STILL WAITING FOR HOME JOY

NORTHAMPTON Town boss Chris Wilder was pleased with the way his side responded in the second half to claim their eighth away win of the season.

Ricky Holmes’ sensational strike gave the visitors the lead after John-Joe O’Toole’s goal cancelled out Dagenham & Redbridge striker Christian Doidge’s second-half effort.

Defeat meant the east Londoners missed out on winning three League games on the trot for the first time since 2009.

Wilder said: “It was a difficult game for us - John Still’s first game at home and he’s brought a couple of players and they won the last two league games.

“We were a bit fortunate to be level at half-time but we made a change and kept the ball at the top of the pitch a lot better in the second half.

“We dominated the second half but knowing that one ball or one pass could always cause us trouble, which it did, and fair play to them they took their opportunity. But we were confident that if we upped our standards we would get something from the game and we have.”

Though Daggers are still searching for their first League win on home soil this term, boss John Still was pleased with his side’s performance.

“The performance was very good, I’ve been pleased with the performances since I’ve been back, but the difficult thing is that we’ve conceded six goals from restarts, none of them from open play,” he said.

“Sometimes it is inevitable because someone does something with a little bit of magic. The second goal was a great strike and nothing we can do about that, but the first goal was very disappointing.

“When looking back on the DVD he hasn’t had to jump to head he just ran and bundled it over the line and that’s so disappointing.”

Daggers winger Ashley Hemmings nearly scored a sensational volley on ten minutes as he cleanly met a long ball in the box only for Adam Smith to parry away.

The visitors had their first opportunity in the 16th minute with Sam Hoskins’ shot outside the box forcing Mark Cousins to dive low to his post.

Ashley Chambers found the net in the 34th minute as he met Hemmings’ cross from the left wing only for the effort to be disallowed for offside.

At the other end, Justin Hoyte stopped O’Toole’s header on the line after a dangerous cross from Nicky Adams just before half-time.

Oliver Muldoon played Chambers for a one-on-one opportunity after a brilliant defence splitting pass only for the striker to shoot straight into Smith’s arms. Daggers took the lead in the 63rd minute after Josh Passley’s low driven left Doidge to pass the ball into an open net.

Northampton responded in just seven minutes after Adams’ corner was bundled in by O’Toole. Ricky Holmes then won it for the visitors with a brilliant volley on the 18-yard line

in the 79th minute.