Failed Form
Dagenham and Redbridge went in to this game in the better form. They always say, however, that form goes out of the window in a derby game, and particularly a cup derby.
With a quarter of an hour gone, Morgan Ferrier found himself with a couple of half-chances, testing out Charlie Granger in the Leyton Orient net.
Missed opportunities
Ten minutes later Orient hit the bar twice in quick succession, in what turned out to be their best chances to take anything from the game. Bonne and Mooney, who had their efforts kept out by the cross-bar, were both kept quiet for the remainder of the game by the Dagenham defence.
Five minutes before half-time, Dagenham’s Whitely almost scored directly from his in-swinging corner. The spell that followed was broken up by several fouls and stoppages, with the referee appearing to break up the play intentionally to keep a lid on things.
A stronger second half
Ten minutes after the restart, Dagenham started to pile on some pressure, testing Granger again, drawing an excellent save from the Orient shot-stopper.
Orient started to produce some fine counter-attacking moves, whilst Dagenham were appearing to control periods of the play without producing too much in the final third.
With 15 minutes left to play, The Daggers flashed a couple of chances past the post as they upped the pressure on their visiting local rivals.
The final moments of the match were some of the tensest of each team’s seasons, with neither wanting the replay of the tie, and neither wanting to concede at the death of such a close-fought contest.
As the full-time whistle was blown, both teams knew that they would have to pit themselves against each other once again on Tuesday 17th October at 19:45 for a place in the first round of the FA Cup.