DAGENHAM & RED 0 FC HALIFAX TOWN 0

HALIFAX boss Billy Heath believes his team did more than enough to beat Dagenham & Redbridge in their FA Cup first round stalemate.

The Shaymen and Daggers will have to do it all again after the tie ended in a goalless draw, though that’s not to say it was dull.

The Essex club had early chances to take the lead, but both Jordan Maguire-Drew and Corey Whitely were of target.

Perhaps the best chance in the entire match fell to Town skipper Liam King in the 26th minute, but he somehow scooped over from six yards when it was easier to score.

Regardless, both sides are still in the hat for tomorrow’s draw, and Heath was full of praise for his charges.

“I thought to a man they were fantastic and we thoroughly deserve to be in the draw,” said Heath.

“We gave as good as we got and if you look at the chances, we had the best in the game.

“Possession-wise, they probably had a little more than us, but the way we played and the effort we gave, especially in the last 15 minutes, was marvellous.

“We nearly stole it at the end when Tom Denton went in, but we thoroughly deserve to be in the hat for the next round.”

Daggers assistant coach Darren Currie, meanwhile, believes the National League title challengers did not reach their full potential.

“It was always to be tough, but not as tough as we allowed it to be,” he said.

“We started very slowly in the first half and we had a similar start in the previous round against Wealdstone, so it was something we highlighted to the boys in the week and beforehand. We didn’t do that, so we allowed Halifax to get comfortable.”