Very occasionally I get the chance to watch other National League football other than following Barnet around the South. I have South Division football in the form of Worthing and Havant half an hour away whilst both Eastleigh and Dorking Wanderers are an hour from the front door.
It was the latter my destination on Saturday afternoon in a rearranged fixture with both sides out of the FA Cup and a battle between two managers I know very well, Marc White and Ben Strevens.
Not quite a must win for the two sides, but Dorking having started the season well have fallen into a rut of being unable to string wins together whilst the Daggers started slower but at times have threatened to pull away from the bottom end and put pressure on the play-off’s at the other end.
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Despite the wet weather all around the south end of the country no issue of game off with the 3G surface, a bright sky and sunshine greeted the kick off, certainly not in keeping with the recent bad weather on Saturday matchday’s.
A quite tentative first few minutes which wasn’t surprising given neither side were in excellent form, but both sides were wanting to play 90% of the football on the ground not afraid however to mix it up at times.
The first goal went to the visitors inside five minutes, a poor clearance from Harrison Male straight to Daggers Freddie Sears saw the striker cross into the box and the unlucky Dan Gallagher sending the ball into his own net for the opener.
You could feel the atmosphere fall a little flat from the home section, when things aren’t going your way then it sucks out some of the life. But Dorking responded and a peach of the strike from Harry Ottaway gave Elliott Justham no chance in the Daggers goal, a very worthy equaliser and restoring some belief for the Wanderers supporters after 13 minutes.
But just as they gifted the first goal to the Daggers they did the same again for them to restore their lead. Dorking’s playing out from the back led to Niall MacManus squaring the ball to Daggers Innih Effiong in the penalty area and the big striker took full advantage to fire past Male.
Once again, victims of their own downfall, that air of disbelief around Meadowbank for the second time, the pressing from the visitors forcing the mistakes and a half time lead for the Daggers the fruits from their work.
White made a change at half time, the home side turning to their third choice orange shirts, the white stripes of both sides clashing in the hope visibility would improve and bring a change in fortunes.
Dagenham were content for the home side to have the ball across their backline and only press when they stepped over the halfway line, Dorking struggling to move the ball quick enough to make any inroads.
The introduction of Myles Weston for the visitors earlier in the game gave them a great outlet of pace down the left hand side of the pitch and with crosses raining into the box it was no surprise to see Josh Hare steal in at the back post to head home and put the game out of reach on 78 minutes.
Half chances for Dorking after that, Alfie Rutherford on his comeback from a knee and heart operation having to play far longer than White would have liked unable to make his mark in the second half.
A welcome three points for the Daggers lifting them to mid-table while Dorking and White can rue the fact they still can’t field a full strength team and sit close to the bottom four still.
I did suggest to Marc there must be some kind of curse on the ground given the amount of players constantly missing for the Wanderers boss, certainly quite incredible.
A useful partnership starting to blossom between Sears and Effiong, the former quite sharp and good to see the latter back in action following his collapse earlier this year, Daggers are clearly in a transition season and around the middle they will no doubt be happy with as a finish.
