BLUES’ BID HIT BY LATE DOUBLE

CHESTER’S bid for National League survival was dealt a hammer blow in the cruelest of fashions as two goals in the last five minutes earned Dagenham & Redbridge the points at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.

John Still’s side had taken the lead on 11 minutes when Fejiri Okenabirhie fired home from the edge of the area but the Blues hit back on 32 minutes when Jordan Archer expertly turned home a superb Gary Roberts cross.

And the Blues looked to be heading for three points and a second win in three after Matty Waters fired home a rebound after Dominic Vose’s effort, but just as they were in the same fixture last year, Chester were left empty handed after two late goals.

Okenabirhie fired home from inside the box on 85 minutes to level matters before a Matt Robinson cross was headed into his own net by Andy Halls to hand Daggers the victory and leave Chester's National League status hanging by a thread. “Up until 85 minutes nobody would have argued that we were worthy of the three points,” said Blues boss Marcus Bignot. “To come from a goal behind and get ourselves in front and show the character we did, it seemed as if the fourth goal was going to come from us so to concede an equaliser late on was so disappointing. But to lose the game, you can only imagine the kind of dressing room that there is at the moment. “The positives far outweighed the negatives but the one at the moment is the scoreline which was a massive disappointment.” Like Chester, Dagenham are facing a financial crisis. After director Glyn Hopkin decided to step away the Daggers have had to sell players to raise funds. Still said: “We weren’t as fluid in the second half but the one thing we didn’t do was that we never stopped. With everything that is going on the boys were terrific.”