NATIONAL SERVICE!
All the action and reaction from another thrilling day in Non-League’s top flight
DAGENHAM & RED 0 TRANMERE ROVERS 0
SCOTT DAVIES made a fantastic save in each half to bank a point for Tranmere Rovers at leaders Dagenham & Redbridge – and interim boss Paul Carden joked that the keeper needed the timely clean-sheet bonus to pay his fines!
Davies denied Jordan Maguire-Drew with a flying stop to his left in the first half.
Then in the 90th minute, with John Still’s Daggers pushing to capitalise on their man advantage following the second-half dismissal of Michael Ihiekwe, he got down brilliantly to scoop Oliver Hawkins’ header wide.
It could have been even better for Carden’s side in stoppage time only for striker Andy Cook to blast a golden chance for the winner off target.
“They have their own fine school and Scotty’s had a couple this week,” Carden, who has now taken four points from his two games in caretaker charge after Gary Brabin was sacked last month, said.
“He actually runs it, so I said to him, ‘You need a clean sheet bonus to pay for your fines’.
“To be fair to him there was nothing getting past him today. He was outstanding. To a man we were outstanding.” The game had everything but a goal. James Norwood’s shot was deflected into the side-netting after he scampered in behind Dagenham’s defence early on. Cook and Lois Maynard couldn’t find their way through a forest of Dagenham legs when they tried to force home a goalmouth scramble. But Dagenham grew into the half, with the lively Corey Whitely providing much of the spark. His flick around the corner sent Fejiri Okenabirhie into an advanced position, only for the winger’s shot to fly wide. Keeper Elliot Justham had to be out quickly to foil Norwood but the best stop of the half belonged to Davies.
Maguire-Drew’s excellent first touch put him into space in the box and he hit a sharp drive that Davies did superbly to push away with one hand.
Dagenham’s hunt for a goal got a boost within ten minutes of the break when Ihiekwe was shown red.
Already on one yellow card, he halted Whitely as Dagenham poured forward on the counter attack.
Carden labelled it a “sloppy” sending off and from there Dagenham sensed the victory.
Josh Staunton headed straight at Davies before substitute Christian Assombalonga was a lick of paint away from the breakthrough.
Introduced with six minutes to go, his first contribution was to rattle the woodwork with a powerful header.
Davies then kept out Hawkins with his second wonder save. If Dagenham fans had their head in their hands at that, so did the travelling supporters when Cook slashed wide with the last kick of the game.
Still, whose side were on the back of four wins in a row, praised Davies’ heroics.
“That’s his job,” Still said. “I don’t moan about that. That’s football. It’s almost a privilege when people come here that they raise their game against us.
“Our attacking players are still learning and they will learn from this. We learnt from a disappointment at Chester, we learnt from a disappointment at Sutton, and one at Boreham Wood.
“So we are learning, we see that in training, but I’m very pleased with our progress.”
Off Cook’s late miss, Carden added: “Cooky’s heartbroken in there. He’s got his head in his hands, he won’t look at anyone. But that’s Cooky, that’s the feeling he’s got for the game. His workrate was first class and he’ll get goals for this club.”