Dagger Through The Heart In The Final Minute

After the September purple patch, the all too familiar frustrations are creeping back in for October it seems.

Dagenham's last gasp winner today ended a run of five defeats on the trot for the Daggers, which sums up the quality of opposition we faced. Their fans will no doubt be estatic with a completely unexpected 3 points, Alex fans left somehow yet deservedly empty handed.

It was not the greatest of games. To cliche it up, it wasn't a great advert for League Two. Both teams looked like teams languishing in the bottom half of the basement division, particularly going forward.

The game very much see-sawed throughout. Dagenham came at us for the first 20 minutes but the only thing they really had to show for it was one Steve Phillips fingertips shot. We had the best of the rest of the first half but were not much more inventive than the Daggers.

Nick Powell nearly got his elusive first Alex goal when the ball unexpectedly fell to him on the edge of the area but his snap shot was well saved. Shaun Miller meanwhile must wonder what counts as a foul these days; after struggling to stay on his feet against Vale last week (and forfeiting a penalty for his troubles), he was today booked after what looked a clear foul on him as he was about to go through on goal.

The second half followed a similar pattern. Ajay & Miller hustled and bustled without creating much, as did Dagenham at the other end. It did seem a game destined for 0-0. That was until the 75th min Moore bundled in a rebound. 1-0, 15 minutes to go in a match not throwing up a hatful of chances? Points in the bag I suppose.

What followed quite farcical but very, very Crewe like. Almost identical to last week against Vale, the Alex team didn't seem to wake up again as Dagenham kicked off. They almost walked past Harry Davis and whilst Dugdale and Martin were daydreaming (of 3 points) the ball was yet again in the thick of some 'bundling over the goal line' action.

Within 40 seconds of taking the lead the game was all square yet again.

The most disappointing thing was that Dario seemed happy with a draw, seemingly urging Steve Phillips to wind down the clock in stoppage time. It made Dagenham's 95th minute winner from a cheap corner and free header absolutely heartbreaking.

When we throw away such cheap points, almost surrendering them, it really wakes you up to the facts as to why we are where we are. The performance itself was not too untidy. We passed the ball well and but for the two moments of switching off looked a solid outfit. The biggest problems are those moments of turning off and the lack of clear cut chances we're really creating.

It's difficult trying not to blow it out of proportion just because we lost in the manner we did, so let's call it a bad day in the office and look forward to JPT progression and 3 points against Southend next week.

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