Dagenham and Redbridge v Torquay United FL2 27/08/2011

[ferrarilover]

Right, this is the match day thread, sorry it's late and, presently, a bit shit, but I only just found out I'm doing this one (couldn't be helped) and I am presently otherwise employed, so, post your comments below on the match and I'll do the proper OP when I get home.

Matt.

So, we travel east (don't we always?) to Our Nation's Capital to play at the side with the ground with the stupidest name in the Football League with a slightly gloomy mist over the club. Players leaving (well, player) and two poor performances on the trot make this, despite the proximity in time to the beginning of the season, a bit of a key match.

Gulls news

Well, there's only one place to start and that is with the really big news of the week... The boardroom ran out of Garibaldi's and Simon Baker was forced to snack on plain old Rich Teas.
Of course, I jest, the sad news of the departure of Billy Kee is the biggest story of the week down Plainmoor way. The big forward has cited homesickness as his reason to head t'up north to Burton Albion. We all wish him the best of luck in his future.

On his way in to replace The White Pele is another Billy, in the shape of Billy Boden. At this point I should point out that he is, in fact, a 19 year old striker on loan from Swindon Town, and most certainly not this guy >>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Bowden" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The young striker is a versatile chap, capable as he is of playing both up top as a genuine front man, and also as a winger. Judging from his comments on the OS about helping out Torquay and himself, he sees this move as little more than a three month stepping stone on to a starting place with Swindon. However, given their recent glut of signings, this seems unlikely and, chances are, he will be seen in yellow for no less than the remainder of the season.

In other Gulls news, the delightful Julia from the club shoppe has cycled from Cardiff in her native Wales (don't hold that against her) all the way to Amsterdam in Holland, all in aid of charity. Kudos to her for that.

The opposition.

Unlike Nick, I won't be doing a run down of the opposition players in such depth, given as I am to a genetic predisposition to sloth.

Dagenham and Redbridge, the Daggers, are enjoying something of a purple patch in their long history. The result of a merger between two much smaller clubs in 1992, the club in its present state was something of a habitual non-league rubbish. They had a number of successful years in the Conference in the first few years of the millennium, finishing in the playoff places for three consecutive years. They did achieve a measure of notoriety in 2002 when they finished second to Steve 'I'm a fat c**t and no one likes me' Evans and his merry band of cheats from Boston. Sadly, the proved once again to be completely at the mercy of corruption and bereft of backbone and refused to take any real action against BUFC. This meant that the Daggers application to be crowned Champions was refused and they remained a non-league side.
It was 2007 before their chance at League football finally arrived, when they saw off a strong but fading Oxford United to take the Conference title.
Swiftly, in 2010, they really exceeded all expectations by winning the L2 playoff final at Wembley by three goals to two against perennial bridesmaids Rotherham United.

A solitary season in L1 really did prove a bridge far too far and they were duly and, probably quite rightly, relegated back to L2.

Thus far this season, they have played 5 games, in addition to a whopping ELEVEN pre-season friendlies. Of their four league matches (the fifth match was a 5-0 hammering at Bournemouth in the Carling Cup) they have won 3 (all 1-0) and lost 1 (2-0).

They opened against Macclesfield, then came two consecutive losses, the aforementioned League Cup departure at the hands of a ruthkless Bournemouth and a 2-0 away defeat suffered at the home of AFC Wimbledon (who looked absolute garbage against Rovers). They got back on track with single goal victories at home to Swindon Town and at the home of Bradford City (who might lose every match this season, too big to go down?)

So, in absolute contrast to their efforts of two years ago, where they went up simply by not bothering to defend and beating teams with crazy scorelines (as we found 5-3) they are keeping it very tight at the back and not really venturing forward all that often.

Last time round

A new section, or, a new spin on an old section, here, we take a look at what happened the last season in which the two teams were in the same division.
The year was 2009/10 and TUFC were back in the Football League after a rather silly absence of two years.
Saturday 15th August 2009 saw us visit the Daggers as their first guests of the season. The 1800 or so who bothered to turn up (mostly wearing West Ham shirts) were treated to a classic, with the hosts running out 5-3 winners. Despite the scoreline, it was the Gulls who scored the goal of the game (a goal CRIMINALLY overlooked in the GOTS competition) when Muzzy Carayol got his geography right for a change, and lashed a 40 yard piledriver into the top corner from wide on the left.

Later that same season, on a dark and dreary Tuesday night in March, D&R graced Plainmoor with their presence for one of the most forgettable 0-0 draws football has ever had the misfortune to produce.

One to watch.

Gavin Tomlin is the man in the spotlight, having played a key role in getting us to Old Trafford last term. The be-affro'd striker has found his feet at Dagenham ths year and has cemented a place for himself in the starting XI.
Their OS has, rather kindly, done a short interview with him on their 'Gulls Player', so those with access may enjoy to watch that.

I have had a look for a decent Daggers forum, but they're all rubbish, so I shall recommend none, but suggest that http://www.daggersforum.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is the best of a bad bunch.

Hope this is ok.

Matt.

[Bigman]

To flesh this out with a few basic details (cos I'm bored at work), Dagenham lie 5th with 9 points from 4 games - their campaign started with a 1-0 win at Macclesfield, a 5-0 thumping at Bournemouth in the cup and 0-2 defeat at home to Wimbledon, followed by further 1-0 wins at Bradford and home to Swindon. According to BBC match reports, defeated opposition managers have felt a little unlucky against the Dags so far this season, while they themselves are still in a settling in phase with a number of new players.

Despite being yet to score this season former Gull loanee Gavlin Tomlin has had a hand in the Dags' most recent goals, winning the penalty against Swindon and taking the corner that lead to the goal at Bradford. Not sure who else to pick out as their danger men.

Starting 11 at Bradford were:

Lewington
Doe
Arber
McCrory
Elito
Howell
Lee
Ogogo
Williams
Nurse
Tomlin

The Gulls so far have a 100% away record with victories at Bristol Rovers and Aldershot, though the performance in the latter of these left a lot to be desired, as did the most recent match, a 3-1 defeat at home to Crawley. Rene Howe and Taiwo Atieno look to be forming an impressive partnership up front, while Lee Mansell is top scoring with 4 in 5. Talk on the OS of Lloyd Macklin may indicate he'll get a start, most likely in place of Chris McPhee on the right wing, while new loan signing Billy Bodin is likely to get the place of recently departed Billy Kee on the bench.

Indications are it'll be a tight affair and I'll actually predict 1-1, but I'd probably like to see an improved performance more than a positive result.

[diamondgirl]

This will be a physical, tough game, but hopefully we can come away with a hard earned 3 points. I can see a couple of changes and I imagine "New" Billy will start on the bench. I'm going for a 2-1 TUFC win, with Rene and Mark Ellis (Yes, I know) scoring.

[Awayday]

Surely we can't play as bad as we did against Aldershot and Crawley 3 games in a row?
We have a solid enough team, but we seem to give the ball away too easily and then sit back and try and defend the onslaught.

If we play every game like we did at Bristol then we have serious got to be a contender, but I have a feeling another loss on the cards for tomorrow for us. I want to be proved wrong......

[cosmic74]

Mark Ellis!! Diamond Girl...big call that one, but you just maybe onto something. I to think there will be changes and that may just be one of them. Maybe with Robbo moving to RB and Oastler slipping to the bench. I actually think Bodin may start!!!

I to think a 2-1 win to us, I am going to this one and it will be my last game until November, so heres to 3 points on saturday and a happy Cosmic flying off to work on sunday!!!

COYY!!

[bixieupnorth]

i feel we'll put in a good performance tomorrow, hopefully bodin's arrival will put a spring into the front rows step and we'll notch our third consecutive victory on the road

daggers 0-2 gulls atieno and howe

got to go to a christening so there'll be no input at all from me tomorrow

[ferrarilover]

Well, thank's Bigman, for making my job this evening much harder, by taking up all the stuff I was going to use!

Seriously though, thanks for that, hope you don't mind if I bastardise your post for my OP later tonight.

Matt.

[diamondgirl]

Mark Ellis!! Diamond Girl...big call that one, but you just maybe onto something. I to think there will be changes and that may just be one of them. Maybe with Robbo moving to RB and Oastler slipping to the bench. I actually think Bodin may start!!!

I to think a 2-1 win to us, I am going to this one and it will be my last game until November, so heres to 3 points on saturday and a happy Cosmic flying off to work on sunday!!!

COYY!!

I'm not so sure that Joe will be the one to miss out, I have a feeling that The Dinger might just leave Brian on the bench. Think Lloyd will start as well, as I don't think Nanny Mc has done that well, sadly.

Anyway, Cosmic I really do hope that you fly off to work, on Sunday, as a very happy man.

COYY.

[diamondgirl]

Surely we can't play as bad as we did against Aldershot and Crawley 3 games in a row?
We have a solid enough team, but we seem to give the ball away too easily and then sit back and try and defend the onslaught.

If we play every game like we did at Bristol then we have serious got to be a contender, but I have a feeling another loss on the cards for tomorrow for us. I want to be proved wrong......

Not sure we could do anything about the creepy game, Paul...they were just too good for us, and we had no answer. Hard as that is to admit.

[friendlygas]

Do you feel that you will be a team who do better on the road than at home or do you feel that in the game against us you were better than you really are due to the circumstances of it? I really felt against us that you looked a useful side but your other results do not really seem to indicate this. I think you will get a 2-1 win tomorrow with the same two scoring as scored against us. We are at home to hereford but I wouldnt like to predict the result.We were outstanding on Tuesday night in the cup and I still feel the 0-0 draw at Macclesfield might be a better result than we thought at the time. We really need to win tomorrow as we then have four away games on the trot Leyton orient in the Carling,Crawley away in the League,Wycombe Away in the JPT and Bradford away in the league. Certainly some tough assignments coming up!
our best win last season was at Dagenham 3-0 (in fact it was one of very few wins!!) That day we all felt that Dagenham would go down but little did we think we would too.
Best of luck tomorrow.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Dagenham hold few worries for us apart from the one where we hope and pray one of our former players doesn't score against us for his team. We snubbed Zebroski out pretty effectively and can do the same with Tomlin. You can pick holes in all their results so far but i see it like this. They won at Macc on opening day and i believe they had a man sent off second half so although it was a creditable result you could argue that Macc were sluggish (they have done well since and also in the cup despite getting beat by Bolton the other night ) because it was the first game of the season. Forget the drubbing by Bournemouth, yes it looks bad but we were on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline at St Marys but we played really well at times. A 2-0 home reverse at the hands of Wimbledon is probably the most interesting of their results so far as AFC are the new boys and i think they will struggle this year. A defeat to them is a surprise. Beating Bradford is a piece of piss and we all know the start they have had what with crap results, poor performances and Jacko resigning the other day. Swindon too are capable on their day (beating Bristol City in the cup as an example) but IMO they will have many many more off days than on in this league and under Di Canio. So all in all it is a pretty uninspiring Daggers side who are possibly in a false position even this early on in the season and i can see them dropping down to the foot of the table eventually. They haven't scored more than a goal in any one game so if we can shore up our defence and keep a clean sheet like we did unexpectedly at the EBB then i feel we have goals in us in Atieno and Howe AND Manse. I am going to go for a 2-0 victory for us.

[Fonda]

In reply to FriendlyGas. Our best performance of the season was obviously at the Mem (although by all accounts i believe we played pretty well against Southampton too). I'd like to think it wasn't just the circumstances surrounding the game that enabled us to perform like that though. It's true that you can only tell so much from friendlies, but our performances against Burton and Crawley did not remotely reflect the abilities of this team. Rather than 'playing above ourselves' against you, i think we just fell a long way short of our 'normal' level in those games. I think it's coincidence that they were home games too. The expectancy at Plainmoor is generally non-existent, so i really don't think it's a problem of players freezing under the pressure!

[ferrarilover]

Do you feel that you will be a team who do better on the road than at home or do you feel that in the game against us you were better than you really are due to the circumstances of it? I really felt against us that you looked a useful side but your other results do not really seem to indicate this. I think you will get a 2-1 win tomorrow with the same two scoring as scored against us. We are at home to hereford but I wouldnt like to predict the result.We were outstanding on Tuesday night in the cup and I still feel the 0-0 draw at Macclesfield might be a better result than we thought at the time. We really need to win tomorrow as we then have four away games on the trot Leyton orient in the Carling,Crawley away in the League,Wycombe Away in the JPT and Bradford away in the league. Certainly some tough assignments coming up!
our best win last season was at Dagenham 3-0 (in fact it was one of very few wins!!) That day we all felt that Dagenham would go down but little did we think we would too.
Best of luck tomorrow.

Which result? Do you mean the 3-1 loss to a team who have spent more on players in one year than our entire club is worth? Or are you referring to our 1-0 win away at Aldershot, our 2-1 win away at Bristol Rovers or our 2-2 draw against Burton having been two down?

Matt.

[Plymouth Gull]

Sorry for laying this one at the last minute, Matt.

[Plymouth Gull]

Although cheers for doing it, I'll give a bit/lot more notice next time I need a hand. Cheers again.