FL2:Dagenham & Redbridge v Torquay Utd 15th Aug 09

I'm confident there will be MORE United fans there on Saturday than there were on Tuesday night ~ only it WON'T be recorded in the official away attendance as many will be dissipated amongst the home support.

This warm, fluffy and moist pundit reckons that with scoring so impressively in his last outing, the manager would be very unlikely to drop Tim Sills from the starting line up and with Scott Rendell's impressive beginning for us, (he should be on two from two having made a mess of that header at Palace) Elliott Benyon will be joining Ben Joyce on the bench, together with Mustapha Caryol as one of the speed merchants primed and ready to bring on should the Daggers' defence show signs of being softened up! You never know though, he MIGHT opt to go for starting with just one up top for this very difficult away fixture.........................and that would more than likely be either Sills or Rendell with Hargreaves or Hodges joining in the midfield in addition to Thompson who played so well the other night.

No easy task this and the defence will be tested by D&R's young striker Paul Benson...............a prime example of manager John Still's and Academy Chief Wayne Burnett's unsurpassable knowledge of the London Youth scene. Daggers are full of young lads picked up from the periphery of the Capital's Premier Academies and emerging non league stars.

Have we got an injury worries or has the manager got a full squad to pick from ?

Spineless, lacklustre and shapeless.

Most players were anonymous except;
+'s were Carlisle and Benyon
-'s were Stevens (loses ball too cheaply at every opportunity) and Nicholson (outpaced and outfoxed to distraction again).

My bubble has been burst. We looked like a Conference side playing a League side and the scoreline flattered us.

That being said ....what a goal from Mussy.

Seems it has burst many bubbles judging by the lack of any posts on the thread, still I'm sure we will get some reports later, once they get merse out of the pub ;D he does like to yap you know.

The wake up call of wake up calls I'm afraid. If Tuesday was like watching football in a zoo, this was an afternoon at the circus.

All the pre-season doubts about our squad were clearly on show today - how costly would our chronic lack of pace all over the park be? Can Hargreaves and Todd pull it off at league level? Will Sills be as potent? Time will tell whether this was just an aclimatisation period for Nicholson, Todd, Hargreaves and maybe even Stevens and Sills. I hope it is, and I hope they get it together quickly, because this was awful.......worse than awful actually. I can't remember a worse defensive display - we were flattered by 5:3 - it could have been 15:3. We got out of jail to go in at half time only one down and then came out with another spineless 45 minutes - sorry, 35 minutes. This game was only a contest for the first and last ten minutes. The period inbetween was about as one sided and embarrasing as the last ashes test at Headingley.

This is just one result and of course it is not the time to panic - this time last week we were world beaters. However, I do hope that the two leagues games have demonstrated as pure folly the feeling that the difference between this league and the BSP is minimal. Those who point at what Exeter achieved last year are ignoring the clear weaknesses in our team. There is still time to do something about it. In the BSP we may well have got away with a draw in this game...............or even a win as panic set in at the end - that would have only mirrored what was a chaotic and clueless display.

The most worrying aspects for me were:

Todd - he continues to be a walking free kick concession and is well off the pace.

Nicholson had one of his worst games I have seen in a gulls shirt and when the oposition ran at him we looked in trouble.

Hargeaves also was over run in midfield and the only time Wroe got a kick was when he was allowed to take the penalty.

Sills and Rendell did not trouble the Daggers defence much - at 0.0 Rendell was put clean through, but his lack of pace was clear and the chance went begging.....almost in slow motion. At 1.0 down Rendell did excellently to create a chance for Sills, but all afternoon he had the touch of a rapist and put wide. Had we somehow gone in level ho knows what would have happened.


There were a few positives to grasp - Muzzy looks good this year and he scored a contender for goal of the season. I just wish wish either he or Stevens would come op with the application and consistency to make the shirt their own. With both one effective game is followed by a poor one.

Benyon cam on and controlled the ball - that may not sound great, but believe me it was more than was happening before - it simply was not sticking up front today. Benyon's control meant that Daggers finally had to try to tackle us - and we were awrded the strangest penalty I have seen in a long time. I think we felt slightly embarrased about it and duly allowed Daggers to score a soft goal within a few minutes - Chris Roberts and the spirit of sportsmanship lives on at TUFC!!

I am sorry to be so negative - I know I am normally more critical than most on here. I expect I'll cop it, but in my eyes it was a shocker. Maybe this was just a bad day at the office for too many of our players - we have known all summer that promotion meant that we would endure days like this. Whilst I don't think we should go over board and start to panic, we would be foolish to ignore such an absolute mauling.

It was difficult to judge how good a side Dagenham are because we were so awful. However, they had some decent players who when we stood off and off long enough were able to take full advantage. Had Nicholson stood off any further he'd have got run over on the A13. They took their goals very well and also hit the post and bar, although Bevan was not his usual commanding self and seemed to take an age to go down for their second which ran along the ground from about 30 yards.

Maybe we will be thankful for this reality check come May.

Dave R

Do you perform some sort of agony Aunt role here?

You couldn't be bothered to take a radio, yet can dispense platitudes about nice weather in Devon.

It was a throwback to days of yore. It was we are back in the league and this is what it's really like.

It was a tragedy going on a farce...

Yes it can be sorted, but not without some of the Conference players being released back into the wild, and replaced with proper League players with some pace, control and/or commitment.

I wasn't impressed with Rendell at Wembley. Today didn't change that view.

Stevens was poor in the Conference. Nicho lacked pace and got skinned in the Conference.

Hargreaves was great in the Conference but is now 38.

We have some fundamental issues to address. Bucks will need to work very hard.

Dave Thomas does mention in todays HE;

'With the current transfer window still open for another fortnight, he has continued to pursue a clutch of targets'

and

'Torquay United are prepared to listen to loan offers for several of their fringe first team pros'

Shame we didn't get that big bugger who joined Burton.