STREVS STILL STRIVING ON
BEN STREVENS doesn’t want to hear if his Dagenham & Red- bridge side are climbing the National League table – they’re just trying to get better.
Strevens’ Daggers smashed seven goals past poor Oxford City last weekend for a third win in six games to move into the top half.
Josh Rees hit a hat-trick and Inih Effiong took his tally to ten goals in ten games in a 7-1 rout of the Hoops.
The former Eastleigh boss is pleased with how the Daggers have found more consistency to their performances and results – and that’s exactly what the 43-year-old wants them to keep focusing on.
“I spoke to the boys about it before the Oxford game, about the type of group and people we are,” Strevens told The NLP.
“Some people like to hear praise but I feel like we always need to be on our toes and don’t want to hear any of that. It’s, ‘we’ve got to be better’.
“People say you’re not doing good enough? Alright, we’ll prove that we are. That’s just how I like to do things. It’s probably coming through the way I did as a player in Non-League, not through an academy, I’m that type of person.
“I know the type of boys we recruited this summer, that was the characteristics in them. Some have come with points to prove for this season.
“We’re very much looking upwards, but I think the best version of ourselves is to look beneath us and say: No, we aren’t doing good enough, we’ve got to pick up more results.
Improvement
“We feel like we’re in a good place at the moment. But I am sure a lot of other teams around us feel the same as well.”
A quick look across the division shows exactly how tight it is. Ahead of the weekend, just 11 points were separating Aldershot in the final play-off spot and Dorking Wanderers in 19th.
“Everyone across the league has pretty much got something to play for,” Strevens said. “That might change in six games time but at the moment there is a race for the promotion places – Chesterfield are ones probably everyone would say are down – and, across the league, I don’t think too many can feel too safe in their position in terms of being away from the bottom places. It’s good for the league. Just probably not for the managers and coaches!”
Strevens says their view also has to be off the pitch as they continue to strive for improvement. They soon hope to move to a new training facility in Dagenham and they’ve been backed with the introduction of lunch after training so the players stay together for longer.
It comes with the backdrop of owner Peter Freund admitting he’s looking to move the club on. Strevens says it’s still business as usual.
Energy
“A few years ago, when I wasn’t here, things went a bit awry, the owners at the time wanted to leave and that really impacted everything,” Strevens said. “That’s not been the same this time. Peter has said he wants to move it on to someone else but he also wants to leave it in a really good place for the next person to take it over. “There’s no worries about the boys not getting paid, or any of those worries that can come with ownership changes. He’s making sure he does the best job for
Dagenham & Redbridge he can until it’s time to pass it onto someone new who will come in with new energy.
“I’ve seen from afar and then walked in to see how much he’s put into this football club for the last five years. It’s not been through the lack of want. They want to help progress it while they’re still here.”
And that stability is helping Strevens create the right environment.
“If you come into work every day looking forward to training, you want to improve and you feel like you’re getting treated great, you hope that means people want to stay longer,” Strevens said.
“These players are not all about money, it’s where they can improve themselves as individuals and get better.
“We’ve been lucky to have a few younger players who have come into the group now and are doing really well. We’re really grateful to West Ham to have Keenan Appiah-Forson on loan and we took Aidan Francis-Clarke earlier in the season from Luton. Now we’ve got Dion Pereira and the quality he’s added to the group is great for me as a manager as well as the players.
“Hopefully those relationships we’re building can lead to big things for the future too.”