Dogged Daggers display cutting edge in fight for survival

DAGENHAM and Redbridge may well be 23rd in the npower League One table, but Athletic could be facing them at the worst possible time.

John Still’s strugglers sprang a surprise in midweek, courtesy of a 4-1 home victory over Brentford.

The Daggers, seven points adrift of safety, are fighting for their lives and are sure to come out all guns blazing at Boundary Park on Saturday on the back of such a convincing triumph.

Athletic manager Paul Dickov has already earmarked the game as a potential banana skin.

However, there is no denying that life at Victoria Park has been tough since their play-off final victory over Rotherham last term, following a seventh-place finish in League Two.

It is not hard to understand why they are in the middle of a relegation scrap. Dagenham have won just six of their 25 matches, drawing six and losing 13 along the way.

They have scored 28 goals — only Hartlepool have managed less — and shipped 40.

The fact that centre-back Romain Vincelot is top scorer with seven goals, followed by midfielder Danny Green on five, tells its own story, and the relegation candidates will hope on-loan Bristol City forward John Akinde can fire them to safety.

Some teams such as Dagenham just cannot ‘catch a break’, despite their best efforts.

Even when the powers-that-be slashed admission prices for the home game with MK Dons to 99 pence for adults and 25p for children — doubling the normal attendance in the process — they were met with criticism.

Segregation of rival fans was abolished as part of the scheme to allow opposition supporters to mix, but a number of Daggers fans took exception to the close proximity of Dons followers, especially when the visitors scored a stoppage-time winner.