Daggers twist knife into Heed away form

GATESHEAD have picked up just one point from their first four away games following Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Dagenham and& Redbridge.

It was a result which took the unbeaten Daggers to the top of the Vanarama National League – but the game hung in the balance until late on.

The two sides entered the final 10 minutes locked at 1-1 but Dagenham then scored twice to avenge last season’s five-goal drubbing by the Heed.

Gateshead would have been ahead midway through the second half but for a superb save from Mark Cousins from Robbie Tinkler’s header.

That was a pivotal moment, the Tynesiders much improved in the second half after starting disastrously.

Theo Vassell had cleared against his own bar and teenager Joe White had scored his first senior goal for Dagenham inside the opening quarter of an hour.

Rookie left-back Jon Mellish was hooked after just 16 minutes, Middlesbrough loanee Tinkler coming on and the defence reverting to a flat back four.

Daggers’ striker Morgan Ferrier was a handful throughout and struck the bar with a nonchalantly chipped 41st-minute penalty.

He had another effort cleared off the line by Heed captain Neill Byrne, who gave away the spot-kick, before finally restoring the home lead. Substitute Elliott Romain added a third on the counter-attack three minutes from time as Gateshead pushed for an equaliser. Tynesiders’ manager Neil Aspin was disappointed with the result but believed there were positives to take from an entertaining game. Aspin said: “It was a good game overall but for the first 15 minutes we were well off the pace and fortunate not to be a few goals down. “We had a bit of luck on two occasions which kept us in the game, but in the second half we played very well and were arguably the better team.

“Their goalkeeper pulled off a tremendous save from Tinkler’s header to stop us going in front - had that gone in it could have been a different outcome.

“Dagenham are a very good team who could well go on and win the league, so there are positives to take from the match.”

White opened the scoring after 13 minutes, the Heed level when Kevin Lokko turned the lively Luke Hannant’s free-kick into his own net.

After Cousins’ wonder save denied Tinkler, Ferrier atoned for his penalty miss by heading the Daggers in front on 80 minutes.

Romain then added a third, Gateshead back in the capital next weekend at high-flying Sutton United.

Dagenham could well go on and win the league, so there are positives to take from the match Neil Aspin