecere had fared much better, with his brace getting him the man of the match award. Luca had now scored four goals in his first three senior appearances for the Daggers, and a few days earlier, he'd bagged a hat-trick in the reserves' Essex Senior Cup win over Halstead Town. If he continued that free-scoring form, it surely wouldn't be long before I threw him into league action for the first time.

 

Victory against Lincoln brought us nearly £20,000 in prize money, which together with our half of the £150,000 gate receipts gave a welcome boost to our finances off the pitch. But who would we facing on the pitch in Round 2?

 

This time, we didn't have much luck in the draw, as we were pitted against League Two high-flyers Kidderminster Harriers away from home. We may have knocked Kiddy out of the FA Cup in Round 1 last season, but I knew that our next meeting at Aggborough on 4 December would represent a potential banana skin.

 

International call-ups meant that we now had a fortnight to prepare for our next league game. After another run of five wins on the trot, would the break disrupt the momentum we had built up?

[CFuller]

NOVEMBER 2027 (continued)

The mid-November break in domestic action didn't mean a week off for several Daggers who were out on international duty. Geraint Harding and Gareth Flood each added to their solitary senior caps for Wales and the Republic of Ireland respectively. There were also further Under-21s caps for Scotsman Matthew Fraser, Irishman Daniel O'Reilly, and Cypriot Sotiris Giangoudakis.

 

Sotiris had recently returned from a very unhappy three-month stint at Dulwich Hamlet that saw him fail to score in 17 competitive matches. With such a poor record, I was wondering why I even bothered giving Giangoudakis a two-year professional contract in the summer.

 

Back in Dagenham, both of our homegrown first-team players were struck down by injuries in the same Friday morning training session. Joel Honeyball damaged his heel after landing from a jump awkwardly, ruling him out for around a fortnight, but that was nothing compared to what Dean Martin suffered. Dean broke his toe in a robust challenge and would unfortunately be absent from first-team action until late January at best.

 

Martin's injury left my attacking midfield options limited to Paul Hart, so I pondered bringing in temporary cover before the loan deadline passed. I couldn't find any good options, sadly, and I also failed in my attempts to loan in an experienced centre-back and a left-winger. I did, however, manage to sign an attacking midfielder from the free transfer market.

 

22-year-old Victor Dam had been without a club since his three-year stay at Newcastle United ended in the summer without him playing in any league games. The former Denmark Under-19s international was a skilful advanced playmaker with bags of stamina and a high work rate, so Victor would surely fit right in at Victoria Road.

 

Also signing terms on the same day as Dam was teenage left-back Daniel O'Reilly, who extended his stay with us until 2030. Daniel's recent displays have given me hope that he might be on the cusp of a major breakthrough.

 

17 days after our comeback win at Scunthorpe United, we returned to league action at Spotland against an underperforming Rochdale side. We were still top of League One, even though all of our promotion rivals had played at least once in the past fortnight.

 

20 November 2027: Rochdale vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Rochdale immediately set about hassling our attackers, and Troy Hands suffered in particular after just 22 seconds. Hands was concussed in a clash of heads with Dale captain Max Power and couldn't continue. William Barnes came on from the bench to replace the stricken Troy.

 

We then faced a barrage of home attacks. Stefan Bastable put a long-range effort wide in the third minute, and his strike partner Richard Simmonds headed over a clear opportunity from Paul Gadsby's right-wing cross two minutes later. Power thundered a piledriver over the bar in the 20th minute and pulled a similar effort wide in the 22nd.

 

With Rochdale so far in the ascendancy, it was only a matter of time before they scored. On 24 minutes, Dale midfielder Aaron Thompson intercepted a poor Barnes clearance and headed it long to Simmonds, whose weighted ball was tidily converted by Bastable.

 

Rochdale led 1-0, and while our midfielder Matthew Fraser was receiving treatment on a knock in the 27th minute, they threatened to move further in front. Power put plenty of force into another drive, and like with his previous two attempts, he was unable to find the target.

 

The Dale couldn't keep hassling us forever, and after 33 minutes, we finally managed to threaten their goal. We actually did more than that, as Gianluca Cecere's red-hot form continued with a poacher's finish in his first league game of the season!

 

There would be more joy to come for the Daggers in injury time, when Power conceded a free-kick - and a yellow card - for tripping Fraser. Having set up Cecere's goal, Paul Hart weaved his magic again with a fabulous set-piece that was headed home by Josh Charles! At half-time, we were 2-1 to the good!

 

In truth, the second half was not quite as energetic as the first. Rochdale looked particularly laboured in the opening 20 minutes, and their tiredness provided us with ample time to build our attacks up. That said, the Dale defence proved a tough nut to crack, and we were restricted to one Mark West header in the 51st minute that our captain couldn't get on target.

 

A quarter of an hour later, in the 66th minute, Rochdale rediscovered their mojo. Substitute midfielder Josh Todd found Bastable just outside our area, and Bastable then knocked forward a through-ball that attacking midfielder Ally MacKenzie met with a quality finish. Our lead was gone, and for the first time in weeks, we were looking rather unconfident.

 

Despite making two assists in the first half, Hart's shooting badly let himself down in the 73rd minute. The next seven minutes saw Rochdale goalkeeper Fabian Spiess make his only two saves of the entire match - the first from a weak Charles header, and the second from a West half-volley. Not even a late cameo from our new Danish signing Victor Dam could inspire us to a late victory. In the end, we would have to be content with a point against a team who finished bottom of the Championship last season.

 

Rochdale - 2 (Bastable 24, MacKenzie 66)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Cecere 33, Charles 45)

League One, Attendance 3,362 - POSITIONS: Rochdale 18th, Dag & Red 1st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Charles, Dalton, Coton, Beech, Warren, Hands (Barnes), Fraser (O'Reilly), Hart (Dam), West, Cecere. BOOKED: Cecere.

 

The five-game winning streak may have been over, but at least we were still clinging onto top spot... just. Had Jack Dunn not scored a 90th-minute equaliser for AFC Telford United away to Luton Town, the Hatters would have overtaken us in the standings.

 

Troy Hands' very early concussion at Rochdale meant that he would miss our next home game against Shrewsbury Town. The Shrews were in mid-table, and they weren't prolific scorers, although they did have a robust defence.

 

24 November 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Shrewsbury Town

Encouragingly, we won two corners inside the first six minutes. Less positively, a poor pass from Paul Hart in the 9th minute started a Shrewsbury attack that ended with winger Colin Lennon firing the ball narrowly over.

 

A minute later, our young striker Gianluca Cecere nodded wide from what looked to be a promising cross by Jonathan Roche. It would be a rather frustrating first half for our attacking players, as the Shrews' centre-backs Jordan Bangura and Jordan McGhee kept intercepting our crosses and long balls.

 

The visiting defence restricted us to one shot on target after 25 minutes. That was when Paul Hart floated in a free-kick to Cecere, whose shot was parried by goalkeeper Euan Duncan. Shrewsbury were even less threatening, so it was hard to imagine either team breaking the deadlock.

 

On 51 minutes, Shrews winger Terry Leeson fired a free-kick straight into Daryl Ryan's hands. Daryl quickly conceded possession again with a long punt that was intercepted by Ian Cross. The left-back hoofed the ball up the flank to Lennon, who pulled it into the side netting. West won us a corner in the 66th minute, when his strike was pushed away by Duncan and knocked behind by Cross. Matthew Fraser's set-piece went long to Wayne Coton, who nodded wide what was arguably our best opportunity to score.

 

Gianluca's run of scoring in his first four competitive games for the Daggers ended soon after, with Victor Dam coming on to replace him for the closing moments. Victor's cameo was a disappointing one, and he was booked in the 79th minute for a clumsy foul on Louis Morgan.

 

Ex-Fleetwood Town striker Jay Watson had wasted a decent opening for Shrewsbury nine minutes before then, and the visitors would finish without a single shot on goal. Unsurprisingly, there would be no goals at either end in this turgid 'spectacle'.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Shrewsbury Town - 0

League One, Attendance 6,020 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 1st, Shrewsbury 13th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles, Coton, Warren (O'Reilly), Roche, Fraser, Hart, Ibrahim (Flood), West, Cecere (Dam). BOOKED: Dam.

 

Although we'd drawn for the second game in a row, 2nd-placed Luton Town once again failed to capitalise. This time, they conceded a 50-yard winner in the 92nd minute against Oldham Athletic, thus missing out on a point that would've drawn them level with us.

 

As 2027 enters its final month, we are about to begin a critical phase in the season. With six league matches plus an FA Cup Round 2 tie scheduled to take place between now and the New Year, I will soon find out whether we've got what it takes to push for another promotion.

[CFuller]

League One Table (End of November 2027)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Dag & Red              21    12    4     5     42    20    +22   40
2.          Luton                  22    12    3     7     26    21    +5    39
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Leeds                  22    10    8     4     27    18    +9    38
4.          Gillingham             22    10    7     5     36    26    +10   37
5.          Portsmouth             22    11    4     7     28    22    +6    37
6.          Chester                22    11    4     7     35    34    +1    37
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Northampton            21    10    6     5     30    22    +8    36
8.          AFC Telford            22    10    5     7     30    19    +11   35
9.          Charlton               22    10    5     7     35    34    +1    35
10.         Fleetwood              22    8     7     7     33    30    +3    31
11.         Oxford                 22    9     4     9     29    32    -3    31
12.         Hartlepool             22    7     9     6     39    34    +5    30
13.         Shrewsbury             21    7     9     5     19    16    +3    30
14.         Wrexham                21    7     8     6     27    23    +4    29
15.         Rotherham              21    8     5     8     30    27    +3    29
16.         Scunthorpe             22    7     8     7     24    22    +2    29
17.         Colchester             22    8     3     11    37    42    -5    27
18.         Rochdale               22    6     8     8     27    29    -2    26
19.         Sheff Wed              22    4     10    8     22    31    -9    22
20.         Walsall                22    5     5     12    33    41    -8    20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.         Oldham                 22    4     8     10    17    32    -15   20
22.         Bradford               22    4     7     11    22    37    -15   19
23.         Stockport              21    4     6     11    26    44    -18   18
24.         Brentford              22    2     7     13    12    30    -18   13

[Crackers786]

wow could be back to back promotion. Just caught up with the story. really enjoying mate

[CFuller]

On 8/5/2016 at 22:21, Crackers786 said:

wow could be back to back promotion. Just caught up with the story. really enjoying mate

Great to hear from you again - and yes, it's very possible that we could win back-to-back promotions! To be honest, I've been waiting for us to drop off, but that just hasn't happened... yet.

[CFuller]

DECEMBER 2027

I don't normally read the Football365 website, but there was an article on it the other day that really caught my eye. Newcastle United, who were battling relegation again despite reaching the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, had just sacked Chris Powell and were looking for their sixth manager in less than four years. According to said article, one of the possible candidates for the Magpies job was a certain Christopher Fuller.

 

Of course, that was absolute pugwash. Newcastle never made a formal approach for me, and I wouldn't have taken the job anyway, not even for an old Welsh friend of mine who lives up there. It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that Newcastle could be in the same division as Dagenham & Redbridge next season, so there's not much point in me jumping ship.

 

Former Magpies left-back Matt Warren was also remaining at Dagenham for the foreseeable future, having signed a new contract that would run until the end of next season. At the same time, winger Jonathan Roche agreed to extend his stay with us until 2030.

 

We kicked off December with our FA Cup Round 2 clash at Kidderminster Harriers. The Harriers were in the thick of another League Two promotion dogfight, and I gave these potential upset-makers the utmost respect with my team selection.

 

4 December 2027: Kidderminster Harriers vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Although I fielded a strong starting line-up, we just couldn't get close to breaking through a well-organised Kidderminster defence in the first 20 minutes. Indeed, after 21 minutes, it was the Harriers who opened the scoring. Gavin Dalton didn't exactly have his finest hour when he got a weak first touch to Kiddy winger Rory Smith's cross, and his error resulted in Stuart Gould scoring at the near post.

 

We made up the arrears just five minutes later. Matthew Fraser's 35-yard ball picked out Joel Honeyball, who was just able to shin it into the net before Harriers goalkeeper Darren Conneely could snatch it from his feet. Those two goals were the only real highlights of an attritional first half that ended with a couple of wasted corners from the hosts.

 

Mark West found an opening in Kidderminster's backline in the first minute of the second half. The captain played in Geraint Harding, who pulled a low shot off target. Bryn Morris' 53rd-minute piledriver for the Harriers also failed to separate the two sides. On 61 minutes, the score did change to 2-1... in Dagenham & Redbridge's favour! Honeyball latched onto West's through-ball and hammered it past Conneely, who once again paid the price for charging off his line!

 

It now looked likely that the upset would not materialise, especially as Kidderminster's shooting seemed to lack incisiveness. Gould snatched at a decent chance after 68 minutes, while Mitchell Warden went extremely close to scoring from a free-kick after 75.

 

With eight minutes remaining, we looked to apply the fatal bow. A missed interception from Harriers defender Curtis Newton saw Daryl Ryan's goal kick land at the feet of captain West, who now just had to beat Conneely. However, Mark went for style over substance, and his vicious strike ballooned over the bar.

 

West's miss was particularly costly, because Kiddy substitute Bernard Mulvaney volleyed his skipper Warden's cross into the net less than a minute later. Kidderminster were level at 2-2, and we needed to score again quickly to avoid a replay - or even an early exit from the FA Cup.

 

On 88 minutes, I brought on Troy Hands for the tiring Mark West. A minute after his introduction, Troy flicked a long Daryl goal kick on to Joel. Honeyball burst through the centre of the Harriers defence... and his third shot on goal was as clinical as his first two! Joel's first senior hat-trick had sent us into Round 3 of the FA Cup for the second season in a row!

 

Kidderminster Harriers - 2 (Gould 21, Mulvaney 83)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Honeyball 26,61,89)

FA Cup Round 2, Attendance 6,024

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton (Charles), Coton, Warren, Hart (Roche), Fraser, Harding, Flood, West (Hands), Honeyball.

 

With another £30,000 of prize money in the bank, we looked forward to the Round 3 draw in the following afternoon. I was hoping either for another lucrative away day against a big Premier League team, or a home tie against lower-league opposition that would have given us a real chance of reaching Round 4.

 

What we got wasn't quite what I had wished for, as we were drawn away to Championship mid-tablers Swansea City. The Swans only narrowly beat us back in pre-season, but that game was at Victoria Road, not the Liberty Stadium. Still, as draws go, I suppose it could've been worse.

 

As far as the league was concerned, our next match was a first-ever competitive meeting between us and Leeds United. I won't lie, it felt somewhat surreal when little old Dagenham & Redbridge arrived at Elland Road - the home of English football's archetypal fallen giants.

 

Leeds had been crowned English champions three times in their history, but they hadn't graced the top flight for nearly a quarter of a century. Last season, they suffered just their second ever relegation to the third tier. After a shaky start to life back in League One, United began to find form in late September and were now undefeated in 11 league matches.

 

8 December 2027: Leeds United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Luton Town had knocked us off top spot 24 hours before this game, and Leeds would also jump above us and into the automatic promotion places if they won it. We didn't start too badly, with Joel Honeyball putting a shot over the bar after five minutes and Josh Charles heading wide after eight.

 

A minute after Josh's miss, Marcus Appleton almost fired Leeds in front with a scorching volley that went narrowly over. Young United prospect Rory Warburton miscued a half-volley at goal in the 13th minute, but the hosts were starting to get up to speed.

 

On 16 minutes, left-back Dennis Katsoulakis intercepted a Tim Beech throw-in and punted it forward to Warburton. The striker burst through and was only denied a goal by a fine save from Daryl Ryan, but he did help Leeds to find the net a few moments later.

 

A poor clearance from Ryan was nodded back towards Warburton by James Thewlis, and Daryl was soon forced into another save. Unfortunately, his parry sent the ball straight into the path of Leeds' star striker Ian Neary, who thundered it home. Fortunately, the assistant referee had already flagged Warburton offside, so the game remained goalless... until the 27th minute. Republic of Ireland international Neary had scored 105 league goals since joining Leeds in 2023, and an emphatic strike from Thewlis' assist provided him with his 106th.

 

United calmly controlled the game thereafter and protected their one-goal lead until two minutes from half-time, when they looked to extend it. Neary picked out Warburton with a wonderful weighted lob into the box, and we were fortunate that Warburton could only send his volley into the side netting.

 

Leeds' near-total dominance continued in the second half. On 47 minutes, Neary smashed forward a shot that Ryan held onto surprisingly well. Daryl made a more difficult save seven minutes later to keep out an effort from Whites defender Josh O'Donoghue. We launched a rare attack in the 59th minute, but Geraint Harding shot far too early to seriously test goalkeeper Jonathan Hudson.

 

Any realistic hopes we had of getting back into the game were quashed after 69 minutes, when Paul Hart fell over a tackle from Appleton. Paul had felt a twinge in his hamstring, so he was taken off for further assessment.

 

Taking Hart's place was Jonathan Roche, who in the 81st minute rolled a lovely through-ball ahead of Joel Honeyball. Alas, the Joel who had been so clinical against Kidderminster Harriers had left his shooting boots in Worcestershire. A woeful strike was the last of our four shots at goal, none of which were on target.

 

Our attacking fortunes were in stark contrast to those of United, who wrapped up a 2-0 win six minutes from the end. Bradley Nicholas' centre across our six-yard box was tucked away by Alex Kiwomya - the nephew of ex-Arsenal striker Chris - and we were consigned to our first defeat in nine matches.

 

Leeds United - 2 (Neary 27, Kiwomya 84)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

League One, Attendance 16,996 - POSITIONS: Leeds 2nd, Dag & Red 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles, Dalton, Warren, Hart (Roche), Fraser (Barnes), Harding, Flood (Ibrahim), West, Honeyball.

 

There was no way I was going to lay into my team after that loss. After all, we were playing away to arguably the strongest team in the division. Although we'd had a fantastic first half to the season, at the end of the day, we were still some distance behind Leeds United in terms of quality.

 

Sadly, we would now be without one of our very best players - Paul Hart - for about four weeks with a pulled hamstring. Paul's absence gave Victor Dam his first real opportunity to show the attacking midfield skills that encouraged me to sign him a few weeks earlier. I really hoped that the young Dane wouldn't let me down.

[CFuller]

DECEMBER 2027 (continued)

The first of back-to-back home games against mid-table teams marked the midway point of our league season. Rotherham United had won on their last visit to Victoria Road in the League Cup, but we had beaten them away from home in League One before then, so this was a tough game to predict.

 

11 December 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Rotherham United

Rotherham were put under pressure straight away, and we were leading 1-0 after just two minutes. Yasser Ibrahim's left-wing cross from the byline was turned in by Mark West, leaving the Victoria Road faithful ecstatic! Rotherham were anything but, as they unsuccessfully argued that Mark may have handled the ball into the net as opposed to headed it in.

 

The Millers launched a quick response from the restart, with Brad Webster racing past Wayne Coton to latch onto Charlie MacGregor's long ball and go through on goal. However, Webster could not keep his cool against Daryl Ryan, as he scooped his shot over the top. Webster gave Ryan a much greater test in the 6th minute with a free-kick that Daryl managed to hold onto.

 

On 18 minutes, a clever side-footed pass from West gave Victor Dam the opportunity to put us 2-0 up with his first Dagenham goal. Alistair Webb blocked Victor's low shot, but the Dane's time would come.

 

Before then was a stressful period of play in which the Millers had several chances to equalise. Among them were a deflected shot by Graham Kane in the 22nd minute, and a 25th-minute header by Webster. Daryl saved both of those, and then watched Kane smash a drive over the bar in the 31st minute, before we put some daylight between us and the visitors.

 

The 34th minute was a memorable one for Dam, who converted a West through-ball to break his Daggers duck and move us two goals clear. That situation remained unchanged at half-time, although Rotherham had a penalty claim waved away late on in the first period.

 

Rotherham manager Daniel Philliskirk's half-time team talk seemed to rub off quickly. A minute after play resumed, an excellent Millers move ended with Alan Shaw's weighted ball through the Daggers defence being slotted home by striker Reiss Woodley. Our lead had been cut down to 2-1, and our confidence had been badly shaken.

 

Although Yasser tested Webb with a free-kick in the 51st minute, Rotherham were now the team who had most control over proceedings. Shaw completely bamboozled our defence on 56 minutes with a wicked volley that bent beautifully for Woodley to get ahead of Gavin Dalton and fire home! My despair swiftly turned to relief when the offside flag went up, but the call looked very marginal to me.

 

Nevertheless, the prospect of blowing a two-goal cushion was rattling our players. Gavin put a disappointing header wide of the Millers goal after 63 minutes, while Mark completely botched up a long-range strike soon afterwards. We did eventually capitulate in the 67th minute, with Chris Dawson drawing Rotherham level after Matthew Fraser failed to keep tabs on the 33-year-old former Wales midfielder.

 

It would soon be time for me to make a big decision on what to do next - a decision that would surely either save the game or lose it. When the time came, I chose to replace inside-forward Ibrahim with teenage right-winger Mitchell Paratusic, whilst also moving Joel Honeyball over to the left flank. The aim was to stretch the game out wide and perhaps get some more aerial balls into the Millers' box for West to latch onto.

 

It was a plan that quickly came unstuck when Rotherham went on the break in the 78th minute. The move ended with left-winger Russell Lyons crossing into our box, and Webster leaping above Wayne Coton to flick it into the net.

 

It'd been a long time since we last went from leading a game 2-0 to losing it, and we did not cope well at all after the collapse. A long-distance attempt from West in the 80th minute, which bent miles wide, would be our last chance to save anything from the wreckage. When the full-time whistle blew, with Rotherham having come from nowhere to win 3-2, I was absolutely livid.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (West 2, Dam 34)

Rotherham United - 3 (Woodley 47, Dawson 67, Webster 78)

League One, Attendance 6,034 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Rotherham 9th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech (Charles), Dalton, Coton, Warren, Barnes, Fraser (Harding), Honeyball, Dam, Ibrahim (Paratusic), West. BOOKED: Beech.

 

"HOW THE HELL could you let that happen?! And don't say Rotherham wanted it more! There are no excuses for throwing away a 2-0 lead at half-time, and definitely not when you're playing AT HOME! You all should be completely ashamed of yourselves!"

 

My full-time team talk was borne as much out of frustration as anger. A victory would've taken us back to 1st place, but we now found ourselves three points adrift of new leaders Portsmouth.

                                                                                                                                                                 

Three days later, we had a chance to redeem ourselves and retake our place at the top of League One. To do that, we would have to defeat an inconsistent Wrexham team that sat in 13th place prior to kick-off.

 

15 December 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Wrexham

It was a tale of two free-kicks in the scrappy opening 15 minutes. After 10 minutes, Dagenham midfielder Matthew Fraser floated a set-piece into the stands. A minute later, Wrexham midfielder Jonathan Ferrell was felled by Troy Hands on the edge of our penalty area. Scottish winger Gordon McPhee stepped up to take the Dragons' free-kick, which he curled around our defensive wall and into the top-right corner of the goal. Victoria Road quickly quietened as the prospect of back-to-back home defeats grew.

 

Troy tried to make amends in the 17th minute with a promising shot that Wrexham goalkeeper Grant Smith could only parry. Ollie Pert, making his first league start for the Daggers, almost got to the rebound, but visiting defender Ryan Inniss intervened just in time. Hands then misdirected a piledriver on 24 minutes before Joel Honeyball also missed the target. We were unable to find a way through a solid Wrexham defence before half-time, when I decided to sacrifice both Troy and Ollie.

 

The introductions of Victor Dam and Mark West for the second half didn't improve our fortunes. Joel made an encouraging run towards goal in the 51st minute, but Smith pushed away what was in the end a simple shot.

 

Our next great chance came about after 66 minutes, thanks to a rare defensive error from Wrexham. Right-back Karl Elliott's weak interception from Daniel O'Reilly's flick-on bounced into the box and gave Honeyball a clear opportunity from close range. Joel could have simply delicately stroked the ball past Smith, but he went for a diving header that passed the post.

 

More frustration was to come, with Dam and substitute right-back Dan Plummer both picking up knocks that thankfully didn't turn into anything more serious. Victor shrugged his injury off and, in the 89th minute, he went for a pop at goal from 25 yards. Smith comfortably plucked it from the air, and a miserable stop-start affair that saw 30 fouls ended with us on the losing side.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Wrexham - 1 (McPhee 12)

League One, Attendance 5,941 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Wrexham 9th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Charles, Dalton, Coton, Beech (Plummer), O'Reilly, Harding, Fraser, Hands (Dam), Pert (West), Honeyball. BOOKED: Beech.

 

The Fuller hairdryer came back out for the second time in five days, as I vented my fury over another pathetic performance at home. Losing two home games in quick succession is not good for your health, nor is it particularly kind to your team's promotion prospects.

 

At the start of November, I began to think that we could build a significant gap between us and 7th place. Since then, that gap had been whittled down from seven points to just two.

 

We had now gone five league matches without a victory. This was the mid-season slump I had been anticipating.

[CFuller]

DECEMBER 2027 (continued)

We held an emergency team meeting after the Wrexham defeat. Squad morale was not as high as it had been, and I could tell that the lads needed some cheering up.

 

Recent results had not been great by any means, and I was very critical of my players following our last two matches, but perhaps I was expecting too much from them. Defying all the pre-season predictions that had us down as relegation battlers, we had found ourselves amongst the leading pack, and to be honest, I was starting to get caught up in the promotion hype. A pre-Christmas slump was perhaps the reality check I needed.

 

At the team meeting, I apologised to the players for my being overly harsh with recent team-talks, and reassured them that they were still performing above expectations. However, I added that everyone at the club had to pull together if we wanted to make what had already been a good season an even greater one.

 

Our final match before Christmas was against Fleetwood Town at their fairly new Fleetwood Stadium, which opened last year. It would be fair to say that the Cod Army had had an up-and-down season since we walloped them 5-0 on the opening weekend.

 

18 December 2027: Fleetwood Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

This was a pretty close tussle to begin with. After three minutes, Mark West played an excellent ball to Troy Hands, who was only denied the opening goal by a superb save from the onrushing Fleetwood keeper Jon Wigley. The Cod Army then won a trio of corners before West thundered wide another decent Daggers opportunity on nine minutes. Six minutes later, Wigley beat away another effort from Hands.

 

Our attack was causing Fleetwood some problems, but after 29 minutes, the hosts looked to hit us on the break. Striker Kris Bell withstood a strong sliding tackle from Gavin Dalton before entering the penalty area, where he had a shot parried by Daryl Ryan. Our right-back Tim Beech reached the loose ball first and tried to pass it back to Ryan, only to see Bell come in with an interception! Bell then tried to slide the ball through Daryl's legs and into the net. Fortunately, he was in too tight an angle to prevent the ball from whistling wide.

 

Swedish winger Niclas Ekberg also had a good chance for Fleetwood a minute later, but he fired it straight at Ryan. As half-time loomed, it looked almost certain that the teams would go into the second half still locked at 0-0. That was until injury time, when Mark jumped above Wigley and Fleetwood defender Daniel Bradley to flick Troy's cross into the goal! What a time to take the lead!

 

The second period did not make for pleasant viewing, as both teams conceded too many fouls for anyone to build up any momentum. Fleetwood were marginally the dirtier side, although Dagenham midfielder William Barnes picked up what would be the game's only yellow card for a 53rd-minute foul on Augustine Agu.

 

Neither side threatened to alter the scoreline until the 69th minute, when Town forward Alvin Shekoni intercepted a long throw from Beech. Shekoni cut inside from the left to get the Cod Army fired up, but his bending effort drifted inches wide of the target.

 

Fleetwood's lack of discipline meant they would not get particularly close again. A really promising counter-attack on 89 minutes ended when Garry Johnston's through-ball was brilliantly knocked away from Agu's feet by Daggers left-back Matt Warren. Wigley had produced an excellent save two minutes earlier to stop Joel Honeyball from giving us a 2-0 lead, though I was still content with a single-goal victory.

 

Fleetwood Town - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (West 45)

League One, Attendance 10,826 - POSITIONS: Fleetwood 12th, Dag & Red 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton, Warren, Parkinson (Roche), Barnes (Fraser), Harding, Flood, West, Hands (Honeyball). BOOKED: Barnes.

 

A much-needed first win since early November sent us into the season of good cheer with at least some of that. We were back up to 3rd place, and four points ahead of Gillingham in 7th.

 

Following his winner against Fleetwood, I handed captain Mark West an early Christmas present - a new 18-month contract worth £2,700 per week. It was just reward for a campaign that had already seen Mark score 18 goals in 25 league matches, with potentially more to come. Even though he was now 30 years old, the prolific target man was definitely not on the decline.

 

Mark and the other players were given Christmas Day off before returning to work on Boxing Day, when we faced Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Greg Abbott's Pompey side had slipped from 1st to 4th after losing their last home game against lowly Sheffield Wednesday.

 

26 December 2027: Portsmouth vs Dagenham & Redbridge

After seven minutes, our tenacious poacher Troy Hands stole the ball from Portsmouth centre-back Christian Cotton's feet in a dangerous position. Troy only had to drill his shot past goalkeeper Owain Pugh for the opening goal... but he incredibly sent it the wrong side of the post!

 

Hands' afternoon got worse in the 12th minute, when he was booked after being accused of tripping Pompey midfielder John Woods from behind. Another of the hosts' middlemen, Danny Craggs, was hurt in a 19th-minute challenge from William Barnes and had to come off briefly for treatment. Two minutes later, Pompey captain Stevie Finnie's cross into the Dagenham box was nodded wide by Niall Thornton.

 

Daggers winger Gareth Flood headed towards the Portsmouth goal when he connected with Jonathan Roche's delivery on 28 minutes, but Pugh's fingertips kept the scoreline at 0-0. That situation had changed by the 34th minute. Gustaf Kjall's left-wing cross took a deflection off Daggers defender Josh Charles' chest and fell to Thornton, who despite being in a very tight angle still managed to beat Daryl Ryan at his near post.

 

We narrowly avoided conceding another goal when Finnie smashed a free-kick against the bar after 39 minutes. Pugh parried a low strike from Ollie Pert three minutes later, and we remained 1-0 behind at the interval.

 

Hands' horror show continued when he met Geraint Harding's free-kick with an awful header in the 47th minute. Three minutes after that, Portsmouth right-back Eoin Watt exchanged passes with midfielder Nicky Thomas and curled a 25-yarder at goal. Daryl held onto it, but Pompey were now very much in control.

 

On 64 minutes, Watt's interception from a Tim Beech cross kicked off a devastating breakaway from the home side. Captain Finnie, who had been booked four minutes earlier for pushing Harding, completed the move with a well-timed finish from Thornton's centre.

 

We now trailed 2-0, but we had a good opportunity to halve that deficit two minutes later. Cotton was once again robbed of possession deep in Portsmouth's half, with Barnes taking the ball and floating it into the box from the right. Gareth climbed above Watt to nod Will's cross goalward, but Pugh saved with ease. Another Pompey counter followed, with Ryan having to catch a header from Kjall.

 

Portsmouth would soon have their third goal, which was produced by an excellent Finnie corner in the 70th minute. Saido Berahino flicked it from Daryl's left-hand post to the right, where Pompey defender Stuart Duncan applied the finish.

 

We retreated even further after going 3-0 down, only having one more opportunity to remove that 'nil' and give the scoreline a sense of respectability. Mark West couldn't get anywhere near the target in the 84th minute, making me wonder why I'd sent my captain on when the game had already been lost.

 

The margin of our defeat became greater still with four minutes to go. Berahino turned past Wayne Coton and then turned back the clock, as the veteran striker powered in Portsmouth's fourth goal.

 

There was very nearly a fifth goal in the 90th minute, but Craggs' piledriver fizzed just over. To be honest, I wouldn't have complained had Craggs scored. Our defending at Fratton Park had been truly dreadful, and we deserved to lose heavily.

 

Portsmouth - 4 (Thornton 34, Finnie 64, Duncan 70, Berahino 86)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

League One, Attendance 11,319 - POSITIONS: Portsmouth 2nd, Dag & Red 5th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles (Coton), Dalton, Warren (O'Reilly), Roche, Barnes, Harding, Flood, Pert (West), Hands. BOOKED: Hands.

 

My biggest defeat as Dagenham & Redbridge manager left us desperately clinging onto a play-off place. If we lost our next game against 6th-placed Gillingham two days later, there was every chance that we would exit the top six for the first time since mid-August. The Gills had already beaten us twice this season at Priestfield, and they were gunning for a hat-trick at Victoria Road.

 

28 December 2027: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Gillingham

Gillingham's Toby Cook missed the target twice in the first three minutes of what was set to be an enthralling contest. In the fourth, Dagenham captain Mark West hit a 20-yarder that Gills keeper Jonathan Flatt was just able to push away. Victor Dam came even closer to giving us the lead after seven minutes, when his low drive clipped the upright. Either side of Victor's narrow miss were two strong saves by Daryl Ryan to deny Cook.

 

The shooting at both ends got worse later on as rain began to pour down on the pitch. The next shot on target came in the 23rd minute, when West forced Flatt into a comfortable save. Mark's chance on that occasion was set up by 16-year-old Mitchell Paratusic, who struggled with a knock as time went on and conditions worsened. Gillingham upped their game towards the end of the half, although wingers Simon Spelman and Matteo Cragnotti were both off target just before and after the 30-minute mark respectively.

 

West had a magnificent chance for us from close range in the 34th minute, but Flatt turned the big man's effort behind. The resulting corner from Matthew Fraser found West, whose header bounced off the crossbar! Three minutes later, Paratusic's low centre into the Gillingham caused some panic amongst the Gills defenders. Dam won the scramble for the ball, but Flatt came to his team's rescue once again with a vital stop.

 

Following Gillingham's narrow escapes, we had one of our own, with Daryl narrowly managing to get his fingers to a Simon Pumfrey strike in the 40th minute. It had been quite some half of football, and the most incredible thing about it was that there hadn't been any goals!

 

The open nature of the first half continued in the second. On 49 minutes, Spelman whipped a Gills corner to the near post, where centre-back Hassan Fleming rose for a header that struck the bar and went over! The deadlock was finally broken three minutes later - and it took an impressive goal to break it! Young Daggers right-back Dan Plummer's cross was nodded on by Geraint Harding to Dam, who hammered in an unstoppable half-volley!

 

The Gills had been badly shaken, and their substitute striker Eddie Hughes dragged a nervous effort wide shortly after the restart. Worse could have followed for the visitors in the 57th minute. Yasser Ibrahim chipped the ball over their defence to pick out Mark, who unfortunately found the side netting with his strike.

 

Moments later, Pumfrey found Spelman in plenty of space inside our penalty area. Thankfully, Spelman's first-time shot swerved past the post. We survived another missed chance from Gillingham midfielder Craig Murray in the 61st minute before going on the attack again a minute later. Substitute Paul Parkinson played the ball ahead of West, who struck the outside of the post. That was the third time we'd hit the woodwork in this match!

 

Our misfortune seemed to have an effect on our psyche, as Gillingham grew stronger in the final 20 minutes. Hughes tested Ryan with a crafty strike in the 74th minute, although his next attempt eight minutes later was rather less accurate.

 

On 85 minutes, Gills defender Gary Wylie's corner was met by an unconvincing interception from Harding. Spelman latched onto the ball and entered the area before unleashing a fierce strike. The Daggers fans held their collective breaths as the ball flew towards goal... and went over. The Gills carried on attacking right until the last few moments, but the likes of Plummer and Wayne Coton brilliantly held our defence together, and we held on for the three points!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Dam 52)

Gillingham - 0

League One, Attendance 5,709 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Gillingham 7th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Plummer, Busetto, Coton, Warren, Fraser, Harding, Paratusic (Parkinson), Dam, Ibrahim (Cecere), West (Honeyball). BOOKED: Ibrahim.

 

It had been a pretty horrible end to the year, with four defeats in six league matches. The two victories against Fleetwood Town and Gillingham had given me some hope that we could stay in the promotion race, but we badly needed some more quality in this team.

[CFuller]

League One Table (End of December 2027)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Leeds                  27    13    9     5     41    23    +18   48
2.          Luton                  27    15    3     9     35    29    +6    48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Portsmouth             27    14    5     8     38    26    +12   47
4.          Chester                27    14    5     8     42    38    +4    47
5.          Dag & Red              27    14    4     9     46    30    +16   46
6.          Wrexham                27    12    9     6     43    28    +15   45
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Gillingham             27    11    9     7     43    33    +10   42
8.          AFC Telford            27    12    6     9     38    28    +10   42
9.          Charlton               27    12    6     9     46    43    +3    42
10.         Northampton            27    11    8     8     38    32    +6    41
11.         Rotherham              27    11    6     10    40    37    +3    39
12.         Oxford                 27    11    5     11    38    45    -7    38
13.         Scunthorpe             27    9     10    8     30    27    +3    37
14.         Colchester             27    10    6     11    48    50    -2    36
15.         Fleetwood              27    9     7     11    40    37    +3    34
16.         Shrewsbury             27    7     13    7     24    26    -2    34
17.         Rochdale               27    8     9     10    33    38    -5    33
18.         Sheff Wed              27    7     10    10    28    37    -9    31
19.         Hartlepool             27    7     9     11    45    51    -6    30
20.         Oldham                 27    6     11    10    24    36    -12   29
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.         Stockport              27    7     8     12    38    54    -16   29
22.         Walsall                27    6     7     14    38    47    -9    25
23.         Bradford               27    4     10    13    27    45    -18   22
24.         Brentford              27    2     9     16    13    36    -23   15

[CFuller]

JANUARY 2028

This New Year began with an exciting weekend of FA Cup Round 3 reaction. Dagenham & Redbridge had competed at that stage of the competition five times in the last two decades, and they had fallen at that hurdle five times. The last time they had won in Round 3 was against Plymouth Argyle in 2003, when Danny Shipp and Junior McDougald were the goalscoring heroes for the then non-league Daggers.

 

A quarter of a century on, we looked to write another memorable chapter in our FA Cup history. A visit to Swansea City, placed 13th in the Championship, may have daunted other lower-league sides, but not us. We gave the Swans a real fright in pre-season, and now that the pressure was really on City to perform, we truly believed that a 'cupset' was on the cards.

 

1 January 2028: Swansea City vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Our defence faced its first major test in the second minute, when Swansea winger Mathew Walters crossed into our penalty area. Wayne Coton headed the original delivery away, but Mick Coar flicked it back into our six-yard box. Swansea's 21-year-old Wales international Shaun Phillips beat Matt Warren to the header, and Daryl Ryan needed to divert it over with his fingertips.

 

Dagenham attacks were very scarce in the opening minutes, but a sloppy pass from Phillips that was intercepted by Joel Honeyball allowed us to launch a counter in the 17th minute. Joel got the ball forward to Mark West via a first-time pass from Troy Hands, but Mark snatched at his shot.

 

Ryan then saved a couple of attempts from Adam Morgan - the more experienced half of Swansea's strike partnership - in the 18th and 20th minutes. On 26 minutes, Daryl's Swans counterpart Ali Buttery pushed over a fierce free-kick from William Barnes, which bounced on the bar twice before going behind. The resulting corner went to waste, and two minutes later, it was Swansea's turn to hit the woodwork. Rob Matthews struck the post and then made a hash of the rebound after muscling it off Honeyball.

 

Swansea were getting frustrated, and that showed when centre-back Marc Catterick and midfielder Alex Payne picked up yellow cards in quick succession in the 34th minute. After 35 minutes, though, a major decision went the hosts' way.

 

After Dan Plummer headed a Coar corner towards safety, Coton collided with Catterick on the edge of our penalty area. The incident looked like it had taken place outside the box to me... but not to the ref, who awarded Swansea a penalty kick! "That's never a penalty!" I screamed at the fourth official as Morgan sent Ryan the wrong way to put his team in front.

 

I felt that we'd been hard done by, and in the 37th minute, Morgan narrowly missed a 30-yard attempt that could've made things worse for us. A couple more Swansea chances came and went before the referee blew for half-time.

 

Back in the away dressing room, I told the players, "Don't be too worried, lads. You've been unlucky. You don't deserve to be 1-0 down, and I know that you can put things right in the second half... if we do things differently to what we've been doing recently."

 

I then showed the hand that I was going to play - in place of the standard 4-4-2 formation, I'd be adopting a narrow midfield diamond. Jonathan Roche would come off, with Gianluca Cecere taking up the attacking midfield position behind the two strikers. We'd also adopt a more possession-based style, as our usual direct, high-tempo approach was just playing into Swansea's hands.

 

My big plans came together just three minutes after the second half began. Swansea struggled to adapt to a much narrower Dagenham midfield when we stroked together some counter-attacking passes down the middle after Geraint Harding had headed away a cross from Matthews. Joel played a killer ball through to Troy, whose powerful finish left the Swans quaking.

 

The hosts quickly went back on the attack, but Phillips' header from Walters' deep first-time cross was easily caught by Ryan. Phillips then twisted his knee in a 58th-minute clash with Honeyball, thus hampering Swansea further. Joel would deliver more pain to the Welsh side four minutes later.

 

Shortly after Harding started off another Daggers breakaway, substitute Cecere played the ball short to West, who bore down on goal. Coar challenged Mark before he could pull the trigger, but the ball deflected wide to Honeyball, who slotted it into the net! The visiting Dagenham fans were ecstatic, and the match had turned 180 degrees in our favour!

 

A third Swansea player went into the book after 68 minutes, when stand-in captain Liam Donnelly fouled Warren. The Swans really could have done with the calm head of skipper John French, who was absent with a serious knee injury. Compared to Captain French, Donnelly was more like Captain Mainwaring!

 

In the 74th minute, after a one-two with his goalkeeper Buttery, the Northern Irishman gave possession away with a wayward pass that was intercepted by... yep, Geraint Harding. Our North Walian anchorman passed to Cecere, who drew Donnelly and Catterick towards him before finding Hands in acres of space. Troy was now clear through, and with a calm and collected shot into the corner of the net, he gave us an incredible 3-1 lead!

 

Of course, a 3-1 lead away from home would've meant nothing if we had lost our composure and Swansea pulled their fingers out of their backsides. That said, these Swans were now looking more like ugly ducklings. Graham Melia's 76th-minute drive was anything but graceful, and it certainly wasn't well controlled.

 

Also failing to take control - of his emotions - was Catterick. With less than ten minutes to go, the former Newcastle United defender backed into West, who like him was already on a booking. The referee saw the clash as a clear foul rather than a West dive, and so the second yellow card went to Catterick, who was already on his way to the tunnel when the red card came out.

 

That dismissal was the death knell as far as Swansea were concerned. Their game had come apart, and Connelly was lucky not to join Catterick in being sent off for an injury-time lunge on the excellent Plummer. Indeed, most of my players had been 'excellent', if not worthy of a stronger superlative! The final whistle a few moments later confirmed that we'd pulled off a big upset and progressed to Round 4 in the FA Cup!

 

Swansea City - 1 (A Morgan pen36)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Hands 49,74, Honeyball 62)

FA Cup Round 3, Attendance 10,096

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Plummer, Dalton, Coton, Warren, Roche (Cecere), Barnes, Harding (Fraser), Honeyball, West (Parkinson), Hands. BOOKED: West, Barnes.

 

Everyone associated with Dagenham & Redbridge was in a party mood after one of the greatest results in our history! The coach taking the playing and coaching staff sounded like the Rio Carnival as we left south Wales and headed back home to Essex!

 

Our latest win had earned us £75,000 in prize money, not to mention nearly £150,000 in gate receipts, with potentially more riches to come in Round 4.

 

The 2003 Daggers eventually went out at that stage to Norwich City, who were then playing in the old Division 1. The class of 2028 would also have to play a second-tier team in Round 4, as we were drawn at home to Coventry City.  Paul Ince's Sky Blues were just below Swansea in the Championship standings, so we would fancy our chances against them on 22 January.

 

After his revolutionary performance at the Liberty Stadium, Gianluca Cecere was rewarded with a brand new contract. Cecere's existing deal had just six months left to run, but he would now be staying with us for an additional two seasons. Luca would also be firmly in my first-team plans for at least the next few weeks.

 

Our cup heroes returned to Victoria Road for a league clash with promotion rivals Luton Town. The Hatters had beaten us in our last meeting at Kenilworth Road, so vengeance was on our minds.

 

5 January 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Luton Town

After seven minutes, a great headed interception by Joel Honeyball from Luton left-back Frankie Jones' throw-in started off our first attack. Joel couldn't quite finish it off with a good enough finish, sending it just wide. Honeyball won us a corner three minutes later, when his centre was knocked behind by Jones. Matthew Fraser floated a hanging ball to Mark West, whose bullet header gave us the opening goal after 11 minutes!

 

The Hatters also had to deal with a couple more dangerous Dagenham corners in the first half. One of them came in the 28th minute. Luton centre-back Daryl Rowley could only nod Fraser's corner back towards his near post, where West was waiting to strike. Mark's header clipped the crossbar and bounced on the line for Josh Charles, who would've given us a two-goal cushion had Kevin Moody not come in with a perfectly-timed tackle!

 

Moody caused Charles more problems in the 38th minute, when Josh was booked for barging into Luton's anchorman mid-air. A minute after that, Moody drove wide Luton's first chance of the game. The Hatters had another in injury time, but Tom McInnes' header was knocked behind by Gareth Flood, and we remained in front.

 

The second half was barely half a minute old when Honeyball drilled a promising cross towards West in Luton's six-yard box. Rowley knocked that cross away, but Joel quickly found Mark with a follow-up, and the Daggers captain stroked in his 20th goal of the season!

 

West was soon chasing a hat-trick, and he got his first chance to claim that after 51 minutes. Luton right-back Anthony O'Connor's slide tackle on Honeyball knocked the ball on to West, who was denied his treble by a sublime reflex save from Darran Drury. The visiting goalkeeper stopped West in his tracks again two minutes later after an error from Rowley allowed Mark to race through.

 

Wayne Coton flicked over another chance for us to go 3-0 up in the 58th minute. Shortly after that, Paul Hart came on to make his first appearance for nearly a month following a hamstring injury. Paul had barely settled into the game when, in the 65th minute, he was brought down by a rough foul from Rowley. Hart wasn't too badly hurt, so he got up, swerved a free-kick towards goal... and struck the bar!

 

That wouldn't be the Scouser's last confrontation with the woodwork. After 79 minutes, Honeyball played a superb ball to Troy Hands on the edge of Luton's area, and Troy in turn laid on a first-time ahead of Paul, who smacked the post!

 

In the 81st minute, Moody drove the ball over our defence to send McInnes through on goal. Daryl Ryan forced McInnes wide, and the Luton forward could only drag his shot out of play. McInnes had another horror show five minutes later, half-volleying off target from midfielder Ollie Kennedy's chip.

 

The Hatters' misery was completed when Mooney upended Paul in their penalty area towards the end of regulation time. Hart duly hammered home his 10th goal of the season from the spot, earning him a £20,000 bonus as per the terms of his contract. That also secured us a comfortable 3-0 victory, which moved us back up into 2nd!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (West 11,46, Hart pen90)

Luton Town - 0

League One, Attendance 5,654 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Luton 6th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles, Coton, Warren, Fraser, Hands, Honeyball, Dam (Hart), Flood (Roche), West (Cecere). BOOKED: Charles.

 

We'd now won three matches in a row against three very strong teams. The Daggers were flying again, but our next match had the potential to knock us back down to Earth.

[CFuller]

JANUARY 2028 (continued)

Before our away match against Walsall, youth-teamers Engin Cetinkaya and Will Simpson returned from their loan spells at Dulwich Hamlet. Goalkeeper Engin and centre-back Will had not fared too well at Dulwich, who were now battling to stave off relegation from the Isthmian Premier.

 

On paper, the Walsall game looked like an easy three points for us. The Saddlers were third-from-bottom, had won just one of their last ten league matches, and were still reeling from a heavy 5-0 home defeat to Southampton in the FA Cup. Against the struggling Saddlers, what could possibly go wrong?

 

8 January 2028: Walsall vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Something did go horribly wrong after just two minutes. Walsall striker Cole Stockton muscled the ball off Paul Hart, and Marcos Lopes passed to the Saddlers' other forward Dave Alcock in the centre circle. Alcock then searched out Stockton's run past Alex Busetto, who was left helpless as the 33-year-old drove a shot past Daggers goalkeeper Daryl Ryan.

 

Geraint Harding could've repaired the damage just two minutes later, but he headed the straight into Walsall goalie Dimitar Evtimov's hands after playing a clever one-two with Joel Honeyball. The hosts had a clear lead in possession terms for the next 15 minutes as we struggled to get into the game.

 

Then, after 19 minutes, Walsall defender Brian York tripped Dagenham skipper Mark West in the Saddlers' penalty area. Referee Alex Knowles pointed to the spot, infuriating the home fans at the Bescot Stadium. They would become even more annoyed when Paul Hart smacked in the spot-kick to equalise for the Daggers!

 

That goal turned things in our favour, as York conceded a couple of corners before Hart had another pop at goal in the 39th minute. Paul couldn't find the target on that occasion, but there was cause for optimism in the Dagenham camp at half-time.

 

There was more encouragement in how we started the second half. Barely a minute into the half, Daniel O'Reilly's deep centre breached the Walsall defence and found Honeyball, who finished from point-blank range. Joel was narrowly offside, though, and so the score remained level at 1-1. About three minutes later, Ryan caught a long-range shot from Saddlers captain Harry Kane.

 

We attacked again in the 52nd minute, with West finding Honeyball in space. Joel only had to swerve the ball past the onrushing Evtimov... but he also swerved it past the far post. Mark also sent a disappointing shot wide a minute later. To try and get our attack revved up again, I brought on Gianluca Cecere for Honeyball after 64 minutes. Three minutes later, the score was 2-1... to Walsall. Stockton rode a slide tackle from Gavin Dalton and played in his teenage strike partner Alcock, who put the shot away with ease.

 

We were lucky not to concede again in the 72nd minute, when an audacious strike from Kane fizzed wide. The Saddlers then had to make some late substitutions, as the Portuguese duo of right-back Pedro Rosario and midfielder Lopes came off with knocks.

 

Those changes unsettled Walsall, and after 82 minutes, we hit them on the break. West cushioned Daryl's long goal kick to Geraint Harding, who slipped the ball back to the captain. Mark played a first-time weighted pass towards the six-yard box, and Gianluca applied the finish for our second equaliser! That should have been enough for a point... but it wasn't.

 

In the 90th minute, Rikki Scarlett - who'd become a first-team regular at Walsall after a loan spell with us four seasons ago - flicked Evtimov's goal kick on to Kane. The 34-year-old former Tottenham Hotspur man then drove a long ball forward that Alcock nodded into the Daggers area. Stockton and our substitute defender Wayne Coton then raced for the ball. Coton got to it first and tried to head behind, but Stockton came in from the side with a volley that sent the Bescot Stadium rocking!

 

Walsall led 3-2, and surely they would now hold on for the win. Despite only being ahead by a single goal, the Saddlers continued attacking deep into injury time, and they were punished when a Stockton pass was intercepted by Hart. As our counter-attack clicked into gear, Paul raced up the right flank and played a slide-rule pass to Matt Warren. Matt advanced past York and crossed from the byline to Cecere, who scored his second and our third goal of a thrilling match! We'd come back from behind three times to steal a point that moved us onto 50 for the season!

 

Walsall - 3 (Stockton 2,90, Alcock 67)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Hart pen20, Cecere 82,90)

League One, Attendance 5,610 - POSITIONS: Walsall 22nd, Dag & Red 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Charles (Warren), Dalton, Busetto (Coton), Beech, O'Reilly, Harding, Barnes, Hart, West, Honeyball (Cecere).

 

Make no mistake, that was a huge let-off. If we produced a similarly poor defensive performance at The Valley against Charlton Athletic, we would surely not be so lucky. With 48 goals, mid-table Charlton were among the leading scorers in League One.

 

12 January 2028: Charlton Athletic vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Jonathan Roche won us a corner in the first minute after his cross deflected behind off Charlton defender Jack Robinson. Matthew Fraser drifted the corner into the six-yard box, where Wayne Coton met it with an excellent header. Addicks goalie Rob Lainton pushed Coton's header against the bar, and then right-back Jonathan Allan scuffed a clearance that went into the net off Lainton's back! Regardless of how scrappy that goal was, it was a great start to the game from our point of view!

 

Charlton's first attempt to draw level came in the 14th minute, when Vinny Ashdjian's free-kick clipped the bar and went over. A minute later, Ashdjian played his part in setting up a better opportunity. Charlton captain Jonathan Soar received the ball from Ashdjian and played it forward to strike partner Kyle Bowker, who hammered in the leveller.

 

Charlton were back level at 1-1, and Daryl Ryan had to make a superb fingertip save to stop Ben Barber from giving them a 2-1 lead in the 25th minute. Lainton produced similar heroics for his team on 33 minutes, tipping Gavin Dalton's header from a Fraser corner over.

 

Bowker nodded away Fraser's next corner, but only as far as Roche, who struck a volley towards goal. The shot ricocheted off Addicks centre-back Jordan Bowyer, and as several players scrambled for the ball, Dalton was tripped up by Ashdjian! For the third straight game, we were awarded a penalty... and for the third straight game, Paul Hart took full advantage of it! Although Charlton had perhaps edged the first half, it ended with us leading 2-1!

 

Hart tried to score from another dead-ball situation in the 51st minute after being obstructed by Ashdjian deep in Charlton's half. Paul swerved a free-kick over the wall... and 38-year-old Lainton made a routine catch. Bowker then had a couple of awful misses for the Addicks, the second coming after Soar had fed the ball through to him in the 57th minute.

 

Substitute Ross Scaife was much more of a danger to our lead. Scaife's powerful strike on 67 minutes was pushed away by Ryan, who also kept out his long-distance banana shot four minutes later. Charlton were putting us under pressure, but after 77 minutes, the tide turned. Robinson had already been booked midway through the first half, so when the ex-Liverpool centre-back pushed West to stop him from reaching Ryan's goal kick, he was swiftly given his marching orders.

 

We were now a man up, and by the 84th minute, we were two goals ahead. Victory was sealed by a rare left-footed finish from Yasser Ibrahim, who slotted the ball past Lainton after a brilliant assist by man of the match Fraser. I had seen off Paul Dickov and his team for the second time this season!

 

Charlton Athletic - 1 (Bowker 15)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Lainton og1, Hart pen34, Ibrahim 84)

League One, Attendance 11,844 - POSITIONS: Charlton 12th, Dag & Red 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Plummer, Coton, Dalton, Warren (Hopkins), Fraser, Harding, Roche (Honeyball), Hart, Ibrahim, West. BOOKED: Dalton, Warren.

 

After completing a famous double over Charlton Athletic, we looked to dish out similar treatment to AFC Telford United. We narrowly beat Telford at New Bucks Head in September, but if Tom Taiwo's side could get their revenge at Victoria Road, they would move to within two points of us - and they'd have a game in hand.

 

15 January 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs AFC Telford United

On-loan Manchester United midfielder Eric Shaw almost got his AFC Telford career off to the perfect start after barely a minute. The 19-year-old fired a 30-yard free-kick straight at goal and skimmed the top of the bar. Another Telford free-kick caused us problems in the 9th minute, as Lee MacFarlane's delivery was flicked just off target by Bucks defender Jimmy Atherton.

 

Offensively, we showed promise by winning a corner from our first counter-attack in the 15th minute. A minute after that, Gareth Flood's cross found Victor Dam, whose header was caught by Sam Walker. That was about as good as it got for us in the first half. Troy Hands lost a penalty claim on 31 minutes after being tackled by Shaw in the Telford area, while Dam and Paul Hart both missed the target from distance.

 

To be brutally honest, we weren't getting the ball into that penalty area often enough. The Bucks did precisely that in the 39th minute. A MacFarlane piledriver deflected towards team-mate Nigel Hilton near the penalty spot, and Daryl Ryan had to dive quickly to catch Hilton's shot before it could cross the goal line. Bucks forward Kenny Corbell came off shortly afterwards with a torn hamstring, but I had reason to be very concerned at the break.

 

After adopting a more patient approach for the second half, we gave Walker much more work in the AFC Telford goal. On 50 minutes, substitute Paul Parkinson slid the ball to Mark West on the edge of the 'D', but West's shot headed straight into Walker's hands. Telford's goalkeeper - a veteran of over 500 Football League matches - also kept out a couple of hopeful efforts from Hart in the 58th and 59th minute. In between those chances came one for Bucks substitute Clark Mitchell (no relation to our old friend Mitchell Clark!), who was denied by Ryan.

 

We failed to keep up the momentum after that, getting bogged down in a feisty encounter that had far too many fouls. One such foul was committed after 74 minutes by Hands on Hilton just outside the Dagenham area.

 

As our defence tried to organise itself, Jack Dunn quickly put the free-kick into our box. Dunn's smart thinking allowed Atherton to head his delivery home before either Wayne Coton or Josh Charles could get close enough to the Wigan Athletic loanee. Our backline had been broken by a savvy Telford team, and after a dire final 15 minutes, so had our unbeaten run.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

AFC Telford United - 1 (Atherton 75)

League One, Attendance 6,024 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, AFC Telford 4th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles, Coton, Warren, Barnes, Hands (Fraser), Hart (Martin), Dam (Parkinson), Flood, West.

 

Even against another high-flyer, a home defeat always hurts, and this one was particularly painful. We'd had 61% of possession, and our pass rate was at 84%, but we still failed to create enough scoring chances. Was that a worrying sign of struggles to come?

[CFuller]

JANUARY 2028 (continued)

Our last league game before the FA Cup Round 4 clash with Coventry City was at Boundary Park against a resurgent Oldham Athletic team. The Latics were on an unbeaten streak of 11 league games that had taken them from 23rd to the relative safety of 17th.

 

Although I was aware of Oldham's recent surge, I selected my team with one eye on the Coventry game. Several of my most regular starters were either dropped to the bench or left behind completely, so that they could be fresh for the weekend. Among the absentees was captain Mark West, who missed his first league game of the season.

 

19 January 2028: Oldham Athletic vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Dagenham forward Joel Honeyball didn't last much more than a minute before being forced off with a knock. Although I was forced into making a very early substitution, our attack wasn't too badly disrupted. After five minutes, Victor Dam played a pinpoint pass through the Oldham defence to Troy Hands, who pulled his shot wide. On 13 minutes, frontman Ollie Pert got his head to Daniel O'Reilly's cross, only for Stoyan Karaneychev to make a simple catch.

 

Pert would get another chance after 21 minutes. After having a cross intercepted by Oldham, Jonathan Roche won us the ball again by intercepting Latics captain Aaron Bradley's pass back to left-back Alan McGarvey. Roche knocked the ball on to Pert, who tucked in our opening goal!

 

Our young Geordie would strike lucky again in the 25th minute. After Troy's initial effort was parried by Karaneychev, Ollie came forward and applied another clinical rebound finish.

 

Oldham were now in disarray, and Karaneychev had to produce a fine save in the 34th minute to stop Pert from making it 3-0! The Latics quickly went on the counter, but Patrick Bamford's finish was lacking in accuracy. With four minutes to go until half-time, we showed the hosts just how counter-attacking should be done. Hands cut out a Darren McQueen header and lobbed to Victor Dam, who found Roche in space. Jonny struck in his first goal of his season, and we entered the break with a comfortable lead!

 

I knew that an early second-half goal could get Oldham started up, so when Lewis Williams crossed to Bamford just outside our six-yard box in the 54th minute, I feared the worst. Bamford went for the kill... and Daryl Ryan caught his shot superbly! With such assured goalkeeping, we were more comfortable than I thought. Bamford messed up another chance to get a goal back for Oldham after 63 minutes, flicking Thomas Grant's free-kick wide.

 

Bamford's horror show was in total contrast to Pert's masterclass, which he completed with a near-post header from a Roche corner in the 71st minute. After clinching his hat-trick and giving us a 4-0 advantage, Ollie came off to a rapturous reception from the visiting Daggers fans!

 

Pert's replacement was Gianluca Cecere, who in the 73rd minute played the ball through to a criminally unmarked Gareth Flood. The left-winger went clean through and rounded Karaneychev, but the post denied him our fifth goal.

 

With the Latics looking so tired after trying to survive so many Daggers attacks, it wouldn't be long before we did put the seal on a five-star performance. Victor showed real desire to win the ball off Oldham midfielder Grant and play in Cecere, who continued his red-hot form with a powerful strike!

 

Grant was too badly injured in that tackle from Dam to continue, so the Latics finished with ten men. We were in the same position, as Roche left the field early having stubbed his toe just prior to the final goal. Jonny's injury would see him miss our next game, but that was the only low point in a fabulous 5-0 away win!

 

Oldham Athletic - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 5 (Pert 22,25,71, Roche 41, Cecere 83)

League One, Attendance 4,515 - POSITIONS: Oldham 17th, Dag & Red 1st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Plummer, Charles, Busetto, O'Reilly, Barnes (Warren), Hands, Roche, Dam, Honeyball (Flood), Pert (Cecere).

 

That performance showed just how devastating we could be on the counter-attack. Right-back Dan Plummer continued his emergence at first-team level with another superb display, while Ollie Pert's first three goals in senior football also gave me food for thought. However, those two young pups would now have to step aside, as the big boys returned for arguably the biggest match of our season.

 

Standing between us and a place in Round 5 of the FA Cup were the competition's winners in 1987, Coventry City. The Sky Blues arrived at Victoria Road with an experienced, cosmopolitan side that included three Croats, a Danish goalkeeper, a Brazilian centre-back, a Cypriot winger, and Lewis Baker - twice a Scottish Premier League winner with Hibernian. They were also under the management of a former England midfielder in Paul Ince.

 

Going into this match, Coventry were sitting 13th in the Championship. That was exactly where Swansea City were when we defeated them in Round 3, so we weren't worried about taking on this particular City.

 

22 January 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Coventry City

Encouragingly, we had the first shot on goal in the first minute, with captain Mark West's strike being parried by Coventry counterpart Lars Henriksen. Geraint Harding had made that opportunity for Mark, and he narrowly missed one of his own in the fourth minute.

 

Coventry's vice-captain - right-back Mario Dzaja - was booked for a clumsy foul on Gareth Flood in the sixth minute. The Sky Blues became more frustrated five minutes later. When Daggers defender Gavin Dalton beat City striker Sasa Milovic to a header in our six-yard box, Milovic complained that Gavin had backed into him. The ref said nothing doing, and Coventry would not get close to scoring again in the first half.

 

At the other end, West headed wide a square ball from Flood in the 29th minute. Mark tried again five minutes later, only to see Henriksen push away his latest headed effort. Paul Hart was quick to the rebound, and he fired it against the side netting. Henriksen caught another Dagenham header - this time from Wayne Coton - in the 38th minute. The scoreline was still 0-0 at the break, and it looked like we had blown some big opportunities.

 

When Henriksen saved another attempt from West in the 49th minute, Coventry went on the break for their first real chance to break the deadlock. With our defence struggling to get organised again, Milovic played a potentially devastating pass to his compatriot Romeo Perkovic. The left-winger went for a powerful low strike, and Ryan heroically parried it away.

 

As the game neared the hour mark, we won a couple of corners... and we very nearly scored from one. Matthew Fraser's 61st-minute delivery was flicked on by Mark to Gavin, but Henriksen still would not be beaten. When Tim Beech tripped Perkovic after 71 minutes to gift Coventry a free-kick, the Sky Blues looked to quash our hopes of another giant-killing. Perkovic swung the free-kick to the head of City's Cypriot right-winger Giannos Sotiriou, who clipped the bar!

 

Another close shave came when Ryan turned away a vicious effort from City substitute Nikita Desyatkov in the 75th minute. Sotiriou's follow-up cross was nodded clear by Coton, and Hart took the ball to send us forward again. Paul's run was eventually halted by a tackle from Julian Stannard and a clearance from Lewis Baker, but we were soon making another surge towards goal. After receiving the ball from Fraser, Joel Honeyball opted to dribble inside from the right flank to the Coventry 'D'. Just before entering the penalty area, Joel unleashed a ferocious shot that rocketed into the net!

 

The Daggers fans were delighted... and three minutes later, they were in ecstasy! A horrible clearance by City centre-half Stannard was intercepted by Harding, who laid on a perfect pass that substitute Yasser Ibrahim lashed home! Coventry had crumbled, and we had claimed another major scalp in the FA Cup.

 

In fact, there was still time for a third and final goal to round off a perfect afternoon! Another substitute had the final say in injury time, with Troy Hands flicking in Harding's hanging corner. Another famous win was in the bag, and the party at Victoria Road could begin in earnest!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Honeyball 75, Ibrahim 78, Hands 90)

Coventry City - 0

FA Cup Round 4, Attendance 5,710

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton, Warren, Fraser (Barnes), Harding, Honeyball, Hart, Flood (Ibrahim), West (Hands).

 

Never before had I been so proud of my players! They had dismantled a solid Championship team, and they had made history by becoming the first Dagenham & Redbridge side to reach Round 5 in the FA Cup! We were just two more wins away from Wembley!

 

We received £100,000 for getting through another round, but disappointingly, the game was not a sell-out and gate receipts were lower than anticipated. The Round 5 draw would also leave me feeling a little underwhelmed.

 

We had to wait until the very end before our ball was drawn from the pot, for an away game against either Blackburn Rovers or Bristol Rovers. The latter were 17th in League Two, and the lowest-ranked team left in the competition, so I hoped that they would win their Round 4 Replay against Championship big boys Blackburn on 1 February.

 

Meanwhile, young midfielders Lumumba McLean and Tommy Scott came back from loan spells in the Conference South. Tommy hadn't fared too badly at Burton Albion, notching up a handful of assists, but Lumumba really struggled at relegation-threatened Chelmsford City.

 

Our eighth and final match of a busy - and memorable - month was away to Bradford City. The Bantams had plummeted into the drop zone after a dreadful run of form, but successive wins in their last two games had given them fresh hope that they could avoid back-to-back relegations.

 

29 January 2028: Bradford City vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Mark West took just four minutes to wipe the smiles off the faces of his fellow West Yorkshiremen. Mark received an excellent long ball from Victor Dam, turned past Bradford right-back Jonathan Kindermans, and cracked the ball past goalie Tyrone O'Dea.

 

Two minutes later, Robbie Cummins came within inches of giving the hosts a swift equaliser. Another two minutes passed, and then Geraint Harding went close to making it 2-0 Dagenham. Geraint's edge-of-the-area strike was acrobatically tipped over by O'Dea, who conceded a corner that went to waste.

 

We were later forced back into defence as Bradford had a bright spell midway through the half. Their best chance to level came in the 21st minute, when Republic of Ireland international Cummins dribbled through a gap in our defence. Cummins' shot was parried by Daryl Ryan towards Bantams winger Graham Andrews, who might well have scored had Daniel O'Reilly not made an excellent challenge.

 

West snatched at a chance to put us two goals in front in the 29th minute, but our skipper would have better fortune six minutes later. After Paul Hart's cross from the byline was intercepted by Kindermans, Mark stretched out his left leg to divert the ball into the net! We were now comfortably in front, and with Bradford looking so lacklustre, we were on course for another away win.

 

Of course, you should never count your chickens before they've hatched - and certainly not against the Bantams. Bradford started the second half brightly, with their other Irish frontman Gareth Hyland forcing Ryan into a save after 50 minutes. Two minutes later, Hyland played an excellent aerial ball towards Cummins, who headed it home from 18 yards out. All of a sudden, we were looking rather fragile.

 

Ryan made a meal of Andrews' strike in the 56th minute, and we were lucky that Hyland could only knock the ball behind for a goal kick. Our defence was soon forced into more hard work, and Gavin Dalton hurt himself after making a brave tackle on Hyland in the 62nd minute. Gavin took some time out to receive treatment before resuming his duties.

 

Bradford midfielder John Swift wasn't quite so fortunate on 71 minutes, when he picked up a knock while fouling Geraint Harding. Swift was substituted four minutes later, just after O'Dea had caught a diving header from Yasser Ibrahim.

 

The final 15 minutes saw West miss a host of opportunities to complete his hat-trick. Substitute Joel Honeyball went very close to reinstating our two-goal cushion after 80 minutes, while Hart forced O'Dea into a couple of difficult late saves. In the end, Mark's first-half brace would be enough to conclude our excellent January with another victory.

 

Bradford City - 1 (Cummins 52)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (West 4,35)

League One, Attendance 12,257 - POSITIONS: Bradford 23rd, Dag & Red 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton, O'Reilly, Fraser (Barnes), Harding, Hart, Dam (Honeyball), Ibrahim (Hands), West.

 

Louis Newman returned from a three-month stay at Burton Albion the following day. Having played in no fewer than 25 matches for Burton, Louis was now happy to re-join us as understudy to Daryl Ryan. We also welcomed back Wayne Parmenter from a seven-month loan at Salisbury City.

 

Newman's return was particularly timely, as Tony Rattle - who had been warming the first-team bench in recent months - had been ruled out for around four weeks with a broken shoulder.

 

There were only a couple of departures from Victoria Road in this transfer window, with Sotiris Giangoudakis and Lumumba McLean both going back out on loan. Sotiris would see out the campaign with Isthmian Primer side Wingate & Finchley, while Lumumba joined Grimsby Town - his third Conference Premier club. I had tried to loan out several other reserve and fringe players, but there were no takers for them.

 

Before the New Year, I said that I needed to add some more quality to the team. Well, considering how this month has gone, it turns out that I probably don't need to do that after all.

 

A loan move for one of Tottenham Hotspur's best young strikers fell through on deadline day, but I couldn't find anyone else on the market who would significantly improve our squad. I'm happy to stick with what I have for now.

[CFuller]

League One Table (End of January 2028)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Luton                  33    19    3     11    47    37    +10   60
2.          Dag & Red              33    18    5     10    62    36    +26   59
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Wrexham                33    15    12    6     54    32    +22   57
4.          Portsmouth             33    16    9     8     45    31    +14   57
5.          Leeds                  33    14    12    7     44    30    +14   54
6.          AFC Telford            33    16    6     11    46    33    +13   54
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Chester                33    15    8     10    49    46    +3    53
8.          Charlton               33    14    7     12    55    57    -2    49
9.          Gillingham             32    12    12    8     48    38    +10   48
10.         Oxford                 33    14    6     13    51    55    -4    48
11.         Rotherham              33    12    9     12    45    41    +4    45
12.         Northampton            33    11    12    10    44    41    +3    45
13.         Colchester             33    12    9     12    56    58    -2    45
14.         Scunthorpe             33    10    13    10    34    35    -1    43
15.         Shrewsbury             33    8     16    9     29    32    -3    40
16.         Rochdale               32    10    10    12    38    43    -5    40
17.         Oldham                 33    8     14    11    32    46    -14   38
18.         Fleetwood              33    9     10    14    43    45    -2    37
19.         Sheff Wed              33    8     12    13    32    43    -11   36
20.         Hartlepool             33    8     11    14    52    62    -10   35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.         Stockport              33    8     11    14    49    63    -14   35
22.         Walsall                33    7     10    16    48    60    -12   31
23.         Bradford               33    6     12    15    33    51    -18   30
24.         Brentford              33    4     13    16    19    40    -21   25

[EvilDave]

Seven points between the top seven, looks like a fascinating finish on your hands! Great run in the FA Cup, here's hoping it lasts that little bit longer...

[CFuller]

On 8/12/2016 at 11:56, EvilDave said:

Seven points between the top seven, looks like a fascinating finish on your hands! Great run in the FA Cup, here's hoping it lasts that little bit longer...

It certainly is tight at the top! We've certainly got enough attacking power to challenge for automatic promotion, but our defensive record will be key.

As for the FA Cup, we've done brilliantly so far to beat Swansea and Coventry, but I fear the next round could see us crash back down to Earth.

[CFuller]

FEBRUARY 2028

I spent the first evening of February in front of the TV, scouting our next FA Cup opponents. Bristol Rovers and Blackburn Rovers met at the Memorial Stadium for their Round 4 Replay after drawing the initial tie 0-0, and the BBC was there to broadcast the match to my living room.

 

I was willing the hosts to cause an upset and give us an easier test in Round 5... but Blackburn were in scintillating form. The Championship side ran out 4-1 winners, meaning we would have to travel to Ewood Park on 12 February for our toughest test yet. I went to bed somewhat disappointed, but I received some better news the next morning.

 

Our impressive January displays had resulted in me being named as League One's Manager of the Month. I was a little surprised, but it gave me a real boost of confidence going into our next league encounter.

 

The division was still very tight at the top, and Chester were among a clutch of sides who harboured realistic dreams of winning automatic promotion. The Blues had had an up-and-down season, and they were sat just outside the play-off places when they visited Victoria Road.

 

Our last meeting with Chester at the Deva Stadium went quite well... until our ex-loanee Robbie Shenton scored twice to give the hosts a 2-1 comeback win. The good news was that Shenton was out of this game with a knee ligament injury. The bad news was that we were also without a forward, as Joel Honeyball was cooped up at home with a nasty virus.

 

5 February 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Chester

Chester may have been lacking Robbie Shenton, but their big attacking threat was still present. Deale Flynn needed less than five minutes to find his mark again, half-volleying Dave Croft's right-wing cross home for his 14th goal of the season.

 

Two minutes later, a less regular goalscorer continued the Blues' quickfire start. 31-year-old Scottish centre-back Tim Haining headed in the first league goal of his entire career from Peter Clark's inswinging corner, leaving us 2-0 down in a flash!

 

We could easily have fallen apart at the seams after that. Mickey Loughran wasted a great chance for 3-0 in the 9th minute, as he took too long over a shot before firing it into Daryl Ryan's hands. Loughran's game ended just a few minutes later, when a collision with Gavin Dalton broke his ribs.

 

Chester's attack wasn't quite the same following his exit, though it took us until the 29th minute to make any real inroads into the Blues' danger zone. Geraint Harding's 45-yard drive found the head of Paul Hart, and Paul's effort found the gloves of Alan Page. On 35 minutes, Harding's ability to split a defence open caused Chester even more bother. Yasser Ibrahim broke through the visitors' offside trap to run onto Geraint's weighted ball and slice it into the net!

 

Further cracks in Chester's lead would soon surface. On 43 minutes, Haining bruised a rib after running into the brick outhouse that is Mark West. In injury time, our other attacking figurehead Paul Hart hit a low shot that was tipped away by Page. Although we remained 2-1 behind at the break, I was still feeling hopeful.

 

During the half-time break, I told left-back Daniel O'Reilly to really get stuck into Bickram Cook - Chester's aggressive right-winger, who was already on a yellow card. That didn't exactly go the way I had planned. About half a minute into the second half, O'Reilly made a fruitless lunge on Cook, who proceeded to curl the ball from the corner of our penalty area, over Ryan's head, and into the net. 3-1 to the visitors.

 

Thankfully, the other big call I made at half-time was much more successful. Substitute midfielder Victor Dam, who'd replaced the anonymous winger Jonathan Roche, got us back to within one goal when he fired a bullet past Page in the 58th minute.

 

In the 61st, Yasser fired in an equalising attempt that was awkwardly pushed away by Page. The attack then broke down after Ibrahim tripped up Croft, which resulted in him getting booked. We conceded another free-kick much closer to our area moments later, when O'Reilly cut down Cook with a full-bodied tackle that might've prevented a goal earlier on. Paul McIntyre hoisted the free-kick into the box, and Geraint tried to head it behind. Much to our horror, his header dipped over Ryan's frantic dive and across the goal line! With that devastating own goal, we trailed 4-2, and our hopes were all but crushed.

 

Indeed, it took a fine catch from Daryl in the 67th minute to prevent Rory Witham's header from sending the Blues 5-2 up. Our next attempt to keep the game alive came after 79 minutes. Hart chipped a ball from the touchline to the Chester area, where Dam hit an awful volley that left me cursing.

 

Troy Hands came off the bench at that moment to replace West, and he very nearly scored with an 83rd-minute effort that was parried by Page. Fortunately, Victor was quick to convert the rebound and keep us on the comeback trail!

 

Harding had played a pivotal role in that third Dagenham goal, and after 85 minutes, he had a chance to complete his redemption. As Chester struggled to clear Matthew Fraser's corner, Hart knocked the ball across their goal and found Harding, who was just off target. That was as close as we would come to saving a point.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Ibrahim 35, Dam 58,83)

Chester - 4 (Flynn 5, Haining 7, Cook 46, Harding og62)

League One, Attendance 5,901 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Chester 5th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Plummer, Dalton, Charles, O'Reilly (Warren), Fraser, Harding, Roche (Dam), Hart, Ibrahim, West (Hands). BOOKED: Hart, Ibrahim.

 

We had now lost six league games at home this season - more than in the whole of the previous campaign. Although we were only a point behind the new top three of Wrexham, Portsmouth, and Luton Town, I was concerned that more bad results on our own turf would cost us severely further down the line.

 

Our home record was barely in the top half compared to other League One teams, but our away form was the best in the division, and that was undoubtedly keeping us in the upper echelons.

 

It was also perhaps a good thing, then, that our first ever FA Cup Round 5 game was away to Blackburn Rovers the following week.

 

We'd already knocked out two mid-level Championship clubs in the FA Cup, but Blackburn were a class above Swansea City and Coventry City. Rovers were 7th in the second tier, having been relegated from the Premier League last season. They boasted a number of full internationals in their squad, and in Gary Rowett, they had a manager with plenty of top-flight experience.

 

To be honest, if we could overcome the odds again at Ewood Park, and reach the FA Cup Quarter Finals, it would arguably be a greater shock than our Swansea and Coventry victories combined.

 

12 February 2028: Blackburn Rovers vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Our defence held firm against Blackburn for just eight minutes. Scotland winger Alan McLaughlin gave our right-back Tim Beech hell when he cut inside from the left and fired in a lethal shot that Daryl Ryan just couldn't get to.

 

Two minutes later, McLaughlin tried to repeat the trick. Ryan was wise to it, parrying the ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers star's effort before Beech cleared it into touch. McLaughlin then flighted a free-kick narrowly over in the 11th minutes before we made our first attacking moves.

 

On 15 minutes, Paul Hart caused Rovers goalkeeper Ko Min-Woo problems with a byline cross that the 101-cap South Korea international tipped over his bar. Three minutes later, Hart lofted a free-kick into the Blackburn area. Centre-back Michael Stewart's missed interception saw the free-kick fall to Yasser Ibrahim, whose strike was brilliantly parried by Ko.

 

After that brief spell of Dagenham pressure, Blackburn went forward again, with striker Robbie Clements sending a couple of efforts wide. Then, in the 26th minute, our nemesis McLaughlin struck again. After receiving a pass from American left-back Jordan Sweet deep in his own half, McLaughlin gave his marker Matthew Fraser the runaround as he jinked into our penalty area. Once there, he fired in another clinical shot to make it 2-0 Blackburn.

 

There could've been worse to come in the 33rd minute. Rovers striker Martyn Ozmen stole the ball from Beech's feet before hitting a strike that was blocked by Gavin Dalton. Geraint Harding soon retook possession for us in the penalty area, but Ozmen closed him down as well, and Ryan had to save the day with a point-blank save!

 

Daryl kept out further efforts from Clements and Ozmen later on, but three minutes before half-time, he was beaten again. Stewart made it a hat-trick of goals from Blackburn's Scotland internationals when the former Aberdeen and Rangers ace powered Sweet's corner into the net. We had a 3-0 deficit away from home, and this was surely the end of our FA Cup journey.

 

The fact that Blackburn had mustered 15 shots at goal in the first half, compared to Dagenham's one, was enough to convince me that our tactics just weren't working. In lieu of 4-2-3-1, we returned for the second half in a much narrower 3-5-2 formation. That tightened up our defence and midfield, while it also gave Mark West a bit of company up top.

 

In the 49th minute, West dragged a promising effort just inches wide. Mark's new strike partner Gianluca Cecere went one better about three minutes later, when he tapped Tim Beech's cross into the net. Sadly, our Italian supersub hadn't struck again, as he was marginally offside.

 

Had that goal counted, we might have stood a chance. As it transpired, we would not get anywhere near the Blackburn goal again. Our three-man defence of Dalton, Wayne Coton and sub Josh Charles shut Rovers out completely in the second half, but the fatal blows had already been inflicted. After a dismal second half, our cup campaign petered out into a crushing defeat.

 

Blackburn Rovers - 3 (McLaughlin 8,26, Stewart 42)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

FA Cup Round 5, Attendance 7,003

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton, Warren (Hopkins), Fraser, Harding, Hart (Charles), Dam, Ibrahim (Cecere), West. BOOKED: Dam.

 

It may have been a big ask to beat Blackburn, but I was very disappointed by the manner in which we lost. There was none of the passion or determination that we possessed in bucketloads during our previous two FA Cup matches.

 

We now had to rebuild our confidence before a pivotal stage in the league campaign. With 12 matches to go, promotion was in our sights, and this was a golden opportunity we did not want to miss.

[CFuller]

FEBRUARY 2028 (continued)

We spent the week-and-a-half before our next league match brushing up on our defensive skills. We had conceded seven goals in our last two games, and we had to be much tighter if we wanted to stay in the promotion hunt.

 

While our first-teamers looked ahead to the visit of Colchester United, one reserve player looked towards a future away from Dagenham.

 

Wayne Parmenter had effectively been made redundant by the emergence of younger right-wingers such as Mitchell Paratusic and Paul Parkinson, so I told Wayne that he wouldn't be receiving a new contract in the summer. He later held discussions with Conference North side Guiseley before signing a pre-contract agreement with the Yorkshire part-timers, whom he will join in July.

 

On 22 February, ten days after our FA Cup reality check, we returned to league action against Colchester at Victoria Road. Our Essex rivals had lost just once in twelve league games - a run that had taken them from relegation probabilities to play-off possibilities.

 

22 February 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Colchester United

Colchester midfielder Elliott Whitehouse split our defence open after just one minute with an excellent weighted pass to Victor Hamsher. The 19-year-old striker looked certain to score... until Daniel O'Reilly got in the way of his shot. We came very close to scoring the opening goal in the 7th minute, when Mark West struck the bar with a header from Gareth Flood's centre.

 

Mark went into this match needing just one goal to match Danny Shipp's club record of 70 league strikes for Dagenham & Redbridge. That record-equalling goal would come in the 15th minute, when West beat Colchester keeper David Croft with the help of an excellent assist from Paul Hart.

 

Two minutes after we took the lead, Geraint Harding threatened to double it with a 25-yard drive that Croft just managed to beat away. The U's goalie also made hard work of a 26th-minute strike from West that could've confirmed our captain as the most prolific league scorer in the Daggers' history. Mark continued to chase the landmark, and in the 31st minute, he skied over a great opportunity to reach it. Two minutes after that, he was booked for upending Colchester defender Dale Miller.

 

The final five minutes of the first half saw Colchester have no fewer than three chances to level. Joel Edwards was denied by Daryl Ryan in the 41st minute, and Whitehouse volleyed wide in the 44th, but United's next shot would bring them back on terms. Hamsher knocked the ball into our area in the last minute of normal time, and Grant Ellis slotted it home to give the U's a timely equaliser.

 

Although we started the second period reasonably well, West was not at his prolific best. His long-range attempt in the 52nd minute was more likely to break an advertising board than Shipp's record. Hamsher almost broke our hearts after just under an hour with a ferocious free-kick that Ryan brilliantly parried clear.

 

It was another free-kick, in the 64th minute, that resulted in the game's third goal. Hart's attempted delivery to West was blocked by Miller, but Harding drove the ball through a crowded Colchester area and found the net! Our Welsh midfield maestro had given us a 2-1 lead!

 

The U's were unhappy, and in the cauldron of a fiery Essex derby, one of their players nearly boiled over. Substitute Louis Billings caught Mark with an elbow off the ball in the 74th minute, and he was rather lucky to get away with a yellow card.

 

Gareth Flood also felt the force of a rough Colchester challenge five minutes later, when he was floored by right-back Josh Simpson's slide tackle. Gareth came off with a knock, and within two minutes, his replacement Dean Martin was racing through on goal. Dean latched onto Geraint's long ball and tried to beat Croft from the edge of the area... but his strike clipped the post.

 

My other midfield substitute would make a more significant impact on the game after 82 minutes. Sadly, 18-year-old William Barnes cracked under pressure from Joel Ashley's cross, as he pushed Colchester midfielder Jimmy Harrison just outside our six-yard box. The ref awarded the U's a penalty, which Whitehouse dispatched with ease.

 

The score was 2-2... but that changed again barely a minute later! Martin produced a moment to savour as he slipped past Colchester captain Casey Phillips and nervelessly placed the ball into net, putting us 3-2 in front!

 

Incredibly, United almost scored a third goal of their own shortly after the restart! Harrison went for a 30-yard piledriver that only just scraped over the bar. After missing a number of opportunities to go 4-2 up, we scraped to a narrow - but priceless - victory.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (West 15, Harding 64, Martin 84)

Colchester United - 2 (Ellis 45, Whitehouse pen83)

League One, Attendance 5,935 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Colchester 12th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Plummer, Coton, Dalton, O'Reilly, Hart, Fraser (Barnes), Harding, Flood (Martin), West, Hands (Honeyball). BOOKED: West, O'Reilly.

 

Next in store for us was an away trip to Northampton Town. The Cobblers had started this campaign superbly, but they'd won just four league matches since the start of November. As a result, they found themselves down in 11th.

 

26 February 2028: Northampton Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Our defence was tested after just two minutes, when centre-half Wayne Coton made a vital tackle to stop Northampton striker Liam Rankin from scoring. Cobblers forward Robbie Killick gathered the ball, cut inside, and then hit a shot that Daryl Ryan was just able to block with his left leg.

 

Killick then wasted a couple more chances in the 10th and 11th minutes before we took the lead in the 15th. Mark West played a quick one-two with Paul Hart and then drilled in the goal that made him the top league scorer in Dagenham & Redbridge history!

 

Once we took the lead, we were firmly in control. Northampton were pressured into conceding a number of corners, while their dirty play resulted in them giving away too many fouls and picking up two yellow cards. We couldn't quite hammer down our authority, though, as West snatched at a decent chance for 2-0 in the 36th minute. Cobblers midfielders Sol Mackey and Mark Goodacre also missed the target for their team just before half-time.

 

The first 15 minutes of the second half didn't have much to write home about, as Northampton's defence tightened up significantly. Hart tried to breach it in the 61st minute, but his long-distance strike flew over the bar. A minute later, Geraint Harding strained his groin in a tackle on Cobblers captain Jordon Mutch. Geraint hobbled off, and our lead no longer looked so secure without the tenacious Welshman controlling our midfield.

 

Daryl kept us in front in the 65th minute when he caught Paul Lawlor's header from a Mackey free-kick. Eight minutes later, however, Ryan's goalkeeping was far less assured. Gavin Dalton's poor interception from Killick's cross was met by a close-range header from Oscar Brown that flew over Ryan and bounced into the net for 1-1.

 

Daryl could've dealt with that situation a lot better, but he regained enough composure to catch a header from Northampton centre-back Myles Mullery in the 75th minute. He also kept out Brown's next effort in the 80th minute, shortly after Yasser Ibrahim had been denied by Cobblers goalie Jamie O'Keefe at the other end.

 

Both sides then wasted glorious opportunities to seal the win. Firstly, West blazed over the hosts' bar after 87 minutes. Then, in the very last minute, ex-Daggers loanee Pablo Vázquez flicked wide a potential Northampton winner. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, but we actually moved up to 1st place, as leaders Luton Town had lost to Leeds United, and Portsmouth had also failed to win!

 

Northampton Town - 1 (Brown 73)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (West 15)

League One, Attendance 9,528 - POSITIONS: Northampton 11th, Dag & Red 1st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton, Hopkins (O'Reilly), Fraser, Harding (Hands), Hart, Dam (Roche), Ibrahim, West.

 

Mark West's 24th league goal of the season was the 71st of his Dagenham career, thus making him our greatest ever goalscorer in league football. That was a particularly impressive achievement, considering that Mark had only played 113 games across three seasons for us.

 

It was Paul Hart's assist that resulted in West's record-breaking goal, and Paul would also have a reason to celebrate when the month was out. Hart's impressive displays resulted in him being named as the League One Young Player of the Month for February.

 

Geraint Harding was another Dagger who had been in fabulous form this season. Sadly, his groin strain at the Sixfields Stadium would sideline him for the next three weeks. Geraint's consistently strong performances in midfield have been key for us this term, and I'm a little worried about how we'll do while he's out of action.

[CFuller]

MARCH 2028

There were ten matches remaining in the League One season, and the race for promotion was still exceedingly close:

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Dag & Red              36    19    6     11    69    43    +26   63
2.          Luton                  36    20    3     13    49    40    +9    63
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Portsmouth             36    17    11    8     51    35    +16   62
4.          Chester                36    18    8     10    58    51    +7    62
5.          Wrexham                36    16    12    8     55    34    +21   60
6.          Leeds                  36    16    12    8     50    35    +15   60
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          AFC Telford            36    16    6     14    47    37    +10   54
8.          Oxford                 36    16    6     14    58    61    -3    54

 

With so many teams dreaming of promotion to the Championship, a sudden surge or an inexplicable collapse could make the difference between glory and failure.

 

It was important that we didn't drop points needlessly in games that we were expected to win. One such match was at Victoria Park against Hartlepool United, who'd won only twice in the league since beating us way back in October. The Pools had since free-fallen way down to third-from-bottom.

 

4 March 2028: Hartlepool United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

With the division's sharpest attack playing against its most fragile defence, one might have expected a glut of Dagenham goals. That surprisingly wasn't the case early on. Yasser Ibrahim fired wide our first effort in the fifth minute, and Paul Hart's direct free-kick five minutes later was easily caught by Hartlepool goalie Remi Matthews.

 

Up front, captain Mark West was also looking far from his very best. Mark had a couple of shots blocked before finally making Matthews work to save a header in the 24th minute. Matthews passed another major test in the 28th minute, diverting Josh Charles' header over the bar with his fingertips.

 

On the hour mark, the Pools went forward to try and hit us on the counter. Jake Kirby cushioned Steve Bearder's deep clearance on to Hartlepool stalwart Luke James, who tried to exploit some space in our defence. We somehow held firm, with Wayne Coton blocking James' first shot before Daryl Ryan pushed away the follow-up. Troy Hands then made a total mess of our next chance in the 34th minute, and so the scoreline remained 0-0 at half-time.

 

Our direct passing game continued to falter in the second half. Hartlepool were defending quite deep and looking more compact than I'd expected them to be. Oliver Banton was particularly solid in the centre of their backline, with the Ipswich Town loanee making goodness knows how many interceptions from our long balls and crosses.

 

The Pools' holding midfielder Steve Bearder, who blasted wide a hit-and-hope effort very early on, also had a good game... until the 62nd minute. Bearder's full-bloodedness got the better of him when he hacked William Barnes down with both feet. That caught the attention of Will's namesake Daryl Barnes, and the referee drew out his red card and reduced Hartlepool to ten men!

 

To try and turn our numerical advantage into a more meaningful one, we adopted a more patient approach in an attempt to break the Pools down. The hosts sat even deeper, though, and their stubbornness restricted us to a couple of hopeless long-range strikes from Matthew Fraser. They also won a corner on 89 minutes, but Kirby headed wide from that, and a disappointing match finished goalless.

 

Hartlepool United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

League One, Attendance 3,362 - POSITIONS: Hartlepool 22nd, Dag & Red 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles, Coton, Warren, Hart, Barnes, Martin (Fraser), Ibrahim, West (Honeyball), Hands (Cecere).

 

Home victories for Luton Town and Chester moved them above us in the table, but we would still be in a great position to take automatic promotion if we could win our next four matches. Incredibly, all of them were at home!

 

The first of our back-to-back-to-back-to-back games at Victoria Road was against Sheffield Wednesday. The Owls had endured a terrible season, and they were at risk of dropping into the fourth division of English football for the first time.

 

7 March 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday nearly had the perfect start, with Evgeni Ivanov's 3rd-minute cross into the Dagenham area being headed off the line by a vital clearance from Gavin Dalton. A minute later, another cross from left-back Ivanov found Neil Briers, whose header was caught by Daryl Ryan. Another clear and present danger in the Owls line-up was midfielder Thomas Clancy, who struck a couple of decent efforts just off target in the 13th minute.

 

Mark West hammered wide our first real effort after 17 minutes, and then Wednesday reasserted their authority. During the 28th minute, Swiss playmaker Pirmin Tache scrapped for the ball in our area before squaring it to Biser Varadinov. The Bulgarian striker went for a powerful shot that struck the far post and deflected safely towards Ryan. Our defence came under more stress in the 36th minute. After seeing his initial effort blocked by Wayne Coton, Tache sailed his follow-up strike just wide.

 

The Owls looked comfortable, but after 41 minutes, a wayward pass from Ivanov gave us an unlikely chance to go ahead! West made a superb interception in the visitors' penalty area, and he was unlucky to strike the post. Dean Martin swerved another decent Daggers opportunity into Angus Gunn's hands two minutes later, but by half-time, we were looking second-best compared to the Owls.

 

Switching to a 4-4-2 diamond for the second half gave us more leverage in the centre, and it also led to a couple of early openings. A goalward header from West in the 48th minute was headed away by Sheffield Wednesday centre-back George Dean. Gunn made a comfortable catch from Paul Hart's free-kick shortly after that.

 

We then lost our way somewhat, with Wednesday winning a number of corners. Our foul count also rose steadily, and three Daggers had their names taken by the referee between the 61st and 71st minutes. On 72 minutes, a vicious strike from Tache took a worrying deflection off Dalton before Ryan made what was - in the end - a routine save.

 

With Tache wasting another Wednesday effort on 79 minutes, and our attack completely lacking in bite, it seemed that another stalemate was on the cards. By the 85th minute, that was no longer the case. The Owls' patience and persistence paid off when Tache skilfully broke through our defence to pick up Briers' centre and tuck it past a perplexed Ryan.

 

The Victoria Road faithful were stunned, but I was not surprised. We had been underwhelming, and it was only a matter of time before Sheffield Wednesday's greater quality won them the points.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Sheffield Wednesday - 1 (Tache 85)

League One, Attendance 5,866 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 3rd, Sheff Wed 18th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton, Warren (Hopkins), Roche (Barnes), Fraser, Martin, Hart, West, Honeyball (Dam). BOOKED: Fraser, Honeyball, Warren, Dam.

 

Surely we could do much better in our next home game against rock-bottom Brentford? The Bees' record of five wins and just 25 goals in 38 matches told you all you needed to know about their survival prospects.

 

11 March 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Brentford

Dagenham right-back Josh Charles had a difficult start to his game. After seven minutes, Josh appeared to strain his neck while heading away Darren Murray's corner for Brentford. Charles was thankfully okay, and ten minutes later, he had a rare scoring opportunity at the Bees' end.

 

The visitors' defence was caught completely off guard when Phil Garland's backwards header was intercepted by Charles, who had a clear run at goal! The Brummie then showed why he was not a centre-forward by firing a simple shot straight at goalkeeper Gary Ewert.

 

One of our actual strikers, Mark West, also sent a disappointing effort into Ewart's hands after 25 minutes. Six minutes after that, Brentford almost took a shock lead. Our goalkeeper Daryl Ryan received his colleagues' thanks after he made stunning back-to-back saves from Adrian Cooke and then Garland. Elsewhere, Daggers duo Paul Hart and Alex Busetto picked up minor knocks towards the end of a pretty poor first half.

 

The second half had barely started when Wayne Coton got booked for pushing Brentford striker Craig Mulligan in the centre circle. Things got better for us when we won a couple of corners, but we couldn't produce anything of note from them. The Bees also lacked a sting in their tail, with Cooke pulling wide a shot in the 64th minute. Garland came off injured soon after that following a collision with Coton.

 

While Brentford boss Steve Arnold made his enforced change, I used up all three of my substitutes at once. Neither Matthew Fraser, Troy Hands nor Ollie Pert could turn the game firmly in our favour. Ollie got booked within minutes of coming on, and both of his efforts at goal were dismal at best.

 

We had 10 shots in total, and only two were on target. I expected the Bees to be blunt, but I was very annoyed that our league-best frontline could not deliver a killer blow against the division's whipping boys.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Brentford - 0

League One, Attendance 6,077 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Brentford 24th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Charles, Coton, Busetto, O'Reilly, Barnes (Fraser), Hart (Hands), Roche, Dam, Ibrahim, West (Pert). BOOKED: O'Reilly, Coton, Pert.

 

This was precisely what I'd feared would happen at the start of the month. We had failed to score in, let alone win, three games that we might have been expected to take maximum points from.

 

If we couldn't make amends in the last two matches of our extended home run, it would surely spell disaster.

[CFuller]

MARCH 2028 (continued)

If our latest batch of youth players is anything to go by, the future at Dagenham & Redbridge looks very bright. After watching a team of schoolboy trialists thrash our Under-18s to the tune of 4-0, I signed up six of the victors to youth contracts.

 

Strikers Grant Drake and Steve Hughes were both signed after scoring in the rout, as was Shaun Johnson, who looked rock-solid at centre-back. The other three players to receive contracts were midfielders Dennis McCann and Tom Virgo, and the ironically-named right-winger (yes, another right-winger!) Robin Cook.

 

As far as the first-team were concerned, seeds of doubt were being sown on Victoria Road. A run of four matches without winning, and three without even scoring, had put our place in the top six under scrutiny.

 

Our next game carried even greater importance, as it was at home to 7th-placed Oxford United. We scored seven times without reply when we played Oxford at the Kassam Stadium in November, but if they could avenge that humiliation, they would be just four points behind us.

 

18 March 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Oxford United

Oxford were determined not to suffer another heavy defeat, and after six minutes, they took a surprise lead. Wales midfielder Cledan Price spotted Danny Symes making a run into our penalty area and threaded the ball towards him. Symes then squared the ball to striker Jack Franklin, who placed it into the net.

 

When Gavin Dalton headed wide an opportunity to give the Daggers a quick equaliser two minutes later, I feared that another poor home result was on the cards. Our first shot on target came in the 14th minute, but Mark West's powerful drive was tipped behind by Oxford goalie Jonathan Bond. Matthew Fraser then floated a free-kick just over the bar a minute later.

 

It soon became clear that we were giving the ball away far too cheaply to really open the U's up. I told my team to try and control possession a bit more, so that we could gradually break the away side down. After 22 minutes, our luck finally turned. Oxford striker Reis Collins played a sloppy pass deep in his team's half, and Daggers midfielder Dean Martin skipped past visiting right-back Chris Shearing to intercept it. After evading a soft challenge from centre-half Josh Passley, Dean centred the ball to Troy Hands, who made it 1-1!

 

We looked far more comfortable on the ball now, although our defence remained somewhat shaky. On 29 minutes, Daryl Ryan beat away a Franklin effort that could easily have restored Oxford's advantage. United's hopes were dented later on when Price picked up a knock in a challenge from Martin.

 

Dean would inflict more pain on the visitors four minutes from half-time. Gareth Flood's cross took a deflection off defender Andrew Burnett's back, and Martin fired a rebound shot that ricocheted in off the post! That put us 2-1 ahead, and Daryl's 43rd-minute save from Les Savage kept it that way at half-time.

 

I told the players at half-time to keep on pushing forward, and they did exactly that by finding the net in the first minute of the second half. Flood's deep cross into the six-yard box was headed home by Hands... but not before Troy elbowed Bond into his own net! The goal was rightly chalked off, but Troy would soon help to give us a 3-1 advantage by legitimate means. After 48 minutes, his through-ball was hammered home by West for the Dagenham captain's 25th league goal this season!

 

Mark would be celebrating his 26th goal just three minutes later. After Flood's free-kick had been diverted over by Bond, Fraser curled in a corner that West met with a sublime header! Our quickfire start to the second half had sent us three goals ahead, with the potential to increase our lead further still.

 

After 61 minutes, Gareth cushioned a header from Tim Beech's cross to Hands, who skied a stunning half-volley into the stands. In a less one-sided encounter, that miss might've turned the game. But with Mark looking beastly in the air, and Dean running the midfield like a teenaged English Xavi, there was no chance of us failing to take all three points from this match.

 

Oxford's one real opportunity to get back in the game came and went in the 74th minute. Collins ran at the Daggers defence after receiving the ball from U's captain Jack McBean, and his strike fizzed just past the post. We would run out comfortable 4-1 winners in the end, although substitute Joel Honeyball was very unlucky not to cap the game with a stunning fifth Daggers goal deep into added-on time.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Hands 22, Martin 41, West 48,51)

Oxford United - 1 (Franklin 6)

League One, Attendance 6,077 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Oxford 9th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton, O'Reilly, Roche, Fraser (Scott), Martin, Flood, West (Pert), Hands (Honeyball).

 

That incredible return to form moved us back into the top two... for about 24 hours. Wrexham would overtake us again after winning 3-1 at Bradford City on Sunday.

 

Dean Martin had done a sterling job in midfield for us against Oxford. Sadly, he strained his wrist just two days later, thus ruling him out of contention for our next match.

 

The next team to pay us a visit were Scunthorpe United, who had lost just once in their last eight league games. That run seemed to have come too late to move the Iron into play-off contention.

 

25 March 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Scunthorpe United

We had to come from behind in our last match against Scunthorpe, and we would have to do so again here. Scunny won a couple of corners in the third minute, and the second of them was bundled home by defender Darius Burgess.

 

It was a very strong start from the Iron, who could've moved two goals in front after eight minutes. Fortunately for us, Wayne Coton headed Jim Yates' cross off the goal line just in time. We then bucked up our ideas and went for an equaliser. Geraint Harding's 10th-minute drive sailed wide, and Jonathan Roche sent a tame effort into Scunthorpe goalie Alan Senior's hands six minutes later. We did break through in the 22nd minute, when Gareth Flood's through-ball was hammered in by Troy Hands for the leveller.

 

Two minutes later, we managed to go from 1-0 down to 2-1 up. Hands was the creator of our second goal, as Mark West towered above Iron left-back Stuart Kerr to nod Troy's 40-yard lob into the net!

 

We were now firmly in command, and we almost opened Scunthorpe's defence again in the 32nd minute. Hands rounded Burgess on his way towards the Scunny area, where he fired a sitter the wrong side of the post. Moments later, though, we had forgotten about that horrible miss. The visitors were carved open by Flood's weighted lob to West, who turned it in with a sublime diving header!

 

To be fair to Scunthorpe, they didn't cave in completely after going 3-1 behind. Yates gave us a scare shortly after the restart, when the Australian midfielder's free-kick floated just over our bar.

 

In the 35th minute, Yates had an absolute nightmare. Matthew Fraser muscled him off the ball and then set up a clear-cut chance for Hands with the help of West. However, Troy could not join Mark in scoring his second goal of the afternoon, as he somehow missed the target! Flood also wasted a golden opportunity just before half-time, firing Tim Beech's deep cross into Senior's hands.

 

All those missed chances could've haunted us in the second half if we hadn't started it quickly. Luckily, we did at last get our fourth goal in the fourth minute of the half. Senior could only parry a powerful West strike to Roche, whose finish moved us three goals clear.

 

That gap should've increased even further in the 52nd minute, but Hands' drive from a clever West through-ball went straight at Senior. On another day, Troy could have had a hat-trick of goals, if not more. Hands remained stuck on one goal, though, and he was replaced by Paul Hart after 64 minutes.

 

Two minutes after that change, Scunny sub Elliot Broad sent a rare United chance safely towards Daryl Ryan. Daryl was having a very quiet afternoon compared to Senior, who pushed behind a shot from Hart in the 71st minute. The resulting corner was floated in by Fraser and headed home by Josh Charles, who gave us a 5-1 lead!

 

The win was no longer in question, but Scunthorpe were determined to finish this game on a high. With four minutes to go, they produced an excellent attacking move that ended with midfielder Robin Gould bagging a consolation goal. That would be the final goal of a 5-2 thriller.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 5 (Hands 22, West 24,33, Roche 49, Charles 72)

Scunthorpe United - 2 (Burgess 3, Gould 86)

League One, Attendance 5,953 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Scunthorpe 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech (Dalton), Charles, Coton, O'Reilly, Roche, Fraser (Barnes), Harding, Flood, West, Hands (Hart).

 

We were back to our free-scoring ways, back up to 2nd place on goal difference... and 10 points clear of 7th. We were also now guaranteed our highest-ever finish in League One.

 

It had been an incredible season, and I was determined to see it through to a glorious contention. That didn't stop one club from trying to bring me into the Championship before I could earn a promotion to it.

 

Crewe Alexandra were hovering just above the Championship relegation zone, having recently dispensed with manager Steve Davis. Spotting that I had a knack for getting excellent results with a limited budget, and one eye on youth development, Crewe's Spanish owner Mario Martorell offered me £7,500 a week to come to the Alexandra Stadium.

 

I felt humbled by the prospect of following in the footsteps of Railwaymen legend Dario Gradi, but not even £75,000 a week would have persuaded me to leave Dagenham & Redbridge. I was so close to fulfilling their dream of playing Championship football, and I had no intention of leaving them before that became reality.

[CFuller]

League One Table (End of March 2028)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Luton                  41    23    4     14    55    44    +11   73
2.          Dag & Red              41    21    8     12    78    47    +31   71
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Wrexham                41    19    14    8     64    37    +27   71
4.          Chester                41    21    8     12    66    56    +10   71
5.          Leeds                  41    19    13    9     55    38    +17   70
6.          Portsmouth             41    17    13    11    55    42    +13   64
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Northampton            41    15    16    10    57    46    +11   61
8.          Charlton               41    18    7     16    68    72    -4    61
9.          Oxford                 41    18    7     16    63    70    -7    61
10.         Gillingham             41    15    13    13    59    50    +9    58
11.         Shrewsbury             41    14    16    11    43    39    +4    58
12.         AFC Telford            41    16    8     17    49    43    +6    56
13.         Rotherham              41    15    11    15    59    54    +5    56
14.         Rochdale               41    15    11    15    51    53    -2    56
15.         Fleetwood              41    14    12    15    50    48    +2    54
16.         Scunthorpe             41    12    17    12    45    49    -4    53
17.         Colchester             41    14    10    17    66    74    -8    52
18.         Sheff Wed              41    11    14    16    40    50    -10   47
19.         Stockport              41    10    14    17    60    73    -13   44
20.         Oldham                 41    8     17    16    38    59    -21   41
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.         Walsall                41    9     13    19    56    71    -15   40
22.         Bradford               41    9     13    19    42    62    -20   40
23.         Hartlepool             41    8     15    18    57    76    -19   39
24.         Brentford              41    5     18    18    27    50    -23   33

[CFuller]

APRIL 2028

Going into the final month of the regular season, we were still in the hunt for a second successive promotion. Two more wins would guarantee us a play-off place, and if results really went our way, automatic promotion to the Championship would be within our reach.

 

We had to keep our eye on the ball, though, because our run-in was not the easiest. With three consecutive away matches followed by two tricky home games, there was still time for things to go drastically wrong:

2 April: vs Stockport County (A) - Stockport were 19th, and had won just once at home in 2028

8 April: vs Shrewsbury Town (A) - Shrewsbury were 11th, and had won six of their last eight matches

15 April: vs Wrexham (A) - Wrexham were 3rd, and had only lost twice in the league since mid-November

17 April: vs Rochdale (H) - Rochdale were 14th, and had won five of their eight most recent games

22 April: vs Leeds United (H) - Leeds were 5th, and had conceded the second-fewest goals in the league

 

Ideally, I wanted us to have a top-six finish wrapped up before the Leeds game. Playing them would be hard enough without the added pressure of needing to get a result.

 

The first match of our April run-in, against Stockport County, was held over until Sunday. Saturday's results brought mixed news from our point of view, but we knew that a victory against the struggling Hatters would see us replace the other Hatters - Luton Town - at the top of the table.

 

2 April 2028: Stockport County vs Dagenham & Redbridge

My hopes were raised after six minutes, when Joel Honeyball raced through the Stockport defence. Joel shot from a difficult angle and won a corner after County keeper Mitchell Beeney's awkward save was knocked behind by full-back Mike O'Callaghan. The hosts cleared that corner, and they were also untroubled by a wild shot from Mark West in the 10th minute.

 

About a minute later, Dagenham midfielder Paul Hart's clumsy foul on Ashley Douglas gave Stockport a free-kick just outside our area. Stuart Ferguson flighted in the set-piece, which clipped the bar before going over.

 

Steve Ferrie pulled wide another Hatters opportunity in the 17th minute, and Callum Reilly's weak long-ranger was easily picked up by Ryan in the 25th, but there would only be more trouble ahead for us. On 29 minutes, Douglas turned away from Wayne Coton and crossed to Ferrie, whose left-footed half-volley opened the scoring.

 

Two minutes after Stockport went ahead, West's headed attempt to level only led to a straightforward catch from Beeney. Paul then rushed into a shot from distance on 33 minutes. Our anxiety grew when Wayne was booked a couple of minutes later for barging into Ferrie.

 

On 38 minutes, things went from bad to worse for us. O'Reilly flicked Beeney's goal kick on to Douglas, who raced forward to grab the Hatters a second goal. Gavin Dalton's inadequate marking of Douglas, and Josh Charles' failure to tackle the former Dagenham youth player, would prompt me to substitute both of those defenders at the end of a retched first period.

 

Additional tactical changes at half-time would help to prevent Stockport from stretching their two-goal lead further in the second period. The Hatters were restricted to just one real opening in the first quarter-hour, and ex-Daggers striker Josh Jones pulled it wide on 49 minutes.

 

We fared slightly better, though substitute defender Alex Busetto and inside-forward Joel Honeyball each missed the target either side of the hour mark. Our breakthrough would come in the 64th minute, when West converted Gareth Flood's cross from close range. It was Mark's fifth goal in three games, as well as Gareth's fourth assist in the same timeframe!

 

We now had the greater impetus compared to County, and Paul almost levelled from a direct free-kick in the 68th minute. Four minutes after that, Douglas powered wide a chance to put Stockport back in a comfortable position. As the clock ticked on our attempts to save a point, tensions rose with Hart and Tim Beech both getting booked.

 

Stockport midfielder Todd Miller had already been cautioned early in the first half, so he was taking a big risk when he slid in on Fraser in the Hatters' area after 84 minutesk. Fraser went down in a heap, but the referee waved play on, and Stockport briefly threatened to counter-attack until Miller sportingly put the ball into touch. Matthew's injury left him unable to continue, and we had to finish the match with 10 men.

 

We looked dead and buried... until we won a corner right at the end of normal time. Geraint Harding's outswinging corner found West in the middle of the six-yard box, and Mark's header rattled the bar! Fortunately, the skipper thrashed in the rebound, saving us a point with his 30th goal of the season!

 

Stockport County - 2 (Ferrie 29, Douglas 38)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (West 64,90)

League One, Attendance 5,958 - POSITIONS: Stockport 19th, Dag & Red 4th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Coton, Dalton (Flood), Charles (Busetto), Beech, O'Reilly, Harding, Fraser, Hart, West, Honeyball (Dam). BOOKED: Coton, Hart, Beech.

 

In any other situation, failure to beat Stockport County would've been unacceptable in my book. However, I'd been buoyed by our comeback from 2-0 down, which was even more surprising, considering that we had to play the final six minutes without Matthew Fraser. Speaking of Matthew, his 'injury' turned out to be nothing serious.

 

A week later, we travelled to mid-table Shrewsbury Town in good spirits. Another strong result at Greenhous Meadow would move us even closer to securing a play-off spot.

 

8 April 2028: Shrewsbury Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Shrewsbury's wingers were a real danger to us early on. In the fifth minute, right-winger Angel Mitric curled in a deep cross that rattled our bar and fell to left-winger Joe Geer, who volleyed it off target! Geer almost clicked into gear on 10 minutes, when his centre was parried by Dagenham goalkeeper Daryl Ryan. Mitric tried to float in a follow-up cross, but Wayne Coton headed clear. Brighton & Hove Albion loanee Mitric then sent a free-kick narrowly wide four minutes later.

 

On 26 minutes, Mitric set up a chance for Ben Crossland, and then watched the ex-Chelsea trainee fire a half-volley into the stands. At the other end of the pitch, our attack seriously lacked penetration, and we didn't register our first shot at goal until after 37 minutes. Gareth Flood flicked the ball on to Mark West, and the Daggers captain struck the post from a tight angle. Ryan withstood a couple of shots from Shrews midfielders Crossland and Terry Dawson late in the half, and the score incredibly remained 0-0 at half-time!

 

The second half was a tight and tense affair to begin with. Dawson was booked in the 47th minute for tripping Matthew Fraser, who would himself receive a yellow card five minutes later. On 55 minutes, Daggers substitute Yasser Ibrahim's drilled cross prompted an easy save from Shrewsbury's Euan Duncan, who'd kept more clean sheets in League One than any other goalkeeper this season.

 

Our own goalie's sheet would be dirtied after exactly 58 minutes. Ryan was unable to keep out Shrews striker Kenny McCarthy's strike from an excellent Ashley Cousins corner, and so the deadlock was finally broken.

 

Shrewsbury grew in confidence from there, and a lovely attacking move in the 71st minute could've resulted in their second goal. In the end, we were fortunate that Geer could not keep his shot on target. Three minutes later, we punished the hosts for that missed trick. Paul Hart laid the ball to Ibrahim, and Yasser calmly curled the ball past Duncan's dive and into the net. 1-1, and game on again!

 

Shrewsbury's resolve was tested in the closing stages as we won a couple of corners. The Shrews held firm, and after 83 minutes, right-back Darren Holt's excellent tackle on Ibrahim started a counter-attack. Moments later, McCarthy finished the move with a 20-yard scorcher after evading Coton.

 

Shrewsbury were leading again, but we weren't too concerned. Daggers sub Dean Martin had a decent effort on goal in the 86th minute, but Duncan denied him our second equaliser. Two minutes later, the Shrews' wing wizard combined again for a chance to seal victory.

 

Geer's cross evaded a mistimed jump from our substitute left-back Matt Warren and fell towards Mitric, who volleyed at goal. It took a brilliant save from Ryan to keep the Romanian's volley out and concede only a corner. Sadly, Daryl's goalkeeping went from sublime to sub-standard as soon as Emiliano Marcondes swung in the set-piece. Shrews centre-back Jordan McGhee climbed above our Irish custodian to flick Marcondes' delivery home and make it 3-1.

 

Our defence then caved in completely in injury time. McCarthy sprayed the ball out to Marcondes on the right wing, and the Dane subsequently curled a low corner into our area. Despite Coton's best efforts, McCarthy took control of the ball and played it back to Dawson, whose shot clipped in off Ryan's right-hand post. Three goals in barely eight minutes had turned what could've been a respectable 1-1 draw into an unexplainable 4-1 defeat!

 

Shrewsbury Town - 4 (McCarthy 59,84, McGhee 89, Dawson 90)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Ibrahim 74)

League One, Attendance 6,778 - POSITIONS: Shrewsbury 11th, Dag & Red 4th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Busetto, Coton, O'Reilly (Warren), Fraser (Martin), Harding, Roche, Hart, Flood (Ibrahim), West. BOOKED: O'Reilly, Fraser.

 

I was emotionally exhausted and my voice was breaking up, but I was still angry enough to give my team a rollicking at full-time. "What happened, eh?" I asked them. "How could you just fall apart like that? There's no excuse for going to pieces against a team like Shrewsbury - and certainly not when there's a play-off place on the line!

 

"This was not the Dagenham & Redbridge team that I've been used to seeing over the last two or three years. That team doesn't give up when things don't go their way. That team doesn't concede three goals in the last ten minutes! When we go to Wrexham next weekend, I want to see that team again, and NOT this team. You got that?"

 

Our capitulation had put us under serious pressure with just three matches remaining. We were now five points behind Wrexham, and four behind both Leeds United and Luton Town, so our automatic promotion hopes were fading. Even more worryingly, we only had a five-point lead on 7th-placed Charlton Athletic, albeit with a far superior goal difference.

 

We almost choked 12 months ago, at the end of the League Two season, before eventually getting promoted to League One. Were we about to chuck away a shot at another promotion - from the third tier?

[CFuller]

APRIL 2028 (continued)

My 300th competitive game with Dagenham & Redbridge was a potentially nerve-wracking one. We travelled to 2nd-placed Wrexham in the knowledge that defeat would effectively end our dream of going up automatically, and also damage our hopes of staying in the top six.

 

It was a pretty fearsome Wrexham team that welcomed us to the Racecourse Ground. The Red Dragons boasted the best defence in League One, a 24-goal scorer in Fredi Horvat, and former England winger Nathan Redmond.

 

Against that lot, I would've been mad to leave behind some key players... but with a home game against Rochdale scheduled for 48 hours later, that was exactly what I did. The likes of Gavin Dalton, Troy Hands and Paul Hart stayed at home as I fielded a starting XI that only included three players aged 23 or over - Josh Charles, Daryl Ryan and Mark West.

 

15 April 2028: Wrexham vs Dagenham 8 Redbridge

It wasn't surprising that Wrexham conjured up the game's first attack after four minutes. The Red Dragons probed the ball around the right flank deep in our half before Keith Corcoran squared it to his fellow midfielder Jonathan Ferrell. Ferrell drove the ball towards goal from 25 yards out, and Daryl Ryan kept it out with an assured save.

 

Wrexham won a corner in the 11th minute after young Scottish midfielder Tommy Scott headed the ball behind the byline on his full Daggers debut. Veteran winger Nathan Redmond delivered the corner to striker Robbie Kane, whose header was caught by Ryan.

 

Wrexham's goalkeeper Grant Smith made his first save after 18 minutes, tipping away a low strike from Mark West. Worryingly, Mark's next attempt a minute later drifted much further away from goal. West was failing to take his chances for Dagenham, and Fredi Horvat did likewise for the hosts later on. On 38 minutes, Horvat rattled the bar with a close-range header from Ferrell's through-ball, but a foul on Ryan meant that the goal wouldn't have been awarded anyway. The Slovenian had two more headed chances just before the break but couldn't convert either of them.

 

Horvat didn't put his shooting boots on for the second half, as he dragged a woeful attempt wide just moments after the restart. His day would get worse after 50 minutes, when Josh Charles superbly tackled him off the ball in the Dagenham area. Josh drove the ball upfield to Mark, who then played a clever one-two with Joel Honeyball. Wrexham defender Theo Moore couldn't quite make a clean interception from Joel's return pass, as Mark hoovered up his header. West then cut inside and moved towards the six-yard box, where he lifted the ball over Smith's dive and found the net! We were 1-0 up away to Wrexham!

 

The added pressure on the Red Dragons was soon beginning to tell, as Corcoran pulled a wayward shot off target in the 58th minute. By the 69th minute, we were firmly in the driving seat. After West played the ball back to him from the byline, young Daggers wing-back Zac Johnson curled in a delicate first-time cross that was finished by Victor Dam for 2-0!

 

The away fans fell deathly silent after Victor's goal. Some started to leave the Racecourse Ground when Horvat was booked for upending Charles on 73 minutes, and more followed after Redmond struck a terrible shot two minutes later.

 

I could now take things easier, so I benched West for the rest of the match. His replacement Ollie Pert made a quick impact, as he completed a 79th-minute Daggers breakaway by tapping in our third goal. William Barnes had played the final pass to Pert, and he would later be named man of the match after running the show from midfield.

 

Dam had also played a blinder before being replaced by Dean Martin six minutes from full-time. Dean's cameo turned sour when he broke his arm in added-on time, bringing his season to an early end, but that didn't dampen our spirits after a brilliant 3-0 win!

 

Wrexham - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (West 51, Dam 70, Pert 79)

League One, Attendance 8,753 - POSITIONS: Wrexham 2nd, Dag & Red 4th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Charles, Busetto, Gorman, Z Johnson, O'Reilly, Barnes, Scott (Harding), Dam (Martin), West (Pert), Honeyball. BOOKED: Busetto.

 

Significantly, the teams in 7th, 8th, and 9th place - Charlton Athletic, Northampton Town, and Gillingham - all failed to win. That meant our play-off spot was now locked down, and we could focus on trying to convert that into an automatic promotion.

 

Breaking into the top two would be difficult, but with a couple of home matches on the horizon, it was still possible.

 

As I mentioned earlier, it was Rochdale who came to Victoria Road for our penultimate regular-season game on Easter Monday. The Dale were six points adrift of the last remaining play-off place, but they needed to win their final two matches - and pray that a load of other results went their way - to have any chance of snatching it.

 

If we could beat Rochdale, and both Luton Town and Wrexham failed to win away from home, we would be in 2nd place on the eve of the final day. Could it happen?

 

17 April 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Rochdale

We put Rochdale under almost relentless pressure during the opening stages of this match. Barely a minute had passed when Mark West nodded Tim Beech's cross towards goal, forcing Fabian Spiess into a fingertip save. The Dale's stalwart keeper caught another header, from Wayne Coton, shortly after that. Our aerial dominance continued in the fourth minute, as 5ft 10in Yasser Ibrahim outjumped 6ft 2in Dale defender Ablade Mensah to reach another Beech cross, which he couldn't quite get on target.

 

Tim was heavily involved again in the 11th minute, when his centre found Mark in the six-yard box. Incredibly, West's shot hit the post, and the game remained goalless! Spiess kept it that way by saving a couple more headers from Joel Honeyball after 14 minutes and then Victor Dam after 24.

 

Rochdale launched their first attack in the 27th minute, but midfielder Josh Todd's effort swerved wide. Less than a minute later, the visitors' defence finally gave way. Dam's direct pass took a fortunate deflection off the Dale's holding midfielder Gary Hill and bounced towards Troy Hands. Troy then skipped past Mensah before getting us off the mark with a tap-in!

 

Having broken through at last, we settled down and held onto our lead until half-time. Hill's misfortune continued when he injured himself while slide-tackling Honeyball in the 38th minute, thus forcing Dale manager Lewis Dunk to make his first substitution before the break.

 

We got back up to speed in the second half, but West's concentration was still somewhat suspect. In the first minute of the period, West latched onto a superb through-ball from Hands, only to strike the crossbar with his shot. That would be our captain's last chance to get onto the scoresheet.

 

On 55 minutes, Rochdale's half-time sub Richard Simmonds fired wide a free-kick that could've drawn his team level. Dunk would have to use up his final substitution just two minutes later. An accidental collision between Honeyball and Dale's retiring captain Max Power ended with the latter breaking his jaw. It marked a sad end to 34-year-old Power's playing career, which saw him make over 500 Football League appearances.

 

Another member of Rochdale's old guard had a moment to forget in the 61st minute. Honeyball's hopeful drive ahead of Dam went too long and bounced towards Spiess on the edge of his area. Spiess made a simple enough catch... but then he slipped on his left ankle and spilt the ball, leaving Dam with the simplest of finishes into an empty net! Former Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool defender Dunk had his head in his hands as his side's play-off chances literally slipped away.

 

Victor could've made him suffer even more in the 75th minute, but the Dane's fierce shot flew over the bar. Rochdale's day of misery was completed four minutes from time, when young sub Liam Lewis hit the bar with the visitors' best scoring chance. Daryl Ryan's clean sheet remained unblemished, and a second win in three days kept us in the hunt of automatic promotion...

 

...but it wasn't quite enough to move us up to 2nd. Although Wrexham were beaten at Hartlepool United, Luton Town ran out comfortable 4-1 winners at AFC Telford United, so it was they who took 2nd spot behind Leeds United. We now sat in 3rd place, just a single point behind Luton going into our final-day meeting with Leeds.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Hands 28, Dam 61)

Rochdale - 0

League One, Attendance 5,910 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 3rd, Rochdale 14th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Dalton, Coton, O'Reilly, Fraser (Harding), Hands, Honeyball, Dam (Hart), Ibrahim, West (Pert).

 

The fight for promotion was going to the wire, with four teams battling it out to join champions-elect Leeds United in next season's Championship. Would we win that golden ticket to the second tier?

[edtheguy]

What a game against Wrexam! Hopefully form will hold for the last match and Luton Town town can stumble. It's never fun to need help on the final day...

Great stuff as always!

[jWaSiMhE]

Good luck. Think the Daggers are ready.

[CFuller]

17 hours ago, edtheguy said:

What a game against Wrexam! Hopefully form will hold for the last match and Luton Town town can stumble. It's never fun to need help on the final day...

Great stuff as always!

The second half against Wrexham was incredible. It's kicked us back into gear just at the right time, but you'll find that our situation is not that straightforward.

13 hours ago, daniellewis_789 said:

Good luck. Think the Daggers are ready.

After just one season in League One? We'll see...

[CFuller]

APRIL 2028 (continued)

This was the top of the League One table, on the morning of Saturday 22 April 2028:

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    P     Leeds                  45    23    13    9     64    40    +24   82
2.    Pl    Luton                  45    25    4     16    61    50    +11   79
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.    Pl    Dag & Red              45    23    9     13    86    53    +33   78
4.    Pl    Wrexham                45    21    14    10    67    41    +26   77
5.    Pl    Chester                45    22    10    13    76    66    +10   76

 

That fateful afternoon would see us play host to Leeds United, who had been promoted back to the Championship at the first attempt, and were almost certain to do so as champions of League One. We had a chance to follow them into the higher league without having to negotiate the tricky play-offs, but our fate was largely out of our hands.

 

If we could overcome Leeds and claim a famous victory, we would be promoted, as long as Luton Town - the team currently in 2nd place - did not beat Chester. A draw against Leeds would only be enough for automatic promotion if Chester defeated Luton AND Wrexham failed to win their final match at Oxford United. Any other combination of results would put us into the play-offs.

 

Another significant subplot on the final day involved the battle for 6th place - and the final play-off berth that went with it. Portsmouth started the day in 6th, but Charlton Athletic, Gillingham, Rotherham United and Scunthorpe United were all still in contention, and they would be jockeying for position in case Pompey slipped up.

 

Back at Victoria Road, I made four changes to the starting XI that had won against Rochdale. Josh Charles, Geraint Harding and Paul Hart all returned to the side, while I took a big risk by selecting 18-year-old Paul Parkinson at right-wing. Would my bold move pay off?

 

22 April 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Leeds United

While we had to get a result in our game, we also needed Chester to do us a favour against Luton Town. Sadly, they really let us down early on. Just five minutes into our match, we heard that Luton had taken the lead.

 

Our rowdy supporters were quietened further after seven minutes, when Geraint Harding and Paul Hart put a couple of drives over the Leeds bar. Harding would be booked in the 13th minute for a foul on United's Byron Lawrence, two minutes after Paul Parkinson had been cautioned for tripping Shay Mullan. By then, some more positive news had filtered through from the Deva Stadium. Chester had equalised in their game.

 

As we became more optimistic about results elsewhere, Leeds grew stronger, with Ian Neary popping a decent effort wide in the 16th minute. Then, after 24 minutes, we received another update from the England-Wales border. Chester had scored again to take a 2-1 lead! Wrexham still hadn't broken through in the other match of consequence to us, so if those results stayed the same and we kept a clean sheet, we would be promoted!

 

After 31 minutes, though, we lost our concentration. Daggers defender Gavin Dalton's barge on Leeds striker Shane Gennings was punished by a free-kick, which Marcus Appleton dinked into the box. The Whites' French winger Rigoberto Ranguin snuck past our defence to volley Appleton's delivery home... but the referee's assistant raised the offside flag.

 

Relief turned to joy moments later, with news of a goal for Oxford against Wrexham! A home goal at Victoria Road would now really put us in a great position, and in the 42nd minute, Mark West's through-ball gave Hart the opportunity to score it. Leeds goalkeeper Daniel Lye was determined not to let that happen, as he charged out of his six-yard box to parry Paul's shot away.

 

Daryl Ryan also had to make a save about a minute later, getting his palms to a long-distance strike from Ranguin. Moments after that came a serious blow for us. Ibrahim collapsed in pain after a collision with Lawrence, and he had to be stretchered off shortly before the end of a goalless first half.

 

There were no changes to the scorelines at Chester or Oxford, so as things stood, we remained on course to take 2nd place. Although I was aware of this, I kept my players out of the loop, and simply told them to focus on getting a result. If they kept going and held firm, all of their hard work in the final 45 minutes would be worth it.

 

My second-half plans nearly fell apart after the first minute, when Neary blazed a shot inches over the bar. About a minute later, Harding's long ball was flicked on by substitute Victor Dam to West on the edge of Leeds' area. Mark watched the ball bounce, and then he unleashed a blistering half-volley that Lye did well to push away from goal.

 

We put together another promising attack shortly afterwards, in the 48th minute. Space opened up for Victor as he beat Appleton to Mark's weighted ball, and the Danish midfielder just had to slot it past Lye. Alas, he was denied by an outstanding tackle from the on-loan Fulham youngster.

 

Leeds then went on the counter, and as our players raced to get back into their positions, United captain Bradley Nicholas drove the ball ahead of Neary. The Irishman deftly chested the ball on the left flank, moved into the penalty area, and bent a clinical low drive beyond his compatriot Ryan's reach. Leeds had taken the lead, and Chester were now set to clinch automatic promotion.

 

We increased the tempo to try and restore parity, with West and Dam firmly at the forefront of our attacks. After 56 minutes, Mark bobbled a pass across the Whites' area for Victor, who was once again thwarted by the excellent Lye. Our inability to execute our chances would soon be punished.

 

Dagenham left-back Daniel O'Reilly was dreadfully out of position in the 63rd minute, leaving Leeds right-back Michael Stewart with plenty of time and space when he received a pass from Ranguin. Stewart crossed low into the danger area, and Joshua Turner beat both of our centre-backs to turn the ball across the goal line. 2-0 Leeds, and our promotion charge was crumbling.

 

Ryan's excellent save from a Ranguin piledriver in the 66th minute merely delayed the third Leeds goal - the one that would break the back of this match. Turner sealed victory for the League One champions after 72 minutes, converting Ranguin's byline cross from close range. Other results were now irrelevant to us as far as automatic promotion was concerned unless we launched a stunning comeback.

 

With Lye playing out of his 19-year-old skin, that was not bloody likely. Two more Lye saves from a couple of West efforts in the 80th and 82nd minutes shut us out completely, and a late injury to Matthew Fraser compounded our misery. If we were to get into next season's Championship, it would have to be via the play-offs.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Leeds United - 3 (Neary 48, Turner 63,72)

League One, Attendance 6,077 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Leeds 1st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Beech, Charles, Dalton, O'Reilly (Warren), Fraser, Harding, Parkinson (Dam), Hart, Ibrahim (Hands), West. BOOKED: Parkinson, Harding.

 

Chester were the team celebrating promotion after the final whistles blew, as their 2-1 win over Luton Town had seen them pip the Hatters to 2nd place on goal difference. We finished 4th, just ahead of Wrexham, who ultimately lost 4-2 at Oxford United, but those results left me feeling as sick as a parrot.

 

A draw would have been enough for us. If our defence hadn't crumbled, we would've been in the Championship.

 

The players were very disappointed, and one in particular was literally broken. Yasser Ibrahim had torn his calf muscle, bringing his season to a halt. I'd already decided that Yasser's contract would not be renewed in the summer; ergo, his Dagenham & Redbridge career was also over.

 

A week after that final-day defeat, we looked to get back on track in the first leg of our Play-Off Semi Final against Wrexham. Our last visit to the Racecourse Ground a fortnight earlier marked the start of three successive defeats for the Red Dragons, who'd choked when promotion was theirs for the taking. If we could get another win in North Wales, our own promotion hopes would be alive and kicking again.

 

The other Play-Off Semi Final would see Luton meet Portsmouth, who had managed to hold onto 6th spot.

 

29 April 2028: Wrexham vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Wrexham applied some early pressure on us, and they ominously took the lead after just two minutes. Dagenham defender Josh Charles could only clear Nathan Redmond's cross into the box as far as Dragons midfielder Jonathan Ferrell. Ferrell played a first-time pass back into the area for Gordon McGhee, whose centre was volleyed home by Robbie Kane.

 

That was a dreadful start for us, but in the fourth minute, we had a golden chance to get back on level terms. Victor Dam found Troy Hands in space near Wrexham's penalty spot, and Troy was denied a leveller by a fine save from goalkeeper Grant Smith. On 11 minutes, Smith played a free-kick long to Dragons striker Fredi Horvat, who tested Ryan with a fierce drive.

 

In the 17th minute, Daggers captain Mark West attempted to catch Smith off his line with a shot from long range. Alas, West's effort was miles off the mark, and we remained behind.

 

The match then got a bit scrappier, with Wrexham committing an awful lot of fouls. We couldn't make the most of our numerous free-kicks, although Dam went close from one such situation after 40 minutes. The Dane's free-kick went on target, but it flew straight towards Smith's grasp, and we were still trailing by that very early Kane goal to nil.

 

At half-time, I vented my fury at our failure to test our host and create any decent scoring opportunities. Much to my pleasure, the players reacted with a much better attacking display after the break.

 

During the 53rd minute, we steadily worked the ball towards Wrexham's area. Substitute Paul Hart fed the ball through to Hands, who then squared a pass that West drilled towards goal. Smith blocked that shot, but we were more clinical with our next one. Geraint Harding was at the heart of a 62nd-minute counter-attack that ended with him lobbing the ball to Troy, who skipped past Dragons centre-back Ryan Inniss and slipped in our equaliser!

 

Four minutes later, Hands completed the turnaround with the help of a fantastic long ball from young playmaker William Barnes. Troy controlled Will's delivery, evaded a slide tackle from Inniss, and powered us into the lead! The travelling Daggers fans were starting to believe that we could take an advantage into the second leg... but the Red Dragons had other thoughts.

 

On 69 minutes, Ryan made a hash of a simple shot from Ferrell, and he was thankful that the attack broke down when Ferrell fouled Tim Beech as he tried to reach the loose ball. He would be much less fortunate four minutes later. Wrexham right-back Nigel Warne's long ball from the halfway line was flicked on by Kane to Horvat, who beat Ryan with a skilful finish. Dagenham protests that the Slovenian was offside fell on deaf ears, and the game was level again.

 

I later took off the underperforming West, replacing him with teenager Ollie Pert. Ollie showed promise when he picked out Hands just outside the Dragons' penalty area after 81 minutes, but Hands' low drive fizzed past the past.

 

Smith lifted the resulting goal kick upfield to midfielder Keith Corcoran, who leapt above Gavin Dalton to head it square to Kane. The Scottish forward watched the ball bounce and then unleashed a left-footed half-volley. Ryan stretched to try and divert the shot over, but his efforts were in vain. The game had turned again, with Wrexham now leading 3-2. We couldn't summon the energy to get back level, so we would have to return to Victoria Road with a single-goal deficit.

 

Wrexham - 3 (Kane 2,82, Horvat 73)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Hands 62,65)

League One Play-Off Semi Final Leg 1, Attendance 12,748

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Charles, Dalton, Coton, Beech, Warren (O'Reilly), Harding, Barnes, Dam (Hart), West (Pert), Hands.

 

I had never previously lost the first leg of any Play-Off Semi Final before that game.

 

We'll have to really up our game at Victoria Road if we are to keep alive our hopes of reaching the Championship. But having blown a 2-1 lead in the away leg, do we have enough mental strength to recover and get to the Final?

[CFuller]

MAY 2028

Compared to the first leg of our Play-Off Semi Final with Wrexham, the other Semi meeting between Portsmouth and Luton Town started with a whimper. There were no goals, and a slew of yellow cards, as those two sides fought out an attritional battle that left the final outcome very much in question.

 

Our tie was still up for grabs when we welcomed Wrexham to Victoria Road for Leg 2, but the pressure was really on us now. We had to win by one goal to even force extra-time, and by at least two to reach the Final at Wembley.

 

Wayne Coton and, to a lesser extent, Gavin Dalton had both been disappointing in North Wales, so their places in our three-man defence went to Harry Gorman and Alex Busetto. Daniel O'Reilly replaced Matt Warren at left wing-back, and Paul Hart took Victor Dam's spot in midfield, in my other personnel changes from Leg 1.

 

4 May 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Wrexham

After making a slow start, we presented Wrexham goalkeeper Grant Smith with his first test in the 11th minute. Geraint Harding threaded the ball to Mark West, but Smith was able to punch away our skipper's swerving effort.

 

We had to wait until the 22nd minute for our next real chance, which defender Harry Gorman headed wide. A minute later, the experienced Nathan Redmond snatched at Wrexham's first opportunity to strike. Fredi Horvat came much closer for the Dragons a minute after that, striking the bar with his header from a Nigel Warne cross.

 

As the visitors grew into the game, our supporters grew anxious, fearing that our task would soon be made a lot more difficult. That was exactly what happened after 34 minutes. Wrexham captain Callam Pearson swerved the ball into our penalty area and found Robbie Kane, whose header bounced past Daryl Ryan and found the net.

 

That put us 1-0 down on the night, and two goals behind on aggregate. We were unable to strike back before half-time, and to make matters worse, William Barnes and West each picked up bookings in the 41st minute.

 

An infuriating evening for Mark continued early in the second half. The big man was denied by two breathtaking saves from Smith in the 47th and 51st minutes, leaving us wondering if we could find a way through this tight Wrexham defence.

 

Troy Hands almost made the breakthrough after 54 minutes, but he bent a shot wide while under pressure from Dragons centre-backs Ryan Inniss and Theo Moore. Substitute Victor Dam, who took over from the ineffectual Paul Hart early in the half, was unable to get anywhere near the target with a long-distance shot after 59 minutes. There were further wasted efforts from West and Dam shortly after the hour mark.

 

Whatever we tried just would not work in our bid to claw back even one goal, let alone the two we needed. When another disappointing attempt from West drifted wide in the 79th minute, many disillusioned Daggers left the ground, resigned to our exit from the play-offs. Four minutes later, another fine save by Smith denied sub Joel Honeyball the chance to be our hero.

 

Attacking for so long without reward took its toll on us physically as Wrexham finished the match very strongly. Horvat almost secured their progress in the 85th minute, but Ryan showed that he was not going to give up with a superb catch.

 

About two minutes from full-time, we were given one final chance to save the game after Dam was brought down by Keith Corcoran deep in the Dragons' half. Barnes, whose tireless midfield display and brave tackling would see him named man of the match, flighted the free-kick towards goal... and struck the Wrexham wall.

 

The Welshmen had held firm, and their supporters were singing loud and proud at the final whistle. While they were heading to Wembley, our fans were heading to the pub to drown their sorrows.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Wrexham - 1 (Kane 34)

[Wrexham win 4-2 on aggregate]

League One Play-Off Semi Final Leg 2, Attendance 6,077

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan, Charles, Busetto, Gorman, Beech (Plummer), O'Reilly, Harding, Barnes, Hart (Dam), West, Hands (Honeyball). BOOKED: Barnes, West.

 

I hate the play-offs. I'd now been involved in three play-off campaigns across three different divisions with Dagenham & Redbridge, and every one of them had ended in failure.

 

"I think you've blown a great chance, lads," I told the players at full-time. "This could've been our greatest ever season - reaching Round 5 in the FA Cup, and winning promotion to the Championship. Unfortunately, your performances over the last three games have just not been good enough.

 

"You've really exceeded all expectations this season, but now we've got to start all over again from square one. Everybody will be after us next season, because they'll know how strong we are. We're not the underdogs anymore.

 

"Some of you will be in this dressing room next season. Some of you will not. Those of you that are staying here will have to really work your socks off next season, because I want another shot at promotion - and this time, I will not be tolerating failure. Goodnight."

 

I left the dressing room to a round of applause, and then struggled to control my emotions on my way to the car park. It had been an exhausting campaign, and I was devastated that it had ended without reward.

[CFuller]

MAY 2028 (continued)

Every occasion where we narrowly miss out on promotion gives us an opportunity to take stock and realise just how far we have come as a club.

 

This season saw us break new ground, getting to Round 5 in the FA Cup before achieving a best-ever finish of 4th in League One. That was a remarkable achievement for a newly-promoted club whose wage bill was amongst the lowest in the division.

 

We finished top scorers in our division for the third season running, and only one more point would've taken us up into the Championship automatically. Ultimately, though, there were two key reasons why we just came up short.

 

The first was our defensive record, which wasn't exactly terrible, yet was still inferior to the other three teams who made the play-offs. More significantly, our home form was a bit shaky - we lost eight times at Victoria Road in the regular season. Although our away record was only bettered by champions Leeds United, I couldn't help feeling that more consistent results on our own ground would've seen us through.

 

Our excellent campaign did not go unnoticed when the Football League awards came around. Mark West's tally of 31 goals, which was just one shy of the 32 he mustered in League Two last season, won him the League One Golden Boot.

 

West had also been named in the PFA's Team of the Year for League One alongside Paul Hart. Incredibly, it was the third year in a row that Paul - who, let's remember, is still only 20 - was picked for the best XI in his division!

 

Meanwhile, William Barnes' excellent form at the end of the season earned the midfielder a first call-up to the England Under-19s squad for their European Championship qualifiers.

 

When Barnes appeared as a late substitute in a 6-1 thrashing of Albania, he became - as far as I was aware - the first player contracted to Dagenham & Redbridge to represent England at any level. Will then started and scored in a 1-1 draw against Belgium before sitting out a 2-1 win over Portugal, which sealed the young Lions' place in the Finals.

 

Barnes will hope to still be part of the England squad when they travel to Russia for the European Under-19s Championships in July. Before then, two other Daggers will be getting a taste of international tournament action.

 

Goalkeeper Daryl Ryan and left-back Daniel O'Reilly are both back home in the Republic of Ireland, where they'll be part of the host nation's team for next month's European Under-21s Championship. Left-winger Gareth Flood was also in the provisional Ireland squad before being cut.

 

Sadly, the senior European Championship will be a Dagger-free zone. Geraint Harding could consider himself very unfortunate not to be in the Wales party that jetted to Belgium for their first major finals since 1958.

 

While our international stars got ready to represent their countries, and our other players went off on their holidays, I set about making changes to next season's squad. After the relative success of this campaign, I decided to make some much bolder signings - ones that could make the difference when it comes to promotion.

 

My first new acquisition had me excited. Roy Ganfield was a rising star in Manchester United's Under-18s side, scoring nine goals as they reached the Final of the Professional Development League. The Coventry-born striker's performances earned him comparisons to Red Devils legend Damien King - and that is not faint praise.

 

However, United decided not to extend Ganfield's contract, leaving him free to speak to other clubs. I was very quick to strike, signing the 17-year-old on a three-year deal before anyone else could make an offer. I'm taking a bit of a gamble, as Roy is nowhere near League One quality right now, but his long-term future could be sensational.

 

Another risky addition to an already irresistible Dagenham attack was that of 30-year-old free agent Max Hicks.

 

Hicks made his name as a young prodigy at his hometown club Crewe Alexandra, for whom he played in 336 league games and scored 65 goals. Many punters and pundits reckoned that he was destined for great things at the highest level. However, things started to fall apart after he was transferred to Nottingham Forest for £1.2million in 2023.

 

He featured just nine times for Forest in three years before moving to Huddersfield Town on a free transfer. Max's career quickly went into a tailspin, and after one solitary cup appearance in 19 months, he was released by Huddersfield at the end of the last transfer window. His life as a professional football looked to be coming to an end... until I came in.

 

You see, I'm a firm believer that form is temporary and class is permanent. Although Hicks has not had many opportunities to show his attacking class over the last half-decade, he still retains the blistering pace and fierce determination that first made him a star in waiting. If he can link up well with West in the coming season, no defence will be safe from this potentially deadly duo.

 

There were new professional contracts for youth wingers Mitchell Paratusic and Paul Parkinson, while right-back Dan Plummer's steady improvement over the season just gone was rewarded with a four-year deal.

 

I was also keen to agree new contracts with centre-backs Josh Charles and Wayne Coton, although their wage demands were potential stumbling blocks in the negotiations. If push comes to shove and I have to sacrifice one to keep the other, I would rather retain Josh.

 

Harry Gorman had shown promise in seven first-team appearances at centre-back this season... but he would not be receiving a new contract with us. I believed that it would be best for Harry's career if he moved elsewhere for more regular senior football. The former Irish youth international received several contract offers and eventually chose to sign with York City, who were now back in the Football League.

 

Lumumba McLean was also made available for transfer, even though his contract still had another season left to run. The midfielder had not impressed in three separate loan moves to the Conference Premier, the last of which saw him make a mere five appearances for Grimsby Town. If a decent offer to sign the 20-year-old on a permanent basis came in, I would certainly accept it.

 

There would be no changes with regards to my backroom staff. Coaches Scott Carson, Danny Keohane and David Wheater all signed long-term deals to stay on with us, and James Stevens was retained as Under-18s manager for at least another term.

[CFuller]

League One Table (End of 2027/2028)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Leeds                  46    24    13    9     67    40    +27   85
2.    P     Chester                46    23    10    13    78    67    +11   79
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Luton                  46    25    4     17    62    52    +10   79
4.          Dag & Red              46    23    9     14    86    56    +30   78
5.    P     Wrexham                46    21    14    11    69    45    +24   77
6.          Portsmouth             46    19    14    13    61    49    +12   71
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Charlton               46    20    7     19    80    81    -1    67
8.          Oxford                 46    20    7     19    70    79    -9    67
9.          Gillingham             46    17    15    14    68    60    +8    66
10.         Rotherham              46    18    12    16    65    57    +8    66
11.         Scunthorpe             46    16    18    12    62    55    +7    66
12.         Rochdale               46    18    11    17    57    60    -3    65
13.         Northampton            46    16    16    14    63    57    +6    64
14.         Shrewsbury             46    15    19    12    52    47    +5    64
15.         Fleetwood              46    16    13    17    61    55    +6    61
16.         Colchester             46    17    10    19    75    81    -6    61
17.         AFC Telford            46    16    9     21    53    56    -3    57
18.         Sheff Wed              46    12    16    18    45    56    -11   52
19.         Oldham                 46    11    17    18    44    64    -20   50
20.         Bradford               46    11    14    21    45    67    -22   47
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Stockport              46    10    16    20    66    84    -18   46
22.   R     Brentford              46    9     18    19    34    53    -19   45
23.   R     Hartlepool             46    10    15    21    62    86    -24   45
24.   R     Walsall                46    10    13    23    62    80    -18   43

[CFuller]

Dagenham & Redbridge Player Statistics (2027/2028)

(Includes stats from all first-team matches & 3 Essex Senior Cup matches)

 

GOALKEEPERS               APPS    CON  CLN  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Mick Kinsella             2 (1)   5    0    0    59%  -    -    0    0    6.83
Louis Newman              7       10   2    0    79%  -    -    0    0    6.64
Tony Rattle               2       2    1    0    58%  -    -    0    0    6.60
Daryl Ryan                48      59   19   0    70%  -    -    0    0    6.87
OUTFIELD PLAYERS          APPS    GLS  AST  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Lloyd Bailey              2 (1)   0    1    0    71%  -    0%   0    0    6.83
William Barnes            19 (14) 0    4    2    81%  0.67 13%  4    0    7.11
Tim Beech                 42      0    2    0    80%  0.61 0%   3    0    7.08
Alex Busetto              13 (2)  0    0    0    78%  0.25 0%   3    0    6.94
Gianluca Cecere           5 (8)   11   2    3    75%  0.84 60%  1    0    7.74
Josh Charles              32 (5)  3    0    1    73%  0.28 71%  1    0    7.27
Wayne Coton               39 (3)  0    2    4    74%  0.38 33%  3    0    7.44
Gavin Dalton              38 (3)  2    1    5    72%  0.29 44%  3    0    7.29
Victor Dam                13 (8)  6    4    1    76%  0.38 50%  3    0    7.16
Michael Dunn              1 (1)   0    1    0    75%  2.00 -    0    0    7.35
Gareth Flood              22 (4)  0    4    0    75%  1.57 44%  1    0    6.91
Matthew Fraser            37 (8)  0    9    1    86%  0.94 32%  4    0    7.30
Harry Gorman              6 (4)   0    0    1    61%  0.25 0%   0    0    7.36
Troy Hands                27 (11) 15   10   2    80%  1.44 41%  3    0    7.24
Geraint Harding           36 (7)  3    8    2    78%  0.74 38%  2    0    7.25
Paul Hart                 37 (5)  12   12   3    80%  1.69 57%  3    0    7.18
Joel Honeyball            20 (14) 8    5    1    75%  1.74 48%  2    0    6.98
Marc Hopkins              4 (4)   0    1    0    76%  0.20 0%   0    0    6.91
Yasser Ibrahim            21 (8)  6    6    0    76%  2.43 48%  2    0    7.00
Zac Johnson               5 (1)   0    1    0    73%  0.56 -    0    0    7.26
Dean Martin               10 (13) 3    1    0    79%  1.01 41%  0    0    7.02
Patrick Middleton         0 (1)   0    0    0    71%  -    -    0    0    6.50
Richard O'Hara            2 (1)   0    0    0    73%  0.68 0%   0    0    6.50
Daniel O'Reilly           24 (6)  0    2    0    77%  0.26 -    3    0    6.81
Mitchell Paratusic        2 (6)   2    1    0    80%  0.83 40%  0    0    6.87
Paul Parkinson            4 (5)   0    4    0    78%  2.10 0%   1    0    7.11
Ollie Pert                9 (10)  7    4    3    77%  1.21 55%  1    0    7.48
Dan Plummer               11 (2)  0    0    0    77%  0.35 0%   1    0    7.18
Jonathan Roche            22 (8)  2    6    1    76%  1.61 86%  1    0    6.90
Tommy Scott               1 (1)   0    0    0    84%  1.23 -    0    0    7.00
Thomas Wannell            2 (1)   0    0    0    59%  -    -    0    0    6.80
Matt Warren               33 (6)  0    2    0    79%  0.25 -    2    0    6.93
Mark West                 49 (3)  31   10   9    76%  0.67 48%  6    0    7.53

APPS - Appearances (Substitute apps), GLS - Goals, AST - Assists,
CON - Goals conceded, CLN - Clean sheets, MOM - Man of the Match awards,
P% - Pass completion %, TR - Tackles per 90 mins, ST - Shots on target %,
Y - Yellow cards, R - Red cards, AV RAT - Average match rating

 

[CFuller]

JUNE 2028

At the end of the 2027/2028 season, Dagenham & Redbridge announced a record profit of over £1million. Our elevation to League One status, our best ever FA Cup run, and an average home attendance of 5,775 had effectively secured our financial future for the foreseeable future.

 

With our bank balance looking much healthier, chairman Antonello Scolaro was prepared to give my weekly wage budget a significant increase. I could now pay as much as £45,000 per week to my squad, and I also had a transfer budget of £200,000, which could be used for any significant purchases.

 

My transfer kitty would soon be bolstered further by the sales of two players - one on my terms, and another much more reluctantly.

 

Backup goalkeeper Louis Newman had not exactly been a pleasure to work with in his first season at Dagenham. Poor performances and a serious attitude problem meant he played just seven times for us before being loaned out. After three months at Burton Albion, Louis returned to the first-team bench, where he sulked through the rest of the season without getting so much as a minute of action.

 

I'd grown tired of Newman's constant requests for first-team football, so after less than 12 months, I made him available for a permanent transfer away from Victoria Road. Scottish Premier League side St Mirren were quick to offer £10,000, which I figuratively snatched out of their hands. Good riddance, you miserable git.

 

Newman had barely left the club for good when I received a call from Elvis Scoria, who had just been installed as the new manager of newly-promoted Premier League side Sheffield United. Once I heard the Croatian mention Paul Hart, I felt my heart sink.

 

Just like when they snatched Marcelo Andrade for us for a 'miserly' £450,000 last summer, United had found out that there was a minimum fee release clause in Paul's contract. Scoria's offer of £1.6million activated that particular clause.

 

However, unlike previous Blades boss Micah Richards when it came to the Andrade transfer, Scoria wasn't going to completely shaft us. He was - at the very least - kind enough to offer us 25% of Hart's next transfer fee, should the midfielder's meteoric rise continue further. It didn't exactly make up for a horribly low offer that I would've quickly dismissed if I'd had a choice, but it did soften the blow somewhat.

 

Understandably, Paul jumped at the chance to play Premier League football on around £10,000 a week - wages that we couldn't even dream of matching. After 141 league games, 35 goals, and 32 assists for the Daggers, he was off to join the big league.

 

The scrawny 15-year-old Birkenhead boy that I'd signed from semi-professional Cammell Laird half a decade earlier had come a long, long way. Before leaving Victoria Road, he thanked me for helping him to realise his footballing dreams as we bade each other an emotional farewell. For me, it was like watching my own child leave home.

 

Paul Hart's £1.6million transfer to Sheffield United - by far the biggest sale this club had ever made - was confirmed on the morning of 10 June 2028.

 

That afternoon, as I prepared to leave work to watch the start of the UEFA European Championship, I was confronted by about a dozen Dagenham fans outside Victoria Road. It was reminiscent of a famous scene outside St James' Park in 1995, when angry Newcastle United supporters turned on Kevin Keegan after he sold Andy Cole to Manchester United.

 

One of the disgruntled Daggers accused me of allowing us to get screwed over. Another said that I was stripping the club's assets for my own personal gain - a potentially slanderous claim.

 

I wasn't going to lie to the supporters and say that the sale was great business, but I did try to put a positive spin on things. "We've got to be realistic," I told them. "£1.6million is a lot of money for a League One club. Also, if Paul does well at Sheffield United and gets a move to an even bigger club, we could make even more money from him.

 

"You've got to make hay when the sun shines. For all we know, Paul could have torn his ACL in the first game of the new season, and he could've been worthless to us. I didn't really want to sell him, but perhaps now's the right time for us to cash in and move on."

 

A few fans weren't overly pleased, so I tried to reassure them with some good news regarding Josh Charles.

 

"On the positive side, I can now confirm that Josh Charles has signed a new four-year contract to stay at Dagenham. Josh has been a key part of our defence over the last two seasons, so I'm sure that you will agree that this is brilliant news for us as we move forward."

 

The Daggers faithful would soon receive news of more players renewing their contracts. Enigmatic left-winger Gareth Flood signed a new deal to stay until 2031, while striker Troy Hands ended growing speculation about a potential free transfer to Chester by agreeing a four-year contract.

 

Once the furore over the Hart transfer had died down, the Dagenham & Redbridge supporters' club announced their best XI for 2027/2028. Surprisingly, our record sale did not feature. The eleven that did were Daryl Ryan, Tim Beech, Wayne Coton, Gavin Dalton, Matt Warren, Jonathan Roche, Matthew Fraser, Geraint Harding, Yasser Ibrahim, Mark West, and Troy Hands.

 

The fans' choice for Player of the Year was anything but surprising. The much-loved Mark West received their award for the second year in a row.

 

At least two of our best eleven would be leaving the club by the end of the month... but which two?

[CFuller]

JUNE 2028 (continued)

After receiving a club-record fee for Paul Hart, I wanted to put all that money to good use. I wasn't going to splash out on star players, though - I had a more long-term investment in mind.

 

When I suggested to Antonello Scolaro that we should upgrade our training facilities, the chairman was at first sceptical. He believed that our facilities were adequate for a club of our standing. I was having none of that.

 

"With all due respect, Mr Scolaro, I have to disagree," I told him. "This club has had the same old basic facilities for years, and compared to some other teams in our division, like AFC Telford United, they're just not up to scratch. We can't afford to stand still for too long - we have to move with the times and continue to grow."

 

Mr Scolaro quickly changed his mind. On the following morning, he informed me that the board had agreed to upgrade the club's training ground. The work would cost around £400,000 and begin in August, with an expected completion date in November.

 

That was great news for me, and it got me feeling even more optimistic about the club's long-term future. As for the short term, I continued to improve the squad by signing a very promising loanee from Southampton.

 

19-year-old centre-back Benjamin Ashton had not yet made any senior appearances for Southampton, but the word at St Mary's was that he had an excellent future ahead. Benji's athleticism and tackling ability were two of his biggest strengths, and it was those strengths that convinced me enough to sign him on a season-long loan.

 

To be honest, I was a little surprised that Ashton chose to join us. Wrexham, who'd won promotion to the Championship after knocking us out of the League One play-offs, were also keen to add him to their ranks for the coming season. Beating the Red Dragons to a defensive signing was particularly sweet, as they had snatched one of our stars earlier in the week.

 

Despite making 169 league appearances in five excellent years at Victoria Road, I wasn't sure whether Wayne Coton deserved a new contract. I'd sensed in recent months that the 23-year-old was perhaps not going to improve much more from the standard he was already at, and that it was perhaps time to look for fresher options.

 

In the end, I wouldn't have a decision to make. Wayne couldn't turn down this opportunity to join Wrexham in the Championship, and also to move much closer to his family in Shropshire. Coton's time with the Daggers was over, although we did get £120,000 in compensation for his services.

 

We also made £30,000 from the sale of reserve midfielder Lumumba McLean to Corby Town. That's not a misprint, by the way - Southern Premier League Division 1 Central champions Corby Town have indeed spent £30,000 to sign a player from League One!

 

You see, Corby were bought out last spring by Polish-born millionaire Grzegorz Trakul, who's invested substantial amounts of money to try and take this little Northamptonshire club all the way to the Football League. It will be very interesting to see just how far the Steelmen progress over the next few years.

 

Other departures included Wayne Parmenter, who finalised his move to Guiseley, and Sotiris Giangoudakis, whose contract was ended by mutual consent after a loan spell at Wingate & Finchley. Yasser Ibrahim's long service to the Daggers ended with the expiration of his contract, while the youth quintet of Michael Dunn, Mick Kinsella, Patrick Middleton, Richard O'Hara and Will Simpson were all let go.

 

The 2028/2029 League One fixture list was published just days before our pre-season began. We would begin with a difficult trip to Sheffield Wednesday on 29 July, followed by a home match against Shrewsbury Town on 1 August.

 

Other early fixtures of note included an Essex derby at home to Colchester United on 19 August, and our first ever visit to Portman Road a week later, when we'd face newly-relegated Ipswich Town.

 

Something else happened on the eve of pre-season - something that could possibly transform my entire career.

 

I'd been the subject of an approach from Championship side Crystal Palace in the off-season, and I quickly swatted that offer away. However, the next club to come looking for me would not be so easy to resist.

 

Norwich City, who'd been virtually ever-present in the Premier League over the last 15 years or so, had been without a permanent manager since sacking Gary Rowett in late November. Assistant boss Colin Calderwood was appointed caretaker manager for the remainder of last season, but at the age of 63, he had no intention of taking the job permanently.

 

Norwich chairman Marc Martin was now looking for a fresher, more dynamic coach to take his club forward... and his number 1 choice was Yours Truly.

 

When my own chairman Antonello Scolaro informed me of the Canaries' approach, I was almost gobsmacked. Mr Scolaro said that he desperately wanted me to stay at Dagenham, but added that he would not stand in my way if I followed my ambition instead of my heart.

 

I attended a formal interview at Carrow Road, where I was scrutinised by Mr Martin and Norwich's chief executive Josh Hall. The interview went without too many hiccups, and before long, I was discussing personal terms.

 

With Norwich being a Premier League club, I was certainly expecting to be paid much more than I was getting at Dagenham. What I did not expect was to be offered a staggering £36,000 per week and a four-year contract. If I took that offer, I would become the sixth-highest-paid manager in the PL - outstripping the likes of Arsenal's Kenneth Vermeer, Tottenham Hotspur's Vitor Pereira, and West Ham United's Zema Abbey!

 

To put that in context, I would be getting almost as much money for two weeks' work at Carrow Road as I would for an entire season's work at Victoria Road! For a football manager who'd started out as a humble 27-year-old in the Isthmian League Division 1 North, that would be utterly life-changing!

 

Here's the thing, though. I've developed such a strong emotional attachment to Dagenham & Redbridge over the last six seasons, and having taken them from non-league football to the brink of the Championship, I still feel that we can go even further.

 

What do I do? Do I turn down the opportunity of a lifetime, and stay at Dagenham to continue my long-term project? Or do I take the plunge, and try to turn Norwich City into Premier League big-hitters?

 

Now there's a conundrum that even Countdown's Rachel Riley would struggle to work out...

[CFuller]

Romford watch: 2027/2028

Having finally won promotion to the Conference Premier, this season was expected to be one of consolidation for Romford. Could Tyrone Mears keep the Boro in non-league's top tier, or even take them into the Football League?

 

Conference Premier: 24th (Relegated)

Romford made a solid start to life in the Conference Premier, drawing their first three matches before recording excellent victories away to Lincoln City and at home to Burton Albion. That left the Boro in 6th place before three successive defeats brought them back down to earth. Although they stopped the rot with a famous Essex derby win at Southend United, victories would be hard to come by from that point on.

 

As summer turned into autumn, Romford's form fell off a cliff. A 4-0 humbling at home to Carlisle United began a run of eight defeats in ten matches, with the only win coming against Eastleigh. The Boro were left floundering in the relegation zone and slowly sinking to the bottom. Although they ended October with successive victories, they wouldn't get another three-pointer before exacting revenge on Carlisle at Brunton Park early in the New Year. That result briefly moved Romford off last place, but the respite was brief, and they would soon be bringing up the rear again.

 

A raft of new signings in January failed to guide the Boro back up the table. They were now struggling to keep clean sheets and drawing too many matches that could've ended victoriously. The gap between themselves and safety was gradually growing as weeks passed by without a win. Romford finally ended their barren run at Boreham Wood in mid-March, but heavy defeats to Southport and York City left them facing an improbable task to stay up.

 

Mears' men wouldn't ever give up completely, as they proved by beating Farnborough and Stevenage over successive weekends. The damage had already been done, though, and Romford's relegation back to the Conference Premier was confirmed before a final-day draw against Barnet ensured that they would finish bottom.

 

FA Cup: Qualifying Round 4

This was an absolute disaster for Romford, who crashed out at the first hurdle away to Worthing - a side from two divisions below them, in the Isthmian Premier.

 

FA Trophy: Round 3

Romford entered the FA Trophy directly at Round 1 for the first time, and they started with a comfortable win over Farnborough. Things were more difficult in Round 2, as they required a replay to see off Woking and set up an away trip to Ebbsfleet United. The Boro's cup run would end in Kent with a 2-1 defeat to the former Football League side.

 

Essex Senior Cup: Round 3

Just like in the previous season, Romford lost the first match of their attempt to regain the Essex Senior Cup. League survival took far greater precedence over this county competition, but the Boro were still disappointed to lose in extra-time to Witham Town of the Isthmian North.

 

Best Players

Two men shared the honour of being Romford's leading scorer with 10 goals apiece. They were veteran striker Junior Morias and 20-year-old Lee Pardue - a Welshman who came through the Boro's youth set-up and is now establishing himself as a regular starter. Midfielder Phil Blake and winger Russell Brooks made six assists each, although Blake has since requested a transfer away from Ship Lane.

 

All of Romford's defensive players struggled for consistency, although right-back and captain Ben George did his best to stop the team from caving in. Far less impressive was Hernán Santana - an 18-year-old defensive midfielder on loan from Charlton Athletic. Santana played in 17 games for the Boro, got booked 12 times, and was sent off on no fewer than four occasions!

 

The Future

In spite of relegation, the club's financial future is not at risk, and neither is Mears' job as Romford manager. The 45-year-old heads into his fifth season at Ship Lane knowing that he will be expected to build a team capable of returning to the Conference Premier straight away. It won't be easy in a very competitive Conference South, but Boro fans will have high hopes for the coming campaign.

[CFuller]

2027/2028 season round-up: Part 1

Premier League

Manchester City swept all before them this season, claiming an unprecedented quadruple of major trophies! As well as pipping rivals Manchester United to the Premier League title, Ciro Ferrara's Citizens saw off Chelsea to win both the FA Cup and the League Cup before lifting the UEFA Champions League trophy at Juventus' expense. Defender Stuart Lindsay, playmaker Alexandre Ricardo and striker Glauco Dotto were all critical members of what is surely the most successful team in English football history.

 

The Red Devils didn't go away empty-handed, as they won the UEFA Europa League, Damien King took the Premier League Golden Boot (with 30 goals), and Belgian veteran Grégory Lefevre was named PFA Player of the Year. It was also a memorable season for West Ham United, who finished 3rd and automatically qualified for next season's Champions League. Chelsea took the other top-four place just ahead of local rivals Arsenal and Fulham.

 

Three of last season's top four failed to even qualify for Europe this time around. 2027 runners-up Tottenham Hotspur could only finish 8th, Liverpool slipped to 10th, and Newcastle United flirted with the drop zone before coming 12th. Ageing former Manchester City stars Bruno Martins Indi and Nick Powell arrived at Carrow Road to try and bolster Norwich City, who only just held onto their top-flight status. Watford, who went all the way to the Europa League Final, also narrowly avoided relegation.

 

Brighton & Hove Albion's third Premier League season was no better than their previous two, as they finished bottom yet again. Nottingham Forest were also doomed to the drop before the final day, when Wigan Athletic were beaten 2-1 by Reading in a relegation decider. The Latics' return to the big time had lasted just two seasons.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C/CL  Man City               38    27    6     5     81    42    +39   87
2.    CL    Man Utd                38    23    11    4     69    35    +34   80
3.    CL    West Ham               38    20    11    7     69    46    +23   71
4.    CL    Chelsea                38    19    12    7     75    44    +31   69
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.    EL    Arsenal                38    18    10    10    73    43    +30   64
6.    EL    Fulham                 38    17    11    10    65    55    +10   62
7.    EL    Wolves                 38    16    11    11    58    55    +3    59
8.          Tottenham              38    14    12    12    57    47    +10   54
9.          Burnley                38    15    8     15    53    53    0     53
10.         Liverpool              38    13    9     16    59    62    -3    48
11.         West Brom              38    13    7     18    54    65    -11   46
12.         Newcastle              38    11    12    15    58    68    -10   45
13.         Everton                38    11    11    16    45    57    -12   44
14.         Sunderland             38    10    11    17    49    59    -10   41
15.         Reading                38    11    8     19    38    55    -17   41
16.         Watford                38    10    10    18    51    65    -14   40
17.         Norwich                38    9     12    17    37    59    -22   39
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.   R     Wigan                  38    9     9     20    40    63    -23   36
19.   R     Nottm Forest           38    6     16    16    36    58    -22   34
20.   R     Brighton               38    6     7     25    38    74    -36   25

 

Championship

Sheffield United defied all expectations to lift a second consecutive league title and end a 21-season absence from the Premier League. Aston Villa also won promotion from the Championship as runners-up, edging out fellow Midlanders Leicester City by a single point.

 

Leicester succumbed in the Play-Offs to Blackburn Rovers, while Huddersfield Town were heavily beaten by Stoke City. Stoke took the lead in the Final after 15 minutes through Chuba Akpom, although Robbie Clements quickly levelled for Blackburn. The Potters eventually came out on top in the second half, as right-back Jamie Samuelson's first ever senior goal brought PL football back to the Britannia Stadium!

 

Despite 25 goals from Wales striker Christopher Lowndes, and some excellent defensive performances from Sunny Salami, Southampton missed out on the play-offs. Derby County fell short in their bid to make it three consecutive promotions, but 8th was still an excellent finish from the Rams.

 

Barnsley managed a pitiful five wins on the way to finishing bottom of the Championship. Ipswich Town couldn't survive on their first season back in the second tier, and Notts County went from mid-table mediocrity to relegation. Coventry City and Millwall were both left clinging on after the final day.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Sheff Utd              46    23    14    9     68    48    +20   83
2.    P     Aston Villa            46    24    9     13    70    49    +21   81
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Leicester              46    23    11    12    80    49    +31   80
4.          Huddersfield           46    21    16    9     76    51    +25   79
5.    P     Stoke                  46    24    5     17    78    59    +19   77
6.          Blackburn              46    22    11    13    70    59    +11   77
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Southampton            46    22    10    14    68    54    +14   76
8.          Derby                  46    19    12    15    63    55    +8    69
9.          Cardiff                46    16    20    10    71    62    +9    68
10.         Middlesbrough          46    17    15    14    62    52    +10   66
11.         Swansea                46    16    16    14    63    61    +2    64
12.         Peterborough           46    16    15    15    66    64    +2    63
13.         Doncaster              46    17    11    18    61    58    +3    62
14.         Hull                   46    15    14    17    59    68    -9    59
15.         Bolton                 46    15    13    18    48    60    -12   58
16.         Plymouth               46    14    15    17    57    56    +1    57
17.         QPR                    46    16    8     22    58    64    -6    56
18.         Crystal Palace         46    14    14    18    51    66    -15   56
19.         Crewe                  46    13    14    19    52    64    -12   53
20.         Coventry               46    13    12    21    58    73    -15   51
21.         Millwall               46    12    12    22    42    69    -27   48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.   R     Notts County           46    9     18    19    49    65    -16   45
23.   R     Ipswich                46    10    14    22    53    80    -27   44
24.   R     Barnsley               46    5     13    28    32    69    -37   28

 

League One

A run of 10 wins in their last 12 games sent Leeds United all the way to the League One title. They will be joined in the Championship by surprise packages Chester, who pipped both Luton Town and Dagenham & Redbridge to back-to-back promotions.

 

Luton and Dagenham both lost in the Play-Off Semi Finals, to Portsmouth and Wrexham respectively. The Hatters' demise came courtesy of an extra-time hat-trick from Pompey midfielder Joe McLaughlin. Pompey also went to extra-time in the Final against Wrexham, but it was the side from North Wales who eventually won 3-2.

 

Things were very tight at the wrong end of the League One table. Walsall, Hartlepool United and Stockport County all went down through conceding too many goals, while a lack of firepower brought about Brentford's downfall.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Leeds                  46    24    13    9     67    40    +27   85
2.    P     Chester                46    23    10    13    78    67    +11   79
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Luton                  46    25    4     17    62    52    +10   79
4.          Dag & Red              46    23    9     14    86    56    +30   78
5.    P     Wrexham                46    21    14    11    69    45    +24   77
6.          Portsmouth             46    19    14    13    61    49    +12   71
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Charlton               46    20    7     19    80    81    -1    67
8.          Oxford                 46    20    7     19    70    79    -9    67
9.          Gillingham             46    17    15    14    68    60    +8    66
10.         Rotherham              46    18    12    16    65    57    +8    66
11.         Scunthorpe             46    16    18    12    62    55    +7    66
12.         Rochdale               46    18    11    17    57    60    -3    65
13.         Northampton            46    16    16    14    63    57    +6    64
14.         Shrewsbury             46    15    19    12    52    47    +5    64
15.         Fleetwood              46    16    13    17    61    55    +6    61
16.         Colchester             46    17    10    19    75    81    -6    61
17.         AFC Telford            46    16    9     21    53    56    -3    57
18.         Sheff Wed              46    12    16    18    45    56    -11   52
19.         Oldham                 46    11    17    18    44    64    -20   50
20.         Bradford               46    11    14    21    45    67    -22   47
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Stockport              46    10    16    20    66    84    -18   46
22.   R     Brentford              46    9     18    19    34    53    -19   45
23.   R     Hartlepool             46    10    15    21    62    86    -24   45
24.   R     Walsall                46    10    13    23    62    80    -18   43

 

League Two

Persistence finally paid off for Chesterfield, who finally won promotion from League Two after 16 mostly frustrating seasons. They also went up as champions after finishing just ahead of Dartford, who are going up to League One for the very first time. Tranmere Rovers claimed that final automatic promotion place.

 

Birmingham City and Morecambe faced off at Wembley in the Play-Off Final after respective Semi Final wins over Bristol City and Yeovil Town. Birmingham were the pre-match favourites, but goals from Abdellatif El Guennouni and Haris Hodzic gave the Shrimps an unlikely 2-1 win.

 

AFC Wimbledon were woefully inadequate, finishing well adrift of all the other teams in League Two. Macclesfield Town's renaissance came to a halt as they too suffered relegation back to the Conference Premier.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Chesterfield           46    22    11    13    70    46    +24   77
2.    P     Dartford               46    21    14    11    65    47    +18   77
3.    P     Tranmere               46    21    12    13    48    43    +5    75
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.          Yeovil                 46    18    17    11    59    44    +15   71
5.          Bristol City           46    19    13    14    63    53    +10   70
6.          Birmingham             46    19    13    14    60    58    +2    70
7.    P     Morecambe              46    17    15    14    58    56    +2    66
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.          Forest Green           46    17    13    16    53    54    -1    64
9.          Hereford               46    16    16    14    55    57    -2    64
10.         Aldershot              46    17    12    17    65    57    +8    63
11.         Bristol Rovers         46    14    21    11    64    56    +8    63
12.         Exeter                 46    17    12    17    60    60    0     63
13.         Kidderminster          46    16    15    15    48    51    -3    63
14.         Cambridge              46    17    11    18    64    60    +4    62
15.         Cheltenham             46    15    16    15    55    61    -6    61
16.         Bournemouth            46    14    18    14    70    64    +6    60
17.         Kingstonian            46    16    10    20    61    60    +1    58
18.         Wycombe                46    15    13    18    43    49    -6    58
19.         Leyton Orient          46    13    18    15    52    57    -5    57
20.         Blackpool              46    14    15    17    49    58    -9    57
21.         Swindon                46    13    15    18    54    55    -1    54
22.         Port Vale              46    13    13    20    52    66    -14   52
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23.   R     Macclesfield           46    10    16    20    53    70    -17   46
24.   R     AFC Wimbledon          46    7     13    26    41    80    -39   34

 

Conference Premier

Grimsby Town spent the entire Conference Premier season in the top three, so it was not surprising that they ultimately finished as champions. The Lincolnshire side are returning to League football after 12 years away.

 

The Play-Off Semi Finals saw York City get a last-minute winner against Bromley and Mansfield Town edge out Burton Albion. When the victors met at Wembley, York ran out 2-0 winners, with Ryan Melisi and Kenneth Pryce taking them back into League Two following successive promotions.

 

Romford, Lincoln City and Chelmsford City all lacked the financial muscle needed to keep them in the Conference Premier. The situation was even bleaker for Torquay United, who spent much of the season in administration and went without a manager for seven months before falling into the Conference South.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Grimsby                46    23    14    9     63    43    +20   83
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.          Bromley                46    22    10    14    63    45    +18   76
3.          Burton                 46    20    14    12    63    46    +17   74
4.          Mansfield              46    20    14    12    60    46    +14   74
5.    P     York                   46    21    11    14    57    45    +12   74
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Alfreton               46    19    16    11    68    49    +19   73
7.          Carlisle               46    20    13    13    58    40    +18   73
8.          Barnet                 46    18    17    11    68    49    +19   71
9.          Bath                   46    19    12    15    52    53    -1    69
10.         Southport              46    17    14    15    60    56    +4    65
11.         Barrow                 46    15    17    14    47    46    +1    62
12.         Ebbsfleet              46    18    8     20    45    50    -5    62
13.         Southend               46    15    16    15    54    51    +3    61
14.         Stalybridge            46    16    13    17    48    51    -3    61
15.         Darlington             46    17    10    19    46    56    -10   61
16.         Boreham Wood           46    13    18    15    48    54    -6    57
17.         Eastleigh              46    14    12    20    56    63    -7    54
18.         Farnborough            46    11    20    15    39    47    -8    53
19.         Stevenage              46    13    12    21    47    60    -13   51
20.         Canvey Island          46    11    15    20    47    63    -16   48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Torquay                46    14    15    17    51    56    -5    47 *
22.   R     Chelmsford             46    12    10    24    41    64    -23   46
23.   R     Lincoln                46    9     16    21    50    67    -17   43
24.   R     Romford                46    10    13    23    35    66    -31   43

* Torquay deducted 10 points for entering administration

 

Conference North

Promoted: FC Halifax Town (1st, 86 pts), Altrincham (3rd, 80 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Guiseley (2nd, 86 pts), Sheffield (4th, 67 pts), Gateshead (5th, 63 pts).

Relegated: Rushall Olympic (20th, 41 pts), Vauxhall Motors (21st, 40 pts), Gainsborough Trinity (22nd, 30 pts).

 

Conference South

Promoted: Ashford Town (Middlesex) (1st, 78 pts), Crawley Town (3rd, 76 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Woking (2nd, 77 pts), Basingstoke Town (4th, 71 pts), Salisbury City (5th, 69 pts).

Relegated: Maidstone United (20th, 40 pts), Hayes & Yeading United (21st, 39 pts), Braintree Town (22nd, 27 pts).

 

Regional Premier Divisions

Promoted from Northern Premier League Premier: Chorley (1st), Burscough (2nd).

Promoted from Isthmian League Premier: St Neots Town (1st), Soham Town Rangers (2nd).

Promoted from Southern League Premier: Rugby Town (1st), Wealdstone (2nd).

[CFuller]

2027/2028 season round-up: Part 2

Major Transfers

• Manchester United made the Premier League's biggest transfer this season, acquiring Barcelona's Brazilian defensive midfielder Paulinho for £29.5million. Before then, they had purchased Italy right-back Rocco Gagliardi from Bayern Munich for £19.25million.
• Chelsea lost a major asset in the summer, with legendary midfielder Alison Brito Neves moving to Juventus for £26.5million. The Blues then spent £72million on new players, with the most extravagant purchase being that of Valenciennes' Swedish winger Tomas Jazvin. That was the last time Chelsea were able to spend Roman Abramovich's roubles, because the Russian oligarch sold the club to local businessman Andrew O'Toole in February.
• Arsenal's experienced midfielder James Ward-Prowse got sick of missing out on the UEFA Champions League and moved to Newcastle United for £9.5million. The England international made 15 PL assists for the Magpies, but their struggles this season have prompted him to ask for another transfer. Back at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal made three notable signings in Borussia Dortmund midfielder Bagrut Saralidze, Real Madrid goalkeeper Jack Butland, and Sunderland striker Ben Lewis.
• Tottenham Hotspur did some good business in the summer, selling cultured Uruguayan midfielder Pablo Aguirre to Real Sociedad for £24.5million. They replaced him with 22-year-old Angel Luleyski, who had a sensational first season at the AIA Stadium following his £11million move from Sampdoria. The Bulgarian notched up 11 PL goals and five assists as he was named the PFA Young Player of the Year. Luleyski's impact overshadowed that of Colombia striker Alvaro Carrascal, who cost Spurs twice as much from Saint-Etienne but only scored seven league goals.
• West Ham United's rise to 3rd place was largely down to one man. 31-year-old Australia striker Azmi Sensoy arrived from Fenerbahce for a mere £1.6million, and he proved to be an absolute steal for Zema Abbey. Sensoy provided the Hammers with no fewer than 20 goals in his maiden PL season!
• New Barcelona boss Neil Lennon really pushed the boat out to try and bring more silverware to the Nou Camp. The Ulsterman spent at least £20million each on four new players, including Arsenal midfielder Claudio Aureli and Chelsea left-winger Ronald Pot. He also brought in two defensive players from Germany - Schalke 04's Dutch centre-back Marcel Schaap, and Hamburg's holding midfielder Frank Kunz.

 

Managerial Movements

• Both of Spain's big powerhouses were forced to appoint new coaches for the second summer in a row. Lennon helped Barcelona to regain the La Liga crown after leaving Empoli, who appointed Roberto Di Matteo as his successor. Real Madrid finished a close 2nd under former PSV boss Abdoulaye Soumaré, who took over from Roberto Donadoni after the Italian abruptly retired prior to the new season for health reasons.
• The award for the most surprising comeback goes to Owen Coyle, who incredibly returned to Liverpool in the New Year after the Reds sacked Maceo Rigters. As Coyle began his second stint at Anfield, his former employers Wolverhampton Wanderers turned to former Chelsea manager Aykut Kocaman. Meanwhile, Gary Rowett was axed by Norwich City, and assistant manager Colin Calderwood was placed in caretaker charge at Carrow Road for the rest of the campaign.
• When Tottenham Hotspur dismissed Mark Bowen just before Christmas, anyone who had placed a bet on former Arsenal manager Vitor Pereira replacing him would have made a whole lot of money! Spurs fans were very sceptical about the Portuguese after three previous failed stints in the Premier League, and the team's recent displays suggest that they may have a point.
• Newcastle United and Celtic tried some manager-swapping midway through the campaign. Newcastle sacked Chris Powell and appointed Eddie Howe, whose old position at Celtic Park was subsequently handed to Powell. Watford and Sheffield United did something very similar once the season was over. The Hornets dispensed with Elvis Scoria in favour of the Blades' Championship-winning boss Micah Richards, and the club-hopping Croatian then took over at Bramall Lane! That's weird...
• Sir Sean Dyche's career has rather gone downhill since he led England to FIFA World Cup glory two years ago. After a single campaign at Dundee United, Dyche jumped ship to try and guide Huddersfield Town back into the Premier League. Sir Sean's time at the John Smith's Stadium was similarly short-lived, as failure to get through the Championship play-offs meant that it was 'orf with his head'!
• How did Pescara repay Alessandro Del Piero for guiding them to 3rd place in Serie A last season, and to the last 16 of the Champions League in this campaign? They sacked him in February, of course! The Delfini were 9th in the league at that stage, but former Ukraine defender Yuriy Putrash left Kuban Krasnodar to replace Del Piero and lead them to a 6th-place finish.

 

Other Major Stories

• Manchester City clinched the quadruple in dramatic fashion, beating Juventus 4-3 on penalties in the Champions League Final in Lisbon. The game had finished 1-1 thanks to goals from City's Glauco Dotto and Juve's Cristiano Magnolo, with the Sky Blues having Martin Klonz sent off for violent conduct in between. It was Citizens goalkeeper Andy Boyes who made the headlines, saving penalties from Nuno and Angelo Di Rocco before his team-mate Juan Manuel Sanz converted the decisive spot kick!
• There was an extraordinary conclusion to the Scottish Premier League title race. Rangers and Hibernian finished dead level on points, goal difference, and goals scored, so the championship was decided by a play-off match... at Celtic Park! On-loan Manchester City forward Darrin Norris proved to be Rangers' hero, scoring the only goal of the game as Darren Ferguson's men won their first SPL crown since 2011!
• Juve resoundingly retained the Serie A scudetto after finishing 21 points clear of runners-up AC Milan! Their only two league defeats all season both came at home, to Sampdoria and Sassuolo. There was also no stopping the juggernaut that is Paris Saint-Germain, who won Ligue 1 for the 15th time in 16 years.
• Bayer Leverkusen won just their second Bundesliga title, but it was second-tier side Arminia Bielefeld who captured Germany's hearts with their run in the DFB-Pokal. Die Arminen knocked out Borussia Dortmund en route to the Final, where they bravely went down 4-2 against Bayern Munich.
• Two-time FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Guido Dri retired at the age of 34, with the Porto legend spending his final season in Serie A with Pescara. Spanish midfield icons Álvaro Vadillo and Suso also called it quits, as did Arsenal's former Serbia defender Matija Nastasic.
• Accrington Stanley, who were playing in the Football League as recently as 2020/2021, have endured an alarming fall from grace. A third relegation in four years has seen them slip into the Northern Premier League Division 1 North! "Accrington Stanley, who are they?" "Exactly!"

 

Cup Winners

FA Cup: Manchester City 2-0 Chelsea.

League Cup: Manchester City 3-3 Chelsea (4-3 penalties).

Community Shield: Manchester City 2-0 Fulham.

Football League Trophy: Kidderminster Harriers 2-1 Exeter City.

 

UEFA Champions League: Manchester City 1-1 Juventus (4-3 penalties) - at Estádio da Luz, Lisbon.

UEFA Europa League: Manchester United 2-0 Watford - at Bulgarska, Poznan.

UEFA Super Cup: Real Sociedad 2-0 Real Madrid - at Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff.

FIFA Club World Championship: Real Madrid 2-0 Club América - at National Kasumigaoka Stadium, Tokyo.

 

Major European Leagues

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

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

German Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen (1st), Bayern Munich (2nd), Borussia Moenchengladbach (3rd).

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

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

Russian Premier League: Anji Makhachkala (1st), FC Krasnodar (2nd), Lokomotiv Moscow (3rd).

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

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

 

Award Winners

PFA Player of the Year: Grégory Lefevre (Manchester United).

PFA Young Player of the Year: Angel Luleyski (Tottenham Hotspur).

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

Premier League Manager of the Season: Zema Abbey (West Ham United).

PFA Premier League Team of the Year:

• Carl Baker (Manchester United and Wales)
• Ratinho (Chelsea and Brazil)
• Stuart Lindsay (Manchester City and England)
• Chad Gauss (Manchester City and Canada)
• Estanislao Flor (Manchester United and Spain)
• Fabrício (Arsenal and Italy)
• Alexandre Ricardo (Manchester City and Brazil)
• James Ward-Prowse (Newcastle United and England)
• Grégory Lefevre (Manchester United and Belgium)
• Damien King (Manchester United and England)
• Clive Johnson (Arsenal and England)

 

FIFA Ballon d'Or: Clive Johnson (Arsenal).

World Soccer World Player of the Year: Clive Johnson (Arsenal).

European Golden Shoe: Damien King (Manchester United).

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

FIFA/FIFPro World XI:

• Andy Boyes (Manchester City and England)
• Nelson Parra (Paris Saint-Germain and Colombia)
• Fabián Valino (Real Madrid and Argentina)
• Stuart Lindsay (Manchester City and England)
• Estanislao Flor (Manchester United and Spain)
• Alexandre Ricardo (Manchester City and Brazil)
• Andrzej Wolanski (Real Betis and Germany)
• Lorenzo Crisetig (Paris Saint-Germain and Italy)
• Artur Zarembski (Real Madrid and Poland)
• Grégory Lefevre (Manchester United and Belgium)
• Clive Johnson (Arsenal and England)

[CFuller]

UEFA European Championship review: Belgium 2028

Qualification

Reigning European champions Czech Republic emerged from Group I unbeaten - a feat matched elsewhere by Germany, Portugal and Russia. England and Scotland also topped their groups after scoring 35 goals apiece, with 14 of the Scots' strikes coming from Chelsea ace Derek Halliday. Group F was completely dominated by France and Holland, whose only defeats were inflicted by each other.

 

Ukraine's post-2014 decline continued when they narrowly missed out on the play-offs, while the Republic of Ireland lost seven of their eight qualifying matches! Former champs Greece failed to qualify for the second Euros in a row, and Switzerland suffered a shock defeat to Latvia in their two-legged play-off.

 

Israel followed up their 2026 FIFA World Cup appearance with a first qualification for the European Championship, as runners-up in Russia's group. Wales claimed a famous home win over Nando Ribas' Spain en route to securing a place in the finals for the first time. Finland would also be making their debut in Europe's premier international event after edging out plucky underdogs Moldova in the play-offs.

 

QUALIFIERS: Austria, Belgium (hosts), Croatia, Czech Republic (holders), Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Wales.

 

Group Stage

Czech Republic started their title defence with victories over Wales and Serbia either side of a dull 0-0 draw with Spain, who just pipped them to top spot in Group A. Russia set their stall out by topping Group B thanks to a 5-2 thumping of Slovenia, and Igor Rapoport's excellent hat-trick against Scotland. Croatia also came out of that group unbeaten.

 

Holland surprisingly ran riot in Group C with three wins, including an 8-0 demolition of Sweden in which PSV's Martin Freke scored four times! Sweden bounced back brilliantly, destroying Uwe Rosler's Austria 4-0 to take second spot ahead of favourites Italy and the Austrians. Monaco hotshot Moussa Kari scored five goals, including an 88th-minute equaliser against Denmark, as France qualified from Group D as winners. The Danish Dynamite also emerged largely unscathed after their explosive striker Jan Pedersen notched up four goals.

 

Hosts Belgium were disappointing in Group E, as they narrowly beat Finland in between 3-0 defeats to Portugal and Turkey, who both qualified for Round 2. Germany, inspired by the incredible Real Betis midfielder Andrzej Wolanski, safely reached the last 16 with a trio of victories in Group F. Among their victims were England, who also suffered a shock loss to newcomers Israel. The world champions needed a late Damien King winner against Latvia to even finish third, just behind the Israelis, and keep alive their hopes.

 

The remaining places in Round 2 were filled by the four best third-placed sides, which consisted of Serbia, Italy, Poland... and England. Belgium failed to get through on home soil, proving that their resurgence at the start of the 2020s was just a false dawn.

 

GROUP A: Spain* (1st, 7 pts), Czech Republic* (2nd, 7 pts), Serbia* (3rd, 3 pts), Wales (4th, 0 pts).

GROUP B: Russia* (1st, 7 pts), Croatia* (2nd, 7 pts), Scotland (3rd, 3 pts), Slovenia (4th, 0 pts).

GROUP C: Holland* (1st, 9 pts), Sweden* (2nd, 3 pts), Italy* (3rd, 3 pts), Austria (4th, 3 pts).

GROUP D: France* (1st, 7 pts), Denmark* (2nd, 7 pts), Poland* (3rd, 3 pts), Romania (4th, 0 pts).

GROUP E: Portugal* (1st, 6 pts), Turkey* (2nd, 6 pts), Belgium (3rd, 3 pts), Finland (4th, 3 pts).

GROUP F: Germany* (1st, 9 pts), Israel* (2nd, 4 pts), England* (3rd, 3 pts), Latvia (4th, 1 pt).

* through to Round 2

 

Round 2

Spain made it perfectly clear against Croatia that they wanted their European title back. Goals from Moisés Aguilera and Ribas saw La Furia Roja race into a 2-0 lead after four minutes. Nando then helped himself to a penalty in the second half before right-back Wesley completed a 4-0 rout. Their opponents in the Quarter Finals would be Israel, whose dream campaign continued after they edged out Portugal on penalties following a goalless draw.

 

Russia made relatively light work of Poland, as Anji Makhachkala midfielder Vitaly Babanov struck twice in the first half before team-mate Ilja Oschepkov added a third goal. Then came an ill-tempered affair between Italy, who lost Angelo Di Rocco to a 50th-minute red card, and Germany. The Mannschaft eventually won 3-1 after extra-time, despite the late dismissal of holding midfielder Frank Kunz.

 

Turkey took a surprise lead against Czech Republic after just nine minutes, when Fenerbahce veteran Burak Acikgoz converted a penalty. Arsenal's new left-back Kenan Bingol then conceded an own goal in the 30th minute, but after a 1-1 draw and a thrilling shoot-out, Bingol made amends by scoring the decisive spot-kick. The Czechs' reign as European champions had come to an end. Holland's dream was still alive, though, thanks to two late Freke goals against a dogged Serbia team who got a consolation through Andrija Zivkovic.

 

England's Three Lions made the most of their ninth life. King's 3rd-minute opener, coupled with some brave defending, allowed them to shut out France and reach the last eight. Completing the Quarter Final line-up were Denmark, who saw off rivals Sweden on penalties, despite missing two spot-kicks in the initial 1-1 draw!

 

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

 

Quarter Finals

Babanov turned from hero to villain 25 minutes into Russia's match against Germany. He was sent off for a professional foul on Wolanski, and Thomas Weber scored from the resulting penalty. Further goals from Martin Klonz and Wolanski put Germany three clear at half-time, and Alexandr Korneev's 87th-minute reply came far too late to save the Russians. Spain also crashed out after a stunning backs-to-the-wall performance from Israel. The Blue and Whites scored with their only two shots of the entire game - from Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Gavriel Nasser Al-Din and Lokomotiv Moscow wing-back Dudu Ashkenazi - and reached the Semi Finals!

 

England were once again on the brink of elimination when Pedersen gave Denmark the lead in their meeting. Substitute Sol Ashby of West Ham United had to save the day for the Three Lions with an equaliser in the 89th minute. Another penalty shoot-out followed, and although Ashby failed to score from his kick, a couple of Andy Boyes saves sent England through 4-2. Holland also came from behind to eliminate Turkey, with another brace from the in-form Freke cancelling out an impressive strike by Crescent-Stars midfielder Sancak Turhan.

 

RESULTS: Germany 3-1 Russia, Israel 2-0 Spain, England 1-1 Denmark (4-2 penalties), Holland 2-1 Turkey.

 

Semi Finals

Having met earlier in the tournament, Israel and England came face-to-face again in Charleroi for the first Semi Final. There would be no repeat of Israel's famous group win as their extraordinary journey ended here. King scored the Three Lions' first goal after about half an hour, and his Manchester United colleague Mike Robinson sealed victory in the 83rd minute. It was a record 150th England cap to remember for 34-year-old Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who now stood on the brink of adding a European Championship winner's medal to his World Cup gold!

 

Germany and Holland squared up for the second Semi in Genk, where these traditional foes figuratively fought to the death. Freke's breakthrough tournament for the Oranje continued with his ninth goal in the 22nd minute. Three minutes from half-time, Thiemo Schuchardt replied for the Germans, who would have no fewer than seven players booked before an epic tussle was decided on penalties. Dutch keeper Mauro saved the Mannschaft's second spot-kick from Weber, while Holland's penalty takers were flawless, with Ferdi Doster sealing a famous victory!

 

RESULTS: England 2-0 Israel, Holland 1-1 Germany (5-3 penalties).

 

Final

The Euro 2028 Final was contested at the Stade Roi Baudouin in Brussels between England, the world champions, and Holland, who didn't even qualify for USA 2026. The Dutch underdogs were given a massive boost after 19 minutes, when Johan van Keulen was tripped in the England penalty area by Stuart Lindsay. Surprisingly, Ajax's defensive midfielder Jeroen Bouwmeester took the penalty... and he pulled it straight into Boyes' grasp. Would the Oranje pay the price for that missed opportunity?

 

The answer was no. Holland ended the first half strongly, and a volley from Sevilla midfielder Yvo Muhren just before the break gave them a 1-0 lead! Gianluca Atzori's England had been rattled, and that showed in their second-half display. Their front three of King, Robinson and Clive Johnson all had efforts saved by Ajax's goalkeeping captain Mauro, while King struck the bar with a header after 88 minutes. Thanks to those misses, and some excellent defending from the likes of centre-back Roelof de Laat, the Dutch had done enough to take the spoils!

 

Holland's 40-year wait for a major title was officially ended when Mauro lifted the Henri Delaunay Trophy, much like the legendary Ruud Gullit had done in 1988. Credit for the Netherlands' footballing renaissance duly went to head coach John van den Brom, who took over in 2025 following that disappointment of missing the World Cup. The new European champions will be hoping to paint the town orange when the global showpiece comes to Spain in two years' time.

 

RESULT: Holland 1-0 England.

 

Award Winners

Best Player: Andrzej Wolanski (Germany).

Golden Boot: Martin Freke (Holland, 9 goals).

Best Goal: Wesley (Spain, vs Croatia - Round 2).

Dream Team:

• Mauro (Holland and Ajax)
• Javier Garagarza (Spain and Real Sociedad)
• Pedro Nunes (Portugal and Juventus)
• Zahi Ohayon (Israel and Anji Makhachkala)
• Nathan Aké (Holland and Southampton)
• Robin Oudshoorn (Holland and Porto)
• Andrzej Wolanski (Germany and Real Betis)
• Ole Kofod (Denmark and Everton)
• Cemil Aydin (Turkey and Galatasaray)
• Nando Ribas (Spain and Barcelona)
• Martin Freke (Holland and PSV)

[oche balboa]

Take the Norwich Job mate it may never happen again

[CFuller]

On 9/2/2016 at 00:43, oche balboa said:

Take the Norwich Job mate it may never happen again

Interestingly, that's twice now you've suggested that I take a bigger job elsewhere. I'm afraid that this next update might disappoint you...

[CFuller]

JULY 2028

Who turns down £36,000 a week and financial security to manage in the Premier League - arguably the biggest league in world football? A man who's either brave or stupid, that's for sure.

 

Well, I guess that I'm either fearless or mindless. As the 2028/2029 season dawned, Norwich City had contacted me with regards to becoming their new manager. After a week of deliberation, I eventually told them, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I would rather stay at Dagenham & Redbridge for the time being."

 

To say I'd taken a massive gamble would be putting it lightly. Having guided Dagenham from the Conference Premier to the League One play-offs in less than half a decade, I was seen by many as one of English football's rising managerial stars. If the Daggers' ascent stopped, and we had a poor season this time around, my stock would plummet and top-flight teams would lose interest in me.

 

The thing is, though... I'm an Essex boy through and through, and I don't think my heart would've been in it if I'd taken the money and run to Norfolk. I'm also not an alcohol drinker, although I do follow life by the Guinness mantra - good things come to those who wait.

 

Last season's finish of 4th place in League One had given me belief that the Championship was not too far away for Dagenham & Redbridge. We now had a largely settled squad, a stronger fan base, and financial security, so pretty much everything was in place for another crack at promotion. I wasn't going to leave all that and sacrifice my principles for a Premier League job that I was almost certainly not ready for.

 

With all the speculation about my future now laid to rest, I was ready to get stuck into my seventh season at Victoria Road. The squad reconvened for pre-season looking sharp and fully focused on turning the previous campaign's heartbreak into glory.

 

Although three of our big stars - Wayne Coton, Yasser Ibrahim and Paul Hart - were no longer around, we now had a trio of new faces in strikers Roy Ganfield and Max Hicks, and on-loan defender Benjamin Ashton. I'd also tried to sign a couple more players before our first friendly, without success. One particular deal, to sign 37-year-old goalkeeper Wesley Foderingham as a player-coach, fell through because of the board's reluctance to hire a second goalkeeping coach.

 

The board were much more forthcoming when it came to enhancing our youth programme. They agreed to increase the junior coaching budget to a level comparable to Championship sides.

 

Meanwhile, a trio of young reserve players were sent out on loan to gain some additional first-team experience. Gianluca Cecere and Zac Johnson went on seven-month loans to Crawley Town and Farnborough in the Conference Premier, while Paul Parkinson joined Milton Keynes Dons in the Conference South for a similar timeframe.

 

The senior team's first friendly of this pre-season was at home to Birmingham City - a club who'd really fallen on hard times in recent years. The Blues had lost to Morecambe in the League Two Play-Off Final just 39 days earlier.

 

4 July 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Birmingham City

Joel Honeyball won us a corner in the very first minute, and his resulting delivery almost gave us a goal. Gavin Dalton got on the end of Joel's corner, but Birmingham goalkeeper Connor Wycherley caught his header comfortably. Mark West then showed signs of rustiness, wasting several early opportunities that he would've been expected to bury.

 

Birmingham made us pay for Mark's misses by hitting the mark after 13 minutes. 21-year-old captain Edwin Day fired a shot that bounced off Daryl Ryan's right thigh and deflected into the net.

 

West's rocky start continued four minutes later with a wayward header at the Blues' goal. The Daggers skipper finally registered a shot on target after 21 minutes, but Wycherley's save kept us trailing. Birmingham's homegrown custodian also kept out a promising attempt from Honeyball in the 24th minute. After further misses late on from the likes of Benjamin Ashton and Geraint Harding, we went into the break still trailing the League Two side by that solitary goal.

 

West blasted a fierce effort into Wycherley's hands after 49 minutes, leaving Dagenham fans wondering if our first goal would ever come. Birmingham's second came six minutes later, via a Tommy Pugh corner that was squirmed in by City right-winger Casey Kelly. 2-0, and a worrying home defeat to a lower-league team looked likely.

 

After 65 minutes, though, Gareth Flood gave us renewed hope with an excellent free-kick. Gareth's delivery from the left deflected off Birmingham midfielder Harrison Atkins and towards goal before Mark flicked it home.

 

After getting us back in the game, West came off to be replaced by Ollie Pert, who set up a great chance for Max Hicks in the 69th minute. Pert's flick-on fell perfectly for Hicks, whose effort swerved disappointingly wide. Ollie was also off target with an attempt of his own after 83 minutes. The young Geordie had another decent opening in the penultimate minute of normal time, but Birmingham defender Bruce Ranford's excellent tackle denied him an almost certain goal.

 

Three minutes of injury time followed, and they were just about to expire when Blues left-back Bradley Bauress conceded a corner. Flood's corner was nodded on by William Barnes to Josh Charles, whose shot was parried by Wycherley! Terry Worthington then cleared the ball behind, giving us just enough time for another corner.

 

Gareth crossed to the far post, where Josh rose above Ranford to flick it into the net! We had dominated Birmingham 22-6 on the shot count, but we barely scraped a 2-2 draw!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (West 65, Charles 90)

Birmingham City - 2 (Day 13, Kelly 55)

Friendly, Attendance 2,045

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan (Rattle), Beech (Plummer), Ashton (Busetto), Dalton (Charles), O'Reilly (Warren), Roche (Paratusic), Fraser (Barnes), Harding (Martin), Honeyball (Flood), West (Pert), Hands (Hicks). BOOKED: Honeyball, Martin.

 

Despite that last-gasp leveller, I was still unhappy with the performance, and I made my feelings clear at full-time. Two of our new signings - Benjamin Ashton and Max Hicks - complained about my criticism before they went home. I told both of them to shut up and get on with it, otherwise their stays at Victoria Road would be very short.

 

Our next friendly was in north-west London against Conference Premier side Barnet. In 64-year-old Johnson Hippolyte, the Bees had one of non-league football's most experienced managers. They didn't have a professional goalkeeper on their books, though, but the FA had given them permission to field a woman in goal! I wonder what Richard Keys would've made of that were he still alive!

 

8 July 2028: Barnet vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Barnet's goalkeeper wasn't just some woman plucked off the street - she was 17-year-old Arsenal Ladies sensation Gabrielle Bentley, who'd already been capped by the England senior team! Miss Bentley faced her first test in the fourth minute, when she punched away a fierce shot from Tommy Scott.

 

However, it was Barnet who had the best of the early chances. On 20 minutes, captain Michael Craig ran at our defence and swerved a shot that struck the crossbar. The Bees threatened to attack again in the 22nd minute, only to be stung by a counter-attack. Victor Dam played an excellent through-ball ahead of Ollie Pert, who slotted past Bentley to give us the lead!

 

That advantage would only last four minutes. Bees left-flanker Adrian Baptiste cut his way past our right-back Dan Plummer, and the Trinidadian teenager sliced home an equaliser.

 

Victor picked up a knock just moments later, but the Dane didn't let that faze him. In the 36th minute, he finished off an excellent Dagenham passing move with a lethal drive from the edge of the area.

 

It was now 2-1 to Dagenham, but two late Bentley saves from Pert and Roy Ganfield kept the margin narrow. Keen not to be overshadowed by his female counterpart, Dagenham's Tony Rattle showed his goalkeeping abilities with a strong save in injury time to prevent Baptiste from levelling the scores again.

 

By the 53rd minute, our greater class was really shining through. Rattle's long goal kick evaded Barnet defender Perry Wickenden and fell to Ollie, who set up a first Dagenham goal for his new team-mate Roy Ganfield. 3-1 to the Daggers!

 

Bees striker Ricardo Wickenden (not related to Perry) headed wide an opportunity to put his team back in the game after 61 minutes, and we were soon threatening to pull further clear. In the 67th and 68th minutes, Max Hicks had two opportunities to beat Bentley for his first Daggers strike, but he cleared the bar on each occasion.

 

A few minutes later, Bentley's high-profile cameo appearance for Barnet came to an end. Having blown away the prehistoric misconceptions that women goalkeepers are generally 'useless', Gabrielle came off to a warm reception and was replaced by a total unknown in Andy McGowan. The Irish student made his first save in the 75th minute, easily catching a bouncing header from Hicks.

 

There was little McGowan could do to save our next effort on goal in the 82nd minute. It was a case of saving our best goal for last, as Dean Martin bent in an exquisite 25-yarder that any goalkeeper - man, woman or fish - would struggle to keep out! We missed a number of late chances to score a fifth goal, with Hicks hitting the bar after 88 minutes, but a 4-1 win was more than satisfactory in the end.

 

Barnet - 1 (Baptiste 26)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Pert 22, Dam 36, Ganfield 53, Martin 82)

Friendly, Attendance 945

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Rattle (Cetinkaya), Plummer (Beech), Charles (Ashton), Busetto (S Johnson), Warren (Hopkins), Barnes (Virgo), Scott (Hands), Fraser (Bailey), Dam (Martin), Pert (Honeyball), Ganfield (Hicks). BOOKED: Warren.

 

After the win over Barnet, we travelled not back to Dagenham, but to Dulwich in south London. The chairman thought it would be a good idea to send the team to a training camp away from home for 10 days, and who was I to argue with him?

 

We would have two more away friendlies during our training camp. The first was at Kingsmeadow against a Kingstonian side who were about to begin their second season in League Two.

 

11 July 2028: Kingstonian vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Kingstonian's defence looked rather shaky early on, and we could've exploited that in the 10th minute. Sadly, Gavin Dalton's header from Matt Warren's cross was headed off the line by Kieron Gray - my former captain at Romford. The K's tried to counter, but their attack broke down when Ronnie Pearce hit an awful effort from long range.

 

Our former goalkeeper Robbie Ryder then made a couple of excellent saves in the 11th and 17th minutes to keep out attempts from Victor Dam and Josh Charles. Current Daggers custodian Daryl Ryan had much less work to do, especially with Trevor Connor pulling wide a couple of woeful Kingstonian shots midway through the half. The period ended fairly quietly, although Ryder's catch from a last-minute Dam free-kick kept the score at 0-0.

 

I'd never beaten Kingstonian during my time as Dagenham boss... and after 49 minutes, my poor record against Alan Dowson's men looked set to continue. The hosts' breakthrough came when Irish right-winger John Hoare met left-winger Robbie Obrey's cross with a bullet header that fizzed over Ryan and into the net. Daryl was almost beaten by another header a minute later, but he did well to gather Chris Rose's diving effort.

 

On 53 minutes, Matthew Fraser's corner resulted in a massive scramble in the Kingstonian box before Dean Martin drilled the ball inches wide. I could tell from that moment that this was perhaps not going to be our evening.

 

As I would've expected from a defence that included the likes of Ryder and Gray, the K's were rock-solid and didn't give us too many chances in the final half-hour. Ollie Pert went fairly close to breaking through after 87 minutes, and we won a corner in the dying seconds, but Stephen Hardwick's clearance ensured that we would suffer a 1-0 defeat.

 

Kingstonian - 1 (Hoare 49)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Friendly, Attendance 1,238

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Ryan (Rattle), Beech (Plummer), Charles (Ashton), Dalton (S Johnson), O'Reilly (Hopkins), Martin (Roche), Barnes (Fraser), Dam (Harding), Warren (Flood), West (Pert), Hicks (Ganfield). BOOKED: Barnes, Harding.

 

That was, frankly, a very poor result, and there would be more bad news to come...

[oche balboa]

Fair play to you for staying on. I'm sure you want to finish the job

 

How did Barnet have a female goalkeeper? or was that a bit of Artistic license?

[CFuller]

8 minutes ago, oche balboa said:

Fair play to you for staying on. I'm sure you want to finish the job

 

How did Barnet have a female goalkeeper? or was that a bit of Artistic license?

1. I have unfinished business at Dagenham & Redbridge. It'll have to take a dream job offer from my beloved Arsenal for me to even think about moving before I've achieved what I want to achieve with the Daggers.

2. Artistic license. Barnet had a greyed-out player with the name 'Gabrielle', and we're now over a decade into the future, so I thought I'd make something of that. I've also seen a Hayley and an Elizabeth in opposition teams in the past.

[CFuller]

JULY 2028 (continued)

We were just over midway through our training camp when disaster struck our first-choice goalkeeper Daryl Ryan. Daryl broke down in training with a sports hernia, and that meant he was likely to be out of action until late August. With just a couple of young and inexperienced goalies available to us, we were badly in need of some backup.

 

Even before Daryl's injury, I'd scoured all over the British transfer market for another senior keeper. One by one, my targets kept rejecting me, or negotiations kept breaking down, leaving me more and more desperate. I even tried to sign that young girl who played for Barnet the other day... but for all sorts of reasons, that deal was never going to get out of the starting blocks.

 

I did manage to complete one transfer, though, and that was the signing of ex-Arsenal trainee Marvin Green. 18-year-old Marvin is primarily a left-winger with great pace and dribbling ability, but he also has the team-working skills to be a wide midfielder.

 

Green's arrival came after I'd decided to let Joel Honeyball join Burton Albion on loan until the end of January. Joel's not much more than a backup attacker for us, but dropping down to the Conference Premier could really help him to kick on. He'll be getting first-team football on a regular basis, and he'll also be able to take advantage of Burton's impressive training facilities.

 

After our disappointing display at Kingstonian, we hoped to bounce back in our next friendly at Thamesmead Town. The Mead finished 10th in the Conference South last term following their promotion from the Isthmian League.

 

15 July 2028: Thamesmead Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

We were firmly in control during the first half, as Thamesmead struggled to take the ball off us. However, we seemed to lack a cutting edge going forward. Ollie Pert had our first chance of the entire game after 26 minutes, when he swerved a banana shot over the crossbar.

 

After 33 minutes, one of our three centre-backs - Alex Busetto - crossed the ball towards his colleague Josh Charles on the edge of Thamesmead's six-yard box. Mead captain Dean Hackett executed a superb sliding tackle on Josh, only for Benjamin Ashton - the third member of our defensive triumvirate - to bury the loose ball into the net!

 

Having finally taken the lead, we briefly took our foot off the pedal. Thamesmead midfielder Ally Wylde struck from long range in the 40th minute, and he didn't get particularly close to equalising. We then regained our focus, with Pert skilfully smashing home our second goal after 44 minutes.

 

Max Hicks joined Pert up front for the second half. In the 53rd minute, Ollie helped Max get close to breaking his duck. Hicks ran onto the Geordie teen's flick-on and headed towards the Mead goal, where keeper Leon Eaton messed up an attempted catch. Thamesmead were fortunate to only concede a corner, and they got lucky again in the 57th minute, when Pert nodded Matt Warren's deep cross wide.

 

I later replaced Ollie with our new left-wing signing Marvin Green, while defender Gavin Dalton and midfielder William Barnes also came off the bench. It was the latter who created our third goal after 66 minutes. Will's incisive ball into the Mead box found Hicks, who ended his wait for his first Daggers goal.

 

Hicks was unlucky not to score his second in the 75th minute, when he struck the post from Tim Beech's right-wing cross. Fortunately, his strike partner Troy Hands was in position to convert the rebound for a 4-0 Dagenham lead!

 

The floodgates opened even wider three minutes later, as Andrew Spires' rash challenge on Victor Dam gave us a penalty. Hicks was quick to step up to the task, which he executed almost effortlessly. 5-0 to the Daggers!

 

Thamesmead had been swept away without getting anywhere near our goal. We found their net for a sixth time after 86 minutes, but Hands was denied his brace by the offside flag - a rare disappointing moment from arguably our easiest victory for some time!

 

Thamesmead Town - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 5 (Ashton 33, Pert 44, Hicks 66,pen78, Hands 75)

Friendly, Attendance 859

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Rattle (Cetinkaya), Charles (Dalton), Busetto (Hands), Ashton (S Johnson), Plummer (Beech), Warren (O'Reilly), Harding (Roche), Scott (Barnes), Martin (Dam), Pert (Green), Ganfield (Hicks). BOOKED: Pert.

 

A comfortable win really lifted our spirits for the last few days of training camp. By the time we returned home, we were looking much more cohesive as a team, and that boded well for our last two friendlies.

 

We would have to really step things up, though, to get a positive result at home to Championship big boys Brighton & Hove Albion. The Seagulls had flown in and out of the Premier League over the last decade, and former Stoke City midfielder Jay Spearing was their sixth manager in as many years.

 

19 July 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton's strikers had a mixed start to the match. After five minutes, Joseph Miller hit a wicked shot that was superbly pushed away by Daggers keeper Tony Rattle. Miller's strike partner Graham Murdoch then tripped up Daniel O'Reilly as he attempted to reach the loose ball. Murdoch had already been booked for pushing Gavin Dalton in the first minute, and he was incredibly lucky not to have been sent off!

 

Miller's next two efforts for Brighton went wayward before we had a purple patch midway through the half. Troy Hands missed the target by miles with a long-range effort in the 24th minute, but he got much closer to goal a minute later. A promising dribble into the Seagulls area ended with a shot that was well saved by Brazilian goalkeeper Cláudio.

 

Troy was involved in setting up another decent Daggers chance after 40 minutes. Hands knocked the ball past Brighton centre-back Daniel Phillips to find Mark West, who drilled it home from a difficult angle! Having beaten Swansea City and Coventry City in the FA Cup last season, were we about to claim another Championship scalp, albeit in a friendly?

 

After 49 minutes, it looked like we were going to move two goals clear. Tim Beech chipped a lovely ball ahead of West, who unfortunately could not keep his shot on target. Another effort from Hands sailed inches wide in the 57th minute as we continued to pressurise the Seagulls.

 

Brighton's forays into our half were usually brief, but when winger Eric Esposito was tripped by Daggers substitute Mitchell Paratusic in the 65th minute, they were given a major opportunity. Mali international Esposito lifted a free-kick into our box and found right-back Bill Middleton, who evaded our defence and applied an excellent finish.

 

Mitchell's over-exuberance had cost us the lead, and the youngster was booked three minutes later for fouling Esposito again. Another rising star at Victoria Road could've got the home fans going again in the 79th minute, but Roy Ganfield's strike didn't cause Cláudio too many problems.

 

Brighton striker Jovan Kolarov did give us a scare shortly afterwards with a fierce shot from outside the area. Thankfully, Rattle produced a marvellous acrobatic save to stake his claim for a first league start. Neither team would come close to scoring again, and so a very tight match culminated in a fair 1-1 draw.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (West 40)

Brighton & Hove Albion - 1 (Middleton 65)

Friendly, Attendance 2,165

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Rattle (Cetinkaya), Beech (Plummer), Busetto (Charles), Dalton (Ashton), O'Reilly (Warren), Roche (Paratusic), Fraser (Harding), Barnes (Dam), Flood (Green), West (Pert), Hands (Ganfield). BOOKED: Barnes, Paratusic.

 

The final friendly of our pre-season was unquestionably the toughest of all. Our parent club Fulham paid their annual visit to Victoria Road on the back of finishing 6th in last season's Premier League.

 

With the season fast approaching, I decided not to overexert my most important players. I also chose to field a number of raw youngsters from kick-off - a very risky strategy against superstars such as England captain Will Hughes and new European champion Johan van Keulen.

 

22 July 2028: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Fulham

17-year-old goalkeeper Engin Cetinkaya made his maiden start for the Dagenham first-team, and he was nearly beaten after just four minutes. Kane Ball's free-kick for Fulham bounced off the bar before falling into our unproven goalie's hands. Cetinkaya was more assured in the 9th minute, when he caught Hossam Said's header right on his goal line.

 

In the 13th minute, Max Hicks swung a Daggers free-kick inches wide. That would be our only scoring chance of the entire half, as Fulham ratcheted up the pressure thereafter.

 

Ball blasted an effort into Cetinkaya's hands in the 16th minute, while Danish winger Patrick Randrup rattled the bar with a cross five minutes later. The lack of width in our 4-4-2 diamond would soon be exploited. On 23 minutes, Cottagers captain Will Hughes started a counter-attack with an excellent long ball to Johan van Keulen. The Holland forward entered our area and evaded a slide tackle from left-back Marc Hopkins before playing in Randrup. The pair exchanged a couple more passes, and then the dynamic Dane smashed home the breakthrough goal.

 

Fulham's wide play would devastate us again after just over 32 minutes. Said curled in a cross from the right touchline, and our teenage midfielder William Barnes could only turn it into his own net.

 

The floodgates were now wide open for the Cottagers, who added another goal a couple of minutes. American striker Ball headed in a swerving delivery from England Under-21s right-back Romaric Mawéné, and we trailed 3-0.

 

The Cottagers found the target once again on 37 minutes, but van Keulen was flagged offside after he turned Randrup's centre in from close range. We got lucky again when Bell struck the woodwork for a second time after 44 minutes. However, it was obvious that some of our players - particularly the younger ones, such as Engin and midfielder Dennis McCann - were not up to scratch.

 

I made a raft of changes before the second half, including six substitutions and a switch to the bog-standard 4-4-2 formation. That drastically cut down the number of chances our opponents had, Fulham's wingers now had less space to exploit. Midfielder Liam Wood almost scored from 25 yards in the 60th minute, but he was denied by a superb reflex save from Tony Rattle. Tony produced another fingertip save two minutes later from Ball's free-kick and kept the Cottagers waiting for goal number 4.

 

We weren't able to put the Premier League side's defence under any real pressure, though, and we would eventually concede again. With nine minutes remaining, Hughes found van Keulen in space down the middle, and the UEFA Euro 2028 winner's bullet strike made it 4-0.

 

That scoreline nearly became 5-0 in the 86th minute. Fulham's French teenager Georges Mathieu produced some fancy footwork on his way to the penalty area, where he let us off the hook with a poor finish.

 

We now had nothing to lose, so we went on the attack for the dying moments. Our work paid off in injury time, as Mark West won us a penalty after Cottagers defender Christopher Khan barged into him. Mark then hammered the spot-kick home to give the Dagenham fans something to celebrate after another brave defeat against our parent club.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (West 90)

Fulham - 4 (Randrup 23, Barnes og33, Ball 35, van Keulen 81)

Friendly, Attendance 6,077

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Cetinkaya (Rattle), Plummer (Beech), Charles (Dalton), Ashton (Busetto), Hopkins (O'Reilly), Barnes (Scott), McCann (Paratusic (Virgo)), Harding (Flood), Dam (Martin), Pert (West), Hicks (Hands). BOOKED: O'Reilly.

 

Two wins, two draws, two defeats - not the worst of pre-seasons, but at the same time, not the most encouraging.

 

Centre-back Alex Busetto had impressed me, and I rewarded his improved form with a new three-year contract. I also gave Scottish playmaker Matthew Fraser a three-year deal at the same time before loaning out his compatriot Tommy Scott to Conference Premier outfit Southend United for six months.

 

In addition, I finally found the second-choice goalkeeper I'd been looking for. After snatching Paul Hart from our grasp, Sheffield United kindly lent us their reserve custodian Kobe Nuyts for the entire season. Kobe is a solid 27-year-old Belgian who spent last season on loan at AFC Bournemouth and Port Vale.

 

His arrival came just in time, as our league campaign was about to begin earlier than I had anticipated...

[CFuller]

Dagenham & Redbridge squad - Start of 2028/2029 season

(All ages correct as of 1 August 2028)

GOALKEEPERS

1. Daryl Ryan (age 23, Irish)

Daryl is my firm number 1 choice in goal, having kept 17 clean sheets in League One last term. His communication skills are exceptional for this level of football, but he could do with improving his composure.

13. Kobe Nuyts (age 27, Belgian)

Kobe's positioning is a possible weakness, but the on-loan Sheffield United man is otherwise a decent backup.

DEFENDERS

2. Tim Beech (age 26, English)

Tim has been a wonderful servant to this club since arriving seven years ago. The vice-captain's contract expires in the summer, though, and he'll have to become more consistent to merit a renewal.

3. Matt Warren (age 31, English)

With an incredible work rate and a professional attitude, Matt is the archetypal role model for any young left-back. The veteran's form tailed off late last season, but I'm optimistic that he'll soon be back to his best.

5. Josh Charles (age 27, English)

6ft 4in man mountain Josh could be our defensive rock for many more years to come. Although he's not the quickest of our centre-backs, few can compete with the burly Brummie for physical strength and aerial power.

6. Gavin Dalton (age 23, English)

Dependable centre-half Gavin has excellent marking ability and has strong leadership characteristics. I think the only reason why he hasn't been snapped up by a bigger club is that he can occasionally make poor decisions.

19. Dan Plummer (age 20, English)

Strong right-back Dan, who can also play in the centre, is steadily working towards becoming a first-team regular.

21. Benjamin Ashton (age 19, English)

Season-long loanee Benjamin is a well-rounded centre-back who looks destined for the Premier League. He's already picked up invaluable tips from Southampton colleague Nathan Aké, now a European champion with Holland.

22. Alex Busetto (age 22, Italian)

Alex can expect more first-team chances this season after impressing me with his tackling and positioning.

29. Daniel O'Reilly (age 20, Irish)

Daniel could establish himself as our main left-back during this season... if he becomes more of a team player.

MIDFIELDERS

4. Geraint Harding (age 24, Welsh)

Geraint has taken big strides over the last 12 months or so. The Wales international has always been a fine ball-winning midfielder, but he's chipped in more on the attacking front, providing nine assists last term.

7. Jonathan Roche (age 25, Irish)

Jonathan's form goes on and off like a light switch. The right-winger's pace and flair can often unlock a defence when he's at his best, but his selfishness can also hinder the team as a whole.

8. Victor Dam (age 23, Danish)

Victor has all the skills required to take over from Paul Hart as our main attacking playmaker. The former Danish youth international boasts fine technique and athleticism, while his long-range shooting can be lethal.

11. Marvin Green (age 18, English)

Naturally a left-winger, I'm hoping to retrain ex-Arsenal trainee Marvin as a hard-grafting wide midfielder.

12. William Barnes (age 19, English)

I see no reason why William cannot become our captain in the future. His array of defensive, creative and attacking skills make him able to play in virtually any position in central midfield.

14. Matthew Fraser (age 21, Scottish)

Matthew is fast becoming our go-to deep-lying playmaker. The ambitious Scot is very accurate with his passes, and his ability to read a game is exceptional for someone who's still so young.

17. Gareth Flood (age 21, Irish)

Gareth is back in the first-team frame, and he'll certainly be of great use when I want to play my speedy wingers.

18. Dean Martin (age 20, English)

Dean has struggled to adapt to League One thus far, but the attacking midfielder's time will surely come soon.

FORWARDS

9. Troy Hands (age 27, English)

I considered letting Troy go in the summer before eventually deciding to retain him. Although his shooting accuracy is not fantastic for a poacher, he can also be a useful creative outlet as a support striker or in midfield.

10. Mark West (age 30, English)

Target man and captain Mark never ceases to amaze me with his ability to pulverise opposition defences into submission. He's already scored 78 league goals for Dagenham, and the century is definitely within his reach.

15. Joel Honeyball (age 20, English)

Joel has gone out on loan to Burton Albion as he looks to refine his attacking game, and his shooting in particular.

16. Ollie Pert (age 19, English)

Left-footed northerner Ollie is tenacious, incredibly fit and very deadly - he's essentially West Mk II!

20. Max Hicks (age 30, English)

Max has played just one competitive match in three years, but this could be his second coming as a Football League hotshot. He still has the explosive pace and cool finishing from his glory days at Crewe Alexandra.

24. Roy Ganfield (age 18, English)

Roy has bags of potential, but he'll spend much of his early Dagenham career playing reserve-team football.

 

RESERVE & YOUTH PLAYERS

Goalkeepers: Engin Cetinkaya, Tony Rattle

Defenders: Marc Hopkins, Shaun Johnson, Zac Johnson (on loan at Farnborough)

Midfielders: Lloyd Bailey, Robin Cook, Dennis McCann, Mitchell Paratusic, Paul Parkinson (on loan at Milton Keynes Dons), Tommy Scott (on loan at Southend United), Tom Virgo, Thomas Wannell

Forwards: Gianluca Cecere (on loan at Crawley Town), Grant Drake, Steve Hughes

 

BACKROOM STAFF

Manager: Christopher Fuller

Assistant Manager: Fabio Saraiva

Coaches: Jamie Cochrane, Danny Keohane, Lewis Proudfoot

Fitness Coach: David Wheater

Goalkeeping Coach: Scott Carson

Physio: Sam Cutler

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

 

Head of Youth Development: Curtis Langton

Under-18s Manager: James Stevens

Under-18s Coach: Joseph Yoffe