ANGELO IS SHARP FOR DAGGERS
TORQUAY missed out on the chance to close the gap on National League leaders Sutton United as Angelo Balanta netted a late winner for Dagenham & Redbridge.
Balanta struck his sixth league goal of the season ten minutes from time to ensure Daryl McMahon’s side kept their hopes of a late push for the play-offs alive while bouncing back from Tuesday’s defeat to Hartlepool.
Daggers boss Daryl McMahon said: “I thought we were terrific to a man and worked really hard.
“We created some good chances as well and thankfully for us Angelo took one in the second half with real composure and it was a fantastic finish.”
The first real opening of the game came when Connor Lemonheigh-Evans was played through on goal but slipped at the vital moment with only goalkeeper Elliot Justham to beat.
But the home side had a big opportunity of their own a few minutes later when Matt Robinson fired the ball into the side-netting after some great work from Myles Weston.
Will Wright had two chances in quick succession but failed to test goalkeeper Lucas Covolan on either occasion, first curling wide of the far post from inside the box before doing the same with a free-kick from around 25 yards out.
Torquay really struggled to create opportunities in the first half but Elliot Johnson was forced to throw himself in the way of Adam Randell’s effort after the impressive Kenny Clark had made of a mess of an attempted clearance.
Balanta then saw his effort from inside the penalty area well blocked and loop up into the gloves of Covolan.
The Daggers were adamant that they should have had a penalty early in the second half when Paul McCallum went down under a challenge from Joe Lewis in the box, before Ryan Law smashed over after some great work from Lemonheigh-Evans for Torquay.
Justham was forced into a fantastic save on 67 minutes, tipping away substitute Josh Umerah’s close-range header to keep the scores level.
And Daggers found the breakthrough just minutes later when Balanta fired a superb finish past Covolan from close range after a great move.
The forward almost had a second with five minutes remaining, cutting in from the left before seeing his deflected shot fall agonisingly wide of the far post.
Torquay had a glorious chance to level the score in added time when a long throw-in caused havoc in the Daggers area, allowing Benjamin Mbunga-Kimpioka to smash an effort at goal which hit one of his own players on the line and deflected wide as the Daggers secured a fourth win in the last seven games.