Daggers 0-5 Cheltenham Town, Pack Your Bags.

Abysmal. Gutless. Embarrassing. Horrendous. Terrible. Five words that still don't sum up what 1500 of us witnessed at Victoria Road this afternoon, as the Dagenham & Redbridge surrendered their dignity to high flying Cheltenham Town. There will be no vivid match report today, because to put it frank, Cheltenham destroyed us in every single aspect. We were thoroughly outclassed by a team far better than us. Not only were they good, but we majorly contributed to our own downfall.

Pre match and I wasn't particularly confident anyways, Cheltenham were a good team as I knew from visiting Whaddon Road in October, furthermore they had Steve Elliott available again. This, coupled with the midfield energy of Marlon Pack would ensure for a very tough afternoon against one of the top three sides in the division. I was however boosted by the fact that Brian Woodall was back in the starting eleven, as was Medy Elito following his brief, but superb cameo role against Oxford United on Tuesday night.

Dagenham & Redbridge Team: Lewington, Spillane, Doe, Arber, Femi, Elito, Ogogo, Saunders, Nurse, Scott, Woodall. Subs: Hogan, Rose, Cunnington, Green, Bingham.

Cheltenham Town Team: Brown, Elliott, Bennett, Garbutt, Jombati, Pack, Low, Penn, Summerfield, Goulding, Mohamed. Subs: Lowe, Smikle, McGlashan, Duffy, Spencer.

From the off it was pretty much atrocious. Cheltenham pressed forward quite a lot within the first ten minutes of the game, but they were not rewarded with a goal. The Daggers ventured forward once, courtesy of mazy Medy Elito. An absolutely superb 50 yard run, ended in his shot being blocked by a Cheltenham defender, which ensured we gained a corner. Somewhat positive stuff after a very droll first ten minutes of action.

However, Cheltenham continued to go forward, and Goulding was denied on twelve minutes by a superb save from Chris Lewington, the stopper palming away the fierce right foot drive for a corner kick. By the 15 minute mark, the Robins were the only team that looked like scoring, Mohamed & Summerfield each took turns to have a pop, and both failed to find the back of the net. It was just too easy for Mark Yates' men.



Cheltenham Town Celebrate going 1-0 up.

Sure enough, on the 19 minute mark Cheltenham took the lead. A corner was cleared to just outside the box where Luke Summerfield was waiting to lash in an unstoppable drive into the roof of Chris Lewington’s net. Nothing the keeper could have done about that. You can say it was a great strike, or on the flip side of things, you can say where was the closing down? He had far too much time and space, with everyone back, surely there should be a player back marking him. But no there wasn't and we were 1-0 down once again. Nonetheless a superb finish which drew applause from all four sides of Victoria Road.

Just two minutes later and Cheltenham had doubled their lead to two. Another corner from Luke Garbutt found the middle of the box, where a combination of poor defending and slack marking allowed Steve Elliott to nip in and fire home from eight yards to compound our misery. It was now 2-0 and to be perfectly honest, I'd lost all hope by now. It's difficult to come back from two down in any situation, but when you're playing one of the best teams in the division, you have next to no hope.

Dagenham then finally began to attack again, well, loosely described as attack. A half chance from Josh Scott went out for a corner and Femi's gut busting run ended in a tame strike on his weaker foot which unsurprisingly was gathered up welcomingly by Scott Brown. It says a lot for our strikers, that Medy Elito & Femi were looking like the best goal threat at the moment. Saying that, Woodall is in and out of the side like anyone’s business at the moment, so it's slightly unfair to blame him. With no game for the best part of a week, hopefully a rest for Woodall will make him 100% for next weekend’s crucial match.



Chris Lewington.

 We then had a bit of a lull in action, up until 40 minutes that is, where my heart sunk to a new depth. The ball was played forward towards Lewington’s box, the former Leatherhead 'keeper ran out to collect it. It looked to me as though he collected it inside the box, with his legs outside of the box. However, the linesman didn't see it this way. Thus, he discussed it with the referee and within seconds the game was beyond doubt & Chris Lewington was sent off for the second time this season.

The reality then hit me; our replacement goalkeeper was Dave Hogan. His only previous Football League experience was about 15 minutes away at Gillingham several years ago. He's not a very good goalkeeper, hence why we need a cover, and that's something Stilly got wrong. We needed a goalkeeper to have been brought in during January, because this was going to happen at some point and I feared we would pay the price. Hogan did infact replace Medy Elito, it's unlucky for Medy, but someone has to be withdrawn. Sorry Dave, I'm sure you're a great person, but in your heart of hearts you know you're not a particularly good 'keeper. A mixture of cheers & boo's could be heard in the Sieve as he took to the field.



Hogan faces the free kick.

 Hogan's first port of call was facing a free kick from Luke Garbutt. The power behind the free kick was astonishing, but Hogan pulled off a superb save at first glance, however he failed to palm it away to the side. This allowed Kaid Mohamed to nip in ahead of Hogan & Scott Doe to slot home Cheltenham’s third of the game. Unlucky on the big man who nearly became an instant Daggers hero.

Josh Scott then went into the referee's book, before Mark Yates made an early substitution. Jeff Goulding was replaced by on loan Huddersfield Town striker James Spencer, whether Goulding had picked up an injury or not I do not know. That was effectively the end of the first half and the teams went in to a chorus of jeers from some of the Daggers fans.

During the interval we had the pleasure of witnessing the "Take It Like A Fan" penalty shoot out. Our fan would be up against Youth team goalkeeper Cain Davis, if the supporter scores, he gets £500; if Cain saved it, he would win the £500. Find out what happened next week on the show itself.



Adam Cunnington Comes On.



I'm not going to go through the second half as it was a poor affair, Cheltenham really stepped off the gas which meant the tempo of the game was significantly slower. The Robins made it 4-0 on 61 minutes, when Femi misjudged the spin of the ball, enabling Spencer to nip in behind and smash home into the roof of the net, leaving Hogan with no chance. This also saw an exodus in the camp, not of the Geohaghan kind I may add.

It was 5-0, just five minutes later as a cross from Mohamed was deflected by Mickey Spillane into the back of the net. Game over if ever there was any doubt. The Daggers mustered up a few late chances through Cunnington, Femi & Nurse, but nothing that at all challenged the Robins 'keeper. The rain then began to come down even more so and in Dagenham fashion, the Sieve began to sing, "Call It Off", if only we were that lucky!



The Daggers players berate the referee.

 The final incident towards the end was a superb Abu Ogogo challenge. The converted central midfield slid in from behind on Alan Bennett, but got the whole of the ball. I was right in front of the incident so I assure you that he did get the ball. The referee however, who was having a shocker anyways, blew up and had the red in his hand. However, after some deliberation, he gave Abu Ogogo a booking, much to our disbelief. This was absolutely terrible inconsistency from a referee who really didn’t step up to the occasion.

That's all I have to say on the game itself, absolutely diabolical all round. The referee and his assistants were also absolutely atrocious today as well. You could tell it was the lads first ever game in the Football League, he showed no consistency and how six of our players were booked is anyone’s guess. The linesman was just as bad, if not worse. Lewington should not have been sent off in my opinion; moreover, he missed several blatant offside decisions. However, it's no excuse for the result itself.

Here we come to the bit where you either completely agree with me, or choose to ignore my opinions. John Still should not be sacked. Today, it was not John Still's fault that Lewington got sent off. Today, it was not John Still's fault that Mickey Spillane scored an own goal. Today, it was not John Still's fault that Femi misjudged a header due to the spin on the ball. What John & the team need to work on however, is marking, because that's what has really let us down this season.

Sacking John will do no good; this is for a number of reasons. For a start it's too late now. Secondly and most importantly, he is the right man for the job, I'm sure he has the players on board and he is the only man that can get us out of this. I just don't see the benefit we get out of sacking a man who cares more about the club than most of its fans on the terraces, the fact that he can get the best out of the players; he is the man for this scrap. I can promise you that.

I'm not for one second saying that the performance today was acceptable, because it wasn't, it was dreadful. I don't know where to go from here to be honest, I've already tried convincing several fans and they're having none of it, but trust me, sacking John Still would have a hugely detrimental effect. If he was to go now, it would be suicide of the highest order.

As for the players, the only ones to get any credit from me are Abu Ogogo, Femi, Adam Cunnington & Matt Saunders. They were the only ones that really gave it their all in my opinion, the only ones that performed. As for the criticism of Femi, I can only say to anyone that wants him dropped, you're talking out of your arse. He was probably our best player yesterday, bar a single mistake which everyone makes at some point, if he was taken out of the team, I guarantee you our left side would be exploited even more so.

At the end of the day though, I have to give massive credit to Cheltenham. Although we were absolutely god awful, they took advantage and played some fantastic football around the park, which ultimately tore us to shreds. They were by far and away the best team that have visited us in the league this season, further building upon their immaculate performance against us in October. If they don't go up it will be absolutely criminal.

One of the best passing sides in the division, with a superb manager at the helm and an absolutely fabulous player in Marlon Pack running the show. From all the teams I've seen this season, at this current point if I am to join up all the dots, they're the most worthy. Not only did they play it around the park, but their work rate was exceptional, furthermore their defence dealt with anything (it wasn't much), that we threw at them. Good luck to you for the rest of the season Cheltenham fans; I really do hope you make the progression into the next tier.

As for us, we have to bounce back from this. The players have apologised via Twitter, they know it wasn't good enough. They'll be hoping to rectify the performance in a vital away clash at Plymouth Argyle next week. It really is a massive game and one that I will be making the trip to once more, meaning you'll have an honest match report to read. I hope you enjoy your week and try to get over this demoralising afternoon.

Thanks for reading, whether you are neutral, Dagenham or Cheltenham. Remember to follow me on Twitter, @NickDRFCMurphy.                                            

On the bight side, we may have a signing to look forward to this week in the form of a goalkeeper. Or maybe even, the return of Tony Roberts.