The striker fired Hayes and Yeading to an unlikely promotion from the Blue Square South with 25 goals in just 34 appearances and will probably be a direct replacement for Ben Strevens rather than one for the future.

Will Josh Scott start the new season alongside Paul Benson?

Scott joins Danny Green and Stuart Thurgood as the new Daggers signings so far. It seems that the club will have a fairly different starting line up come the new season. With Player of the Season Magnus Okuanghae set to leave, the Daggers could very well have six of their regular 2008/09 line up replaced.

Potential line up

                  Roberts

Right back, Doe, Arber, Griffiths

Green, Taiwo, Gain, Montgomery

                Scott, Benson

&border=0&rel=0&egm=0&color1=0x666666&color2=0xefefef' /> ]]> http://daggers.blogsfc.com/striker-scott-in-as-daggers-look-to-rebuild.html/feed http://daggers.blogsfc.com/saunders-strevens-foster-depart.html http://daggers.blogsfc.com/saunders-strevens-foster-depart.html#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:10:02 +0000 leewilson http://daggers.blogsfc.com/?p=122 Ever since the final whistle blew on Dagenham and Redbridge’s brave promotion push in May, the speculation regarding several of the club’s top players has been intense.

Dagenham have already parted ways with midfielder Glen Southam who is currently searching for a new team, Jon Boardman who has returned to recently relegated Woking and Richard Graham who will quite possibly be looking to turn his loan move to Kettering into a permenant one.

Several new signings have already been made as Stuart Thurgood will look to make an impact in the centre of midfield and young winger Danny Green arrives from Bishops Stortford.

However, it’s whether or not the Daggers will be able to keep hold of their big names that is the question.

Sam Saunders - Out of contract - (Near certain to depart)

After interest from Wycombe and Brentford, Saunders apparantly completed a medical at Brentford the other day. We await official confirmation but it’s extremely unlikely he will appear in a Daggers shirt next season.

Ben Strevens - Out of contract - (Near certain to depart)

Strevens turned down a move to Wycombe in January to spearhead the Daggers promotion push. Following a disappointing end to the season, it looks very much as if Strevens will be moving on and possibly with Saunders to Brentford.

Danny Foster - Out of contract - (Could possibly depart)

Foster has been a consistent performer at the Daggers ever since his arrival 4-5 years ago. Quite often an underrated part of the team, Foster has showed his reliability time and time again and if he receives a decent offer from a bigger club, he could possibly be another name on his way out.

Magnus Okuanghae - Out of contract - (Could possibly depart)

The Daggers player of the year has no doubt caught the eye of various scouts throughout the previous season. Magnus has already stated he will sit down and see what the club will offer him. Fingers crossed that he chooses to stay as the heart of the defence will be a weaker place without him.

Solomon Taiwo - Out of contract - (Unknown)

After a fantastic start to the season, Taiwo’s form dipped slightly throughout the season and was regained in patches towards the end of the campaign. Growing with experience all the time, Taiwo has become a key part of the midfield but speculation surrounding his future has been surprisingly quiet. Here’s hoping he signs a new contract out of the blue soon.

Jon Nurse - Out of contract - (Likely to stay)

Nursey has become a valuable part of the squad over the past season. His versatility for a club of Dagenham’s size is a large bonus. Although he won’t be first choice for any position, Nurse’s role as a jack of all trades is an asset for the squad. The striker/winger/right back has already said he will sign the contract that has been offered to him.

The following players have signed new contracts or extensions:

Tony Roberts, Mark Arber, Peter Gain

The following players are in contract but are likely to have speculation surrounding a move at some point:

Scott Griffiths, Paul Benson

With Glen Southam’s contract having been terminated, the Daggers were lacking midfield options and Thurgood will provide competition to Solomon Taiwo and Peter Gain (assuming both stay) for a central midfield spot next season.

Thurgood has signed on a two year contract and comes from Grays on a free transfer after only signing for half a season for them in January.

Manager John Still, said: “Stuart is a player I’ve been interested in for three or four years and I’m absolutely delighted to have added him to my squad.”

Club Captain Arber, who was out of contract this summer, has extended his current deal to May 2011. The former Peterborough and Stevenage man has been a solid figure along with Magnus Okuanghae at the heart of the defence and Daggers fans will be delighted to keep him.

Arber - skipper signs for another two years!

Inspirational goalkeeper Roberts, who turns 40 next year, has signed another 1 year contracr extension with the opportunity to further extend it if the club wishes. The former Welsh international has been in superb form since returning to the football league with the Daggers and his antics and showmanship with both sets of supporters has made him a fans favourite throughout the league. Roberts is the club appearance record holder with over 400 matches played to date.

The news is a boost for the club who look set to lose star right winger Sam Saunders and commanding striker Ben Strevens to Brentford in the near future.

After asking for a top three, the points were calculated with 1st receiving 3 points, 2nd receiving 2 points and 3rd receiving 1 point.

3RD - Peter Gain (34 points)

2nd - Matt Ritchie (37 points)

1st - Magnus Okuanghae (49 points)

The rest

Saunders - 22 points
Griffiths - 21 points
Benson - 17 points
Strevens - 10 points
Arber - 9 points
Roberts - 5 points
Foster - 2 points
Uddin - 1 point

Thanks to all for voting, much appreciated, will be interesting to see if this vote mirrors the actual vote!

Who gets your vote?

Please stick your top three either underneath or in the forum thread?

(1st - 3 points)
(2nd - 2 points)
(3rd - 1 point)

Thanks

Last time I blogged, Daggers had a crucial home fixture against struggling Macclesfield Town. A game in which John Still’s men simply had to win to have any chance of keeping up a faint play off chance. What followed wasn’t a classic but perhaps it could be put down as the turning point of the season. A dire performance from the Daggers saw them 1-0 down to a John Rooney goal after 60 minutes. Nevertheless, the return of Peter Gain and Paul Benson from injury as substitutes on the hour mark saw Dagenham run out 2-1 victors. Benson in particular made a terrific impact scoring with one of his first touches.

Next up was a tough game away to high flying Exeter City. On the day there wasn’t much to seperate the two sides apart from two moments of magic from on loan Charlton striker Stuart Fleetwood. The Daggers went down to a 2-1 defeat but hope was still there as other results went their way.

With a fairly tough looking run in, John Stills men came up against injury depleted Aldershot Town at home in what on paper looked like one of their easier fixtures. However, a fantastic early goal from Aldershot left the Daggers reeling and struggling to get back into the match. Thankfully, a snap shot from the outstanding Matt Ritchie which hit the post was followed up by Paul Benson to head home and take the home side into the half time interval with a 1-1 scoreline. The 2nd half was much more comfortable as the Daggers run out 3-1 winners.

Once again, Chesterfield, Bradford and Shrewsbury were all struggling for positive results meaning an Easter Monday away tie against Gillingham represented a great chance for Dagenham to get right amongst the play off chasers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be as Daggers held on at 1-1 for the majority of the game but were defeated by a Dennis Oli header 2 minutes from time. The result was harsh on the Daggers but with no real ground lost, the play offs were still in reach.

The stage was therefore set for the visit of out of form Bradford. The former Premiership club had been one of the pacesetters earlier on in the season but had dropped woefully out of form. It was clear that whoever lost this match would have very little chance of making the play offs. An uninspiring first half saw both teams go in at 0-0. The game needed a breakthrough for the two nervy sides and it came soon after the interval. Sam Saunders cut inside from the left and curled a beautiful shot past the outstretched hand of Rhys Evans in the Bradford goal for a 1-0 lead. Minutes earlier Bradford were a tad unfortunate as a goal was ruled out and the woodwork was hit. However, from that moment on it was all Daggers as they run out 3-0 victors.

The result leaves Dagenham three points off the play offs with a game in hand. That game in hand comes tomorrow night against league leaders Brentford who can seal promotion if they win at Victoria Road. As a Daggers fan, I can’t wait!

Anyway, back to the action on the pitch. Following the disappointing last minute defeat to Bournemouth, a long trip to Chester was next on the Daggers agenda. It all seemed to be going so smoothly for the visitors as goals from Ben Strevens and the ever impressive Matt Ritchie ensured Dagenham led 2-0 at half time. In fact the away side kept this lead until the last five minutes when a very uncharacteristic effort resulted in Chester grabbing two late goals to escape with a 2-2 draw. Many fans wondered how this late collapse would affect the team going into two successive home games against Lincoln and Morecambe.

Unfortunately, this latest setback seemingly hurt the Daggers and dented their already fragile confidence. Two of arguably Dagenham’s worst performances of the season saw them crumble 3-0 and 2-0 at home to Lincoln and Morecambe respectively. Very few plus points were able to be taken out of either match and only the extremely optimistic of fans considered the team to have an outside chance of reaching the play offs.

Three days after the very forgettable Morecambe performance, Dagenham travelled to a Port Vale side also very low in confidence. What felt like a fairly low key encounter contained two considerably low key performances. Thankfully though, it was the Daggers who managed to stop the rot with a scrappy but nevertheless effective 1-0 victory due to Jamie Guy’s first goal for the club.

The victory certainly didn’t propel John Still’s men back into the play off frame but the inability of the teams above to pull away meant that the Daggers had an outside chance if they could possibly put a run together. The following Saturday saw Dagenham travel to a very in form Chesterfield side that had began what seemed to be a late surge of their own for a play off spot. Nevertheless, Dagenham put in a performance reminisent to their displays in 2008. Unfortunately, lady luck seemed to have deserted the visitors in 2009 and a goal out of nothing from Martin Gritton looked set to condemn Dagenham to their first away defeat for a while and end their outside play off hopes. Continued pressure from the Daggers followed and a rare late goal from Sam Saunders was their reward for an impressive and determined display. In fact, Dagenham would probably have felt unlucky not to take all three points after Ben Strevens hit the post following the equaliser.

With Shrewsbury and Bradford once again dropping points, John Still’s team find themselves only six points off the play offs which is fairly amazing considering their poor run of form in 2009.

The stage was set for the visit of table topping Brentford and the visit of the Skysports cameras. A Daggers victory would see the Essex side rise to within three points of the play offs with 7 games left to play. However, for the 2nd time in the season, a Daggers match had to be called off due to floodlight failure. The financial implications as a result look to be fairly heavy but that is for another thread!

Instead, Dagenham will take on Macclesfield at Victoria Road on Saturday knowing that nothing but a win will do if they wish to keep realistic play off ambitions. However, in a topsy turvy yet entertaining season, who knows what will happen next!

2008 ended with the Daggers becoming the first team to defeat Aldershot Town at The Recreation Ground for nearly a year. As a result, this defeat seemed to knock Town for six and they have since plummeted down into mid table. Unfortunately, where many thought the victory would have driven the Daggers on to a promotion battle with the division’s elite, John Still’s men seem to be fallen away due to an ever increasing injury list, debatable refereeing decisions and a lack of cutting edge up front.

My last blog ended on a relative high. A rare thing in 2009! Daggers had come from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Bury, the divisions in form side. Could this quite brilliant recovery spur the Daggers on to make February the month in which they sent out a message to the challengers at the top?

Early signs looked fairly promising. Dagenham hosted a Luton side that were scrapping for their lives at the foot of the table and looking to pick up points in any way they could. A dominant first hour saw right back Danny Foster grab, not one but, two goals whilst new signing Doug Loft asserted himself with a solid display alongside Solomon Taiwo in the middle. However, a minute after Foster’s 2nd, Dagenham switched off and allowed Luton to get back in the game. The next 30 minutes were by no means pretty but the Daggers did just enough to keep Luton at bay and get the job done. All in all it was a critical three points to keep the 2007 Conference champions in the play off mix.

Just a few days later, league leaders Wycombe Wanderers were the visitors to Victoria Road. Even without Paul Benson and Peter Gain, many Dagenham & Redbridge fans fancied their side’s chances in this one what with Wycombe looking like they were about to follow tradition and drop down the league table at an alarming pace. Nevertheless, just like previous clashes against fellow promotion hopefuls Exeter and Darlington, Dagenham thoroughly dominated the match but ended up on the wrong side of the scoreline. With several chances not quite going in for the Daggers, they were made to pay after Jon-Paul Pittman expertly turned Mark Arber before calmly finishing past Tony Roberts in the bottom right hand corner.

Although not detached from the pack, it had become clear that John Still’s men really needed to get back to winning ways after only winning twice in 2009 so far. A visit to out of form Accrington Stanley seemed the ideal tonic for Dagenham to get back on track. Nevertheless, with Mark Arber and Anwar Uddin being ruled out just before the match, a makeshift defence took to the pitch whilst Wesley Thomas made his first start in the yellow of Dagenham’s away kit. For many, these changes meant optimism had now turned more realistically into hope. Whilst the away side looked relatively solid, they never really looked like scoring the entire match. In fact, Dagenham were to be very content with a point at the final whistle after Tony Roberts saved a 90th minute penalty following a Magnus Okuanghae handball.

And so it came down to it. What many fans were dubbing a “must win” match for the Daggers arrived on Tuesday night in the form of A.F.C Bournemouth. For the majority of the first half, Dagenham were pretty much camped in their opponents half but once again seemed to be lacking the cutting edge in front of goal which was so often provided by Paul Benson earlier in the season. The second half descended into a far scrappier affair. Dagenham’s play became relatively disorientated whilst Bournemouth sensed their opponents striking frailties and became more adventurous themselves. After, a header from point blank range hit the post and an open goal from 20 yards was missed, Bournemouth nicked the win in literally the last kick of the game. Although hardly deserved, it once again highlighted the home side’s attacking problems, who had now gone three games without a goal.

It’s very hard to see what the rest of the season holds for Dagenham. Recent news of Darlington’s demise into administration has given the Daggers a much greater chance of a play off spot than they were anticipating following the final whistle just hours earlier. The key will most definitely be whether Dagenham can find enough goals in their team before the return of Paul Benson who is currently scheduled to be fit for the final six league games. If the Daggers can still be in touching distance at this point, they will certainly fancy their chances of causing what many will see as a big upset.