Morecambe 2-2 Daggers, Murphy Ogogo!

Trips to Morecambe are usually eventful for, The Daggers Scale - predominantly because our last two attempts to reach the Globe Arena have failed due to inclement weather. But on Saturday, we finally made it to the seaside resort to witness Dagenham & Redbridge salvage a last gasp draw courtesy of a Rhys Murphy 94th minute equaliser. That was only after Morecambe turned the game around through Mark Hughes and Ryan Williams following Abu Ogogo's strike early on.

With no risk of the game being called off due to the weather this time around, we set off from Chadwell Heath at around 8am for the long journey to Lancashire. After a quick change, we boarded our surprisingly empty Virgin Trains Service to Lancaster just shy of 9:30am. Another quick change onto possibly the most modern Northern Rail service I've ever been on (this was more 1990's rather than the usual 1960's feel); we arrived in Morecambe at around 12:30pm.

Upon arrival we opted to take the scenic route through the town by walking the one mile distance to the ground rather than calling a taxi. It allowed me the chance to make several judgements about the place. Namely one - it resembled God's waiting room, and two, it didn't seem like a very multicultural community. Then again, we only get a snapshot of the town in the time that we're there and as a result can only base our opinions on what we see in that short time.

The must see attraction on Morecambe seafront. 

After finding directions to the ground, we set about finding the seafront to guide our path to the stadium. It's fair to say Morecambe is quite a rundown place unfortunately. Dilapidated buildings line the streets; while a multitude of houses down the side roads remain unused and seemingly forgotten about. What Morecambe does have however, is a polo tower. Quite why I'm not sure, but nonetheless it amused me.

Having walked down the long, straight road for a good 20 minutes, we finally came across the Hurley Flyer Pub where we resided for an hour or so. With no Sky TV to show the lunchtime kick off's and ID required to buy a drink - we were devoid of both pre-match entertainment and a pre-match pint. Nevertheless it was a quaint little pub that I'd recommend to away fans if they can go without watching the early Saturday kick-off's.

With 15:00 approaching we exited the pub for the Globe Arena, which is situated literally a stone’s throw from the back of the pub itself. With a slick front entrance, not to dissimilar to the one at Burton Albion - it's easy to think that the Globe is just your run of the mill modern build. The away turnstiles quickly tell you otherwise, at just over a foot wide making it nigh on impossible for anyone above average build to enter into the stadium.

The vacant away terrace.

The away concourse is what I've come to expect of the stadiums in League Two. The cold concrete structure has a large amount of space complete with Sky TV in the corner to catch Jeff Stelling and co with the scores at half time. After a short twisting walk you reach the pitch, made to seem park like by the lack of a real stand on the far side. At this point I should mention we were housed in the corner of the main stand for the afternoon, rather than the away terrace that supporters who travel in large numbers receive.

Our stand which is named after the current chairman, Peter McGuigan, is all seated and also accommodates home fans. With a capacity of 2,200 it's completely undercover with no viewing restrictions and plenty of leg-room if you want to sit down. It also has reinforced sides to ensure that the sea-breeze doesn't give away supporters frostbite - a feature that is especially important in the winter months.

The rest of the ground feels a lot more "League Two", but that's not to say I didn't like it. The majority of the home support stands in the West Terrace which has a capacity of 2234, allowing for a great deal of noise to be generated when the Shrimps are doing well. The rest of the supporters are given the long uncovered terrace that is split into two parts on the far side. At just a few steps high, only the hardiest of souls would dare to set foot their on a rainy day - which begs the question, why was a roof not put over it when the stand was built?

Nevertheless we took our seats in the rather steep main stand, which gave us a terrific view across the town including the now famous, Polo Tower. The PA system blared out some terrific pre-match tunes, which were unfortunately somewhat out of place in a stadium that contained just over 1700 people. I was enjoying myself anyway. After the final song had played over the tannoy, the teams emerged from the tunnel to a warm ripple of applause. They lined up as follows...

Morecambe: Roche, Hughes, Diagne, Wright, Parrish, Kenyon, Williams, Drummond, Sampson, Ellison, Amond.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Lewington, Connors, Doe, Saah, Hoyte, Bingham, Ogogo, Howell, Hines, Murphy, Obafemi. Subs: Seabright, Woodall, Elito, Wilkinson, Femi, Reed, Saunders.

Wayne Burnett chose to name an unchanged side for the visit to Morecambe, allowing forward Afolabi Obafemi to retain his starting place. Jake Reed returned to the bench in place of winger Sean Shields, while Josh Scott remained missing due to illness/injury. 

With the teams announced and ready to go, the referee blew his whistle to indicate the start of the match. It started lively with Daggers on the attack, Zavon Hines seeing his shot deflected onto the post and behind for a corner. It was end to end action, with Jack Sampson testing Chris Lewington before Padraig Amond crashed his glancing header onto the crossbar and out for a goal kick.

With both sides pressing early on, it was inevitable that the match would quieten down as the half wore on. Even with that lull, Daggers still looked threatening and as a result took the lead with 20 minutes played. Neat build up down the right hand side released Afolabi Obafemi in the centre who threaded through for Abu Ogogo to slot the ball calmly through the legs of Barry Roche for a 1-0 lead. Incredibly it was Ogogo's fourth goal of the season, despite having only scored five in his previous four years at Daggers.

Nonetheless it was a deserved lead for the visitors who would now undoubtedly sit back inviting pressure from the Morecambe front line. And as predicted, that was the case. First the lively Kevin Ellison saw his shot comfortably saved by Lewington, before Amond tested Lewy who gathered at the second attempt. Even with the Shrimps pressure, Daggers were still able to carve out opportunities - Obafemi dragging a shot wide of the post on the half hour mark. 

From then on in it was all Morecambe and in particular Kevin Ellison, the chief orchestrator in the home sides onslaught. First he saw his fierce strike closed down well by Brian Saah, while minutes later Padraig Amond headed just over from Ryan Williams' corner that initially came about through Ellison down the right.

With the pressure increasing, Lewington was forced into two more brilliant diving saves before the break to deny both Ellison and in particular Rhys Williams, whose effort just before half-time was extraordinarily parried over the bar by the former Leatherhead 'stopper. Meanwhile ex-Macclesfield left-back Tony Diagne glanced over unmarked from a corner as Daggers just about held on following a succession of controversial free-kicks towards the end of the half.

As the ball was booted upfield, the referee who was being lambasted by Daggers fans blew for half time. It was an immense relief to hear the whistle for all concerned in the visiting camp, whose had been under siege for large parts of the second half. Quite how Morecambe hadn't gone in level at half-time was a mystery. But more bewildering was why Daggers had slumped so poorly in the latter stages of the second half after such an impressive start.

During the interval I decided to go downstairs to sample some of Morecambe's famed cuisine. They may officially have the best pies in the country, but what the surveys don't tell you is that they have the most overpriced hot-dogs. At £2.60 for a hot dog about as long as my index finger, in a bun that crumbles faster than Barnet's Conference promotion challenge - I was not impressed.

The second half restarts.

With that discouraging episode out of the way, the teams returned for the second half to yet more uplifting music. It's a shame really, because Morecambe's selection of tunes would be brilliant in a sell out stadium at full capacity, but with just under 2000 inside the Globe, it was always going to be hard to create a good atmosphere. Also, I'm pretty sure I mentioned that at the top of the Blog.

After the break, Morecambe continued from where they left off. Tony Diagne's ball in from the left was quickly cleared away, before Rhys Murphy was flagged offside for the umpteenth time up the other end. The Shrimps were finally rewarded for all of their hard work on 52 minutes, and unsurprisingly it was yet another set-piece goal conceded by Daggers.

A free-kick on the left from Ryan Williams found the unmarked head of ex-Accrington frontman Padraig Amond who glanced home past Chris Lewington to level things up at 1-1. Unusually it wasn't the poor defending for the goal that caused the most frustration for the away fans, more the contentious nature of free-kick in the first place. Most (including myself), felt that Gavin Hoyte had made a perfectly good challenge, but the referee who I'm obliged to say was having a shocker anyway, felt differently and ultimately awarded the free-kick. I know it doesn't excuse the poor defending, but you have to ask the question of whether it was even a free-kick in the first place. 

If you think for a minute that the Morecambe goal may have sprung Daggers back into action, you're wrong. If anything it worked as an incentive for the hosts to push on even more and go for a winner. The dangerous Kevin Ellison headed over from close range, before Diagne screwed a shot wide from distance and then Ellison again flashed one wide of the post. Sandwiched inbetween the Morecambe pressure Wayne Burnett managed to make a change - bringing on the bigger Brian Woodall for the pacey, but ineffective Afolabi Obafemi.

The Shrimps onslaught continued as the half wore on, Jack Sampson the latest to see an effort go wide of the post after he had worked himself into a good position. He was soon substituted for Joe Mwasile in a like for like change. With 15 minutes remaining the hosts came the closest yet, Diagne's ball in from the left headed goalward by Amond, but Lewington saved comfortably.

The fans in the open terrace had something to cheer about.

With the pressure steadily increasing throughout, a goal was inevitable and on 77 minutes, both sets of supporters were finally put out of their contrasting miseries. Ryan Williams' corner wasn't dealt with properly, leaving former Barnet midfielder Mark Hughes to scoop up and slam the ball home into the roof of the net from close range. No matter how much you expect the goal, it's always a killer when it goes in and unfortunately this time, we deserved it. 

That goal made it 2-1 to the hosts, leaving Daggers deflated after a dismal second half showing. Medy Elito was quickly introduced for the unusually poor Billy Bingham to try and give the visitors more attacking intent going into the final 10 minutes. Yet it was the hosts who continued to provide the majority of the pressure, Amond forcing another diving save from the overworked Lewington.

With time running out, Daggers launched a final onslaught in the closing five minutes and but for Barry Roche, would have been level. Gavin Hoyte's brilliant inswinging ball into the box was knocked back by Hines towards Rhys Murphy, who saw his tame header saved at point blank range by Roche to preserve the Morecambe lead. Brian Woodall followed up with the rebound but could only blast into an empty terrace. Surely it was Daggers' best and ultimately final chance of the afternoon.

77 Travelling Daggers fans.

But just as all looked lost, Daggers salvaged a late equaliser four minutes into stoppage time. Chris Lewington's hopeful punt upfield was latched onto by Hines who interchanged with Abu Ogogo before advancing into the box and squaring for Rhys Murphy to slam the ball home past Barry Roche and into the roof of the Morecambe net, sending the away fans delirious in the process. The 73 Daggers in the away stand couldn't believe it - myself included.

The players ran into the corner where several supporters had gathered to celebrate together, making a congregation of high octane emotions. There was the small matter of having to suppress a late Morecambe surge from the restart, but the referee quickly blew up to send Daggers home with a perhaps undeserved share of the spoils. Cue the biggest cheer you'll hear for an away point all season, with the exception of Scunthorpe last month where we did exactly the same thing for Luke Howell's last gasp equaliser.

Morecambe supporters quickly evacuated the Globe Arena, disconsolate that such a dominant performance had seen them come away with just the point. It also broke the clubs run of four successive victories, moving them outside of the play-off zone in the process. The Daggers faithful meanwhile remained, applauding the players and management team following a hard earned, but not deserved point.

It's an interesting one really. We dominated the opening 20 minutes, but after taking the lead we looked like a different side. There was a lack of urgency in all areas, we were second best all over. If not for Chris Lewington in particular during the first half, the scoreline could have looked a lot different.

Nevertheless we came away with a point, and maybe that's testament to our resolve this season. In past years I think that's the sort of game where we may have caved in completely and shipped three or four - but we didn't. We dug in at the end and that extra bit of quality that you pay for in Hines paid off. His dazzling bit of skill was his only really significant contribution all afternoon, but what a contribution it was. Coupled with Murphy's predatory striking instinct, we have a cracking pair of players going forward. Credit also needs to go to Abu Ogogo for notching yet another goal!

I have to admit though; I was very surprised with the selection of Obafemi up front instead of a more physical sort of player like Brian Woodall. I know we need pace, but away from home generally we've seemed to go for the approach that best combats the centre-halves - which normally is strength. Elsewhere Jack Connors continued to impress, looking assured on the ball at left-back while Luke Howell put in another committed performance in midfield.

My only other qualm is our worrying deficiancies when defending from set-pieces. It’s clear to everyone at the club, management staff included that this is our major weakness this season. And once again it was exposed on Saturday afternoon. If we can sort that out somehow, we will be a far sturdier outfit.

Unfortunately I can't let the game go without having a moan at the officials. They were absolutely abysmal, the worst I've seen in League Two in a good few years. You don't expect them to get all decisions correct at this level, but a decent grasp of the game would have been nice. Some of the decisions didn't make sense and quite frankly, it became embarrassing. I don't like moaning at the officials (contrary to popular belief), but Saturday's collection were bordering on a joke. 

And that was it basically. Finally we had completed a trip to Morecambe and secured a point for our troubles. The journey home was largely uneventful, although Zavon Hines was on our train for one reason or another.

Next up for Daggers is Bury at home on Saturday, while Morecambe travel south to Northampton Town. I do regret to tell you that due to Sixth Form work and other writing responsibilities, The Daggers Scale will now only be reserved for away matches - meaning no home games will be reported upon. That is of course unless there's a freak home result, in which case a report may be filed.

As always thank you for reading and I'll speak to you again soon! Remember to follow me on Twitter @NickMurphyDRFC.

Daggers 1-2 Morecambe, Revenge.

Dagenham & Redbridge suffered a fourth successive defeat to take their September points total to a big fat zero after a quickfire Morecambe double early in the second half sent the Shrimps home happy.

Walking down to Victoria Road, I was feeling pessimistic, in an optimistic way, which makes no sense at all. I thought we'd lose the game because of our current form, there's always something about when we play Morecambe, just something in the back of my mind that made me think we may actually get something. So in a hurried rush, I arrived at fortress Victoria Road at about 2:40pm and got the usual programme and 50/50, I've cut out getting the golden goal now as it's depressing when the other team always scores first. I went through the turnstiles and saw a quite empty ground, the Morecambe fans surprised me a lot. Considering they're top of the league, you could count the amount they had, the figure was that small, however I don't blame a lot that didn't come, at £22 a ticket I'd probably turn my nose up as well.

The Sieve was slowly filling up, I say slowly, it was filling up about as fast as Phil Ifil can run, so extremely slow! We just caught the the team as we were getting ourselves sorted with beverages and food, or liquid and grub to the common people among us, ie everyone reading this. The only downside for me going into this was that I knew Abu Ogogo was out, Richard Rose is a very good player and I have every confidence, but he's no Abu! I also expected Tomlin to come back into the side, but was unsure who for and as it came over the tannoy, Billy Bingham was the unlucky one.

Daggers Team that Started: Lewington, Femi, Doe, Arber, Rose, Nurse, Gain, Lee, Tomlin, Williams, Scannell. Subs: Hogan, Walsh, McCrory, Bingham, Woodall.

It was just nearing 3:00 and we were off at Victoria Road as it began to cloud over, how ironic! The first five minutes were as ever a midfield battle, although I was hoping we could do a Macclesfield and score after 7 seconds, mind you, scoring at all would be helpful! Morecambe had the first chance of the contest, some good work down the right hand side saw Izak Reid pull a shot away inside the box across Lewington who did, according to the ref, get a touch on it to send it out for a corner, which nothing came of. Then Mr W, you may be able to work out his name from the initial, spotted something very good, that Morecambes kit resembled something Liverpool wore in the 80's, maybe it's modelled on it? Who knows.

The Daggers first chance came just over the 10 minute mark, Damien Scannell who isn't everyones cup of tea fired a shot at Roche from range who made a fairly easy save from the former Southend man. It was then Sam Williams' turn to get a shot away, he turned and fired a half volley which cannoned off of a Morecambe players backside, good intent from the blonde front man.

Yet Another Free Kick

It was a fairly even match after that, very stop start with an endless stream of free kicks for minor and sometimes comical offences, I remember one where Nurse supposedly "handballed" it despite being wrested to the ground by a Morecambe defender who thought he was John Cena, I think that's a wrestler anyways. One bright point, or rather wet point of the afternoon was when the rain came down midway through the first period. Virtually all of the supporters in the Bury Road terrace came running for cover in the Sieve  which was surprisingly dry, cue fantastic songs, "we can see you sneaking in". If we had invested in Arnu's new roof, then this wouldn't have happened, maybe he can give the club 300K in the future to stick one on, forum joke there for any outside readers!

Then came a massive heart in mouth moment for the Daggers. A Morecambe free kick was only partially cleared inside the Daggers box and it was fired back towards the goal line, only a last gasp header off the line from Scott Doe prevented the Shrimps from taking the lead. Doe's header then hit off of Chris Lewington head who was completely unaware as the ball was eventually cleared out down the line by Femi. Five or so minutes later Damien Scannell put in a good cross from down the right, but it went over all of the players and out for a throw in.

The first half was quite drab in all honestly, fairly even, we were matching Morecambe and our corner count was far superior as usual, this is a major criticism for me. For the amount of corners we have game on game, they usually come to nothing, it's something that really annoys me. Scannell did appear to be our main threat in all honesty, Tomlin was doing ok for the amount of the ball he was getting and Williams was doing decent winning flick ons etc.

That was the half over then and we were credible in all honesty, as I said a fairly even match and an interesting one for the second half. I am sitting here with possibly the winning 50/50 ticket on my table, so if anyone does know the 50/50 number could they please be a kind soul and post it underneath, no doubt we'll just get mindless numbers posted now! Good news at half time, Crawley were losing and Pulse weren't performing, there is a god!

The teams reemerged for the second half in the drizzle and I was slyly optimistic, which is never a good sign supporting Dagenham is it? Within minutes Morecambe had broken the deadlock, a ball down the line from tormentor Kevin Ellison found hotshot Danny Carlton who calmly slotted over Chris Lewington to net the opening goal. Mark Arber was the only man with Carlton, but to Arbs' defence, he couldn't do much, a mistimes challenge sees him miss the ball and get a straight red which would have helped our cause no end!

The Daggers nearly hit back immediately, Peter Gain inside the penalty air fired a shot over the bar when he probably should have done slightly better, but that's Gainy, he only scores once every 3 years! It was straight up the other end, Carlton was through once more, only some fantastic keeping from Lewington to block the shot with his body prevented Carlton & Morecambe doubling their afternoon tally.

No need to worry though Morecambe fans, you doubled the lead just minutes later! A cross was put in from the left handside which Lewington palmed out to Drummond who just slotted home with absolute ease, stroked calmly into the bottom corner without so much as an attempt to block. Whilst Lewington probably should have gathered it or punched it better, the defence was so static afterwards that Morecambe deserved the goal so it could act as a bloody wake up call! Then, just minutes from the restart Lewington was tested again, going full stretch to pull off a smart save from a shot drilled across the wet surface.

Then came the first booking of the match, Nick Fenton went into the referee's book after a cynical foul on Jon Nurse. The free kick from the challenge went out for a corner; which was whipped in and found Scannell who fired over, the big man was the most involved for me this afternoon. Then came a flurry of changes. Lewis Alessandra came on for Jason Price, no relation to Vincent. Then a few minutes later came another two. For the Daggers Brian Woodall who had been waiting for several minutes whilst the Daggers were defending, came on for Damien Scannell who was very involved today. This brought some boo's out of the Sieve, which I was very unimpressed with. Kieran Charnock then replaced the booked Nick Fenton for Jim Bentleys side.

Then came a major talking point in the game. Kevin Ellison, no stranger to the Daggers thanks to his fantastic Wembley exploits for Rotherham got down the left hand side and roasted Richard Rose. Rose had to backtrack and caught Ellison in the box with his knees, as a result the Morecambe man went over and was looking for a penalty. The referee blew and to everyones relief gave the Daggers a free kick and booked the baldy for simulation, with a smile on his face he trotted away. I can't tell you how lucky we were as for me, this was a stone wall penalty.

Damien McCrory then came on for Gavin Tomlin at left midfield as the Daggers won a free kick on the far side, Tomlin getting a warm round of applause as he went off. Ollie Lee took the free kick and flighted it in, and to everyones surprise it went straight over Roche inbetween the sticks and into the corner! A delayed applause and cheering ensued, as I'm not quite sure any believed it had gone in, a definite, "did he mean that or what" moment, but at the end of the day, no one gave a monkeys, we were back in the game with 20 minutes still to play, anything could happen from here until the end! Oh, cue Poznan.

Straight after the kick off the Daggers won the ball back, it looked as though they had some real fire in their belly, I recommend gaviscon for that. Oliver Lee picked up the ball, done a shimmy and cut back inside before sticking a good shot just past the post, it looked as though we could actually, against the odds, get something from it! The Daggers got their umpteenth corner of the match and it was whipped in towards the back post. An unmarked Brian Woodall directed it goalwards and just as it looked as though it was going to nestle into the bottom corner, Kevin Ellison popped up to head it off the line to send groans along the Sieve.

Oliver Lee then got another shot away, which made Roche go full stretch to palm it clear, it looked as though the Daggers would get that all important equaliser with every minute that went by. It was then Woodall's turn to get a shot away which was blocked well by the Shrimps defence. It was then sub time again, Haining came on for Reid in a defensive move by Bentley, but John Still counteracted it by sticking Phil Walsh on to play the final five up front in place of Richard Rose who played very well in Abu's absence. We were going three at the back now in an attempt to salvage a point.

I want to tell you that we found that equaliser, but unfortunately we didn't and Morecambe took all three points back home along with the top spot in the league as the Daggers slipped down once again to 19th and extended the losing streak to four in the league.

However I feel there are some positives to take from the game, Femi being the main one, he got a deserved man of the match award today, he was creative and defended very well, shepherding the ball out on numerous occaisions, last season I was highly critical of him, but he's coming on leaps and bounds and I can see him being a regular starter from now on. Chris Lewington, despite his slight cock up was on the whole superb once more, I'm so glad for Lewy, he's been waiting for a few years and he's finally got his chance and boy has he taken it well.

However, it remains that we need someone that can stick the ball in the net, the problem is I like all of our strikers and their individual strengths, for example Sam Williams' hold up play and heading of the ball is very good, all of his shots seem to get blocked unfortunately. Gavin Tomlin's trickery and ability to create chances is second to none, I love Gavlar and think he's a major part of the team, however he's not going to score 20 a season unfortunately. Jon Nurse has surprised me so far this season, he hasn't been able to work himself into games and when he has, he's been quite poor, but every player has a blip, I'm sure he'll come through. Brian Woodall looks like a fantastic prospect and I can see him scoring a few from the bench this season, or perhaps when/ if he starts.

To Morecambe fans reading this, you were quite decent today and you're probably worthy of your place at the top, defence is top notch and the work rate is excellent, I wish you the best of luck for the rest of the season. Although 47 fans is rather poor, on the other hand at £22 a pop for a ticket, can I blame you?

So then, Northampton Town away next week, I'm unsure whether I'm going as yet, but don't be discouraged by our blip, please if you can and have the money, go and support the team, it's times like these our loyal support is needed more than ever.

Lastly, something I've been meaning to do for a while, "Walesdagger" posted on the forum a while ago about someone in the community we can help, Ellie Louise who's sole wish is to walk, she's 9 years old and I urge you to have a look at this link and possibly donate some money to her cause, thing's like this really put football into perspective.

http://www.ellie-louisefundsdr.com/