John Still made just one change to his side, as Andre Boucaud was off on international duty with Trinidad & Tobago.

Youngster, Sam Ling was brought in at right-back, which meant that Joe Widdowson was sent to left side of the defence, and Frankie Raymond moved into Boucaud’s space in the centre of the park.

The Daggers were very lucky not to concede in the opening minutes of the first half, when Sam Jones’ bicycle-kick rebounded off the post.

It was starting to look like it was going to be a long day when just 15 minutes into the game, the team from Tyneside started to build momentum.

Five minutes later and the visitors were one up. Jones again applying the pressure and moving past his defender. Dagenham’s Elliot Justham couldn’t do much as the forward slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.

Moments later Corey Whitey almost tied the game, however his distant shot drifted wide of the target.

Half an hour in and Jones was causing real problems again for the Essex outfit, after he picked up a deflected shot from Patrick McLoughlin.

Only minutes later, the forward had another chance, this time from 10 yards out after a corner, but he was unable to keep the shot down.

The Daggers had their best chance of the half, Nine minutes before half-time. Oliver Hawkins was found on the back post, after a brilliant cross from Widdowson – however the shot was well saved by Dan Hanford.

Disastrous Second Half 

It took only two minutes for the Heeds to extend their lead in the second half, Guttridge gave a dangerous free-kick just 25 yards out, Mitch Brundle then found the back of the net, after a goalkeeping error.

It was all over in  Victoria road exactly on the hour mark, Jones got the brace from a poorly defended corner, which was headed into the path, of the man of the moment, by Jamal Fyfield.

Fans started to leave as things started to go horribly wrong for the Daggers,  when after only two minutes captain Scott Doe conceded a penalty, and Danny Johnson stepped up to make it four.

The Tynesider’s got their fifth and final goal in the 64th minute after Manny Smith smashed in a volley from close range.

The Daggers looked for a consolation goal in the last minutes of the match, but again Whitely was not able to get his shot on target.

Justham denied Gateshead from humiliating the east London outfit even more with two instinctive saves in a matter of seconds.

The full-time whistle was the saviour for the Daggers.

They hope that this score will not affect them for their visit to Halifax Town in the FA Cup replay tomorrow.

 

Daggers: Justham; Ling (Heard 35), Doe, Staunton, Widdowson; Robinson, Raymond; Maguire-Drew (Hyde 82), Guttridge, Whitely; Hawkins (Benson 74)

Unused-subs: Cousins, Barnwell

Gateshead: Hanford; Atkinson, Hogan, M Smith, Bolton (G Smith 70), Fyfield; Brundle, Penn (Hannant 74), McLaughlin; Johnson (York 81), Jones

Unused-subs: Johnson, Styche

Attendance: 1,354 (41 Gateshead fans)

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Hi I'm Youcef Dahmani, I am a sports reporter/editor and I have been writing articles and features on Dagenham & Redbridge. I work in the press box and have been regularly attending matches for the past two seasons. MMA is another sport that I cover, reporting on live events inside the east London region and have created multimedia pieces in this field. During this time I have met a wide range of people within the sport and have interviewed a wide range of people including Darren Stewart, an east London fighter, who has recently made it into the UFC. About me I am studying in my final year of Sports Journalism at the University of East London. Sport has been something which I have always had a passion for and seek to pursue a career within sports media. I am a multilingual journalist that likes to expand on sport outside the UK.