Two goals for The Daggers in the first half from Chike Kandi and Mason Bloomfield was enough for the Daggers to end a losing run of two matches.
Kandi’s goal was his first for the Daggers since arriving from Leatherhead in September; he formed part of a deadly trio that included Bloomfield and top goal-scorer, Fejiri Okenabihrie.
The away side had chances of their own, with striker Danny Rowe seeing his effort hit the post early in the first half and Dagenham defender Luke Pennell being called into action with 43 minutes played to clear Simon Grand’s header off of the line.
Daggers Pressure
Daggers had a number of opportunities to enhance their lead in the second half, with Bloomfield almost grabbing a second with an acrobatic effort which grazed the crossbar, only for the linesman to raise the flag for offside.
Kandi’s pace was causing all kinds of problems for the Coasters, as he skillfully beat two Fylde defenders and teed up Okenabirhie, who unfortunately slipped as he struck the ball.
The East London side held on for all three points and Daggers boss John Still was delighted with his side’s performance after a run of poor recent results.
“We played very well today. I thought we played really well against Halifax in the first half and they scored two goals in a minute and we didn’t deserve to lose. We were much better than Tranmere in the first half, but we missed some golden opportunities.
“But today we’ve put it all together for 90 minutes and played really well, I’m very pleased. Not just to win it, the performance and the nature of how we played, we should have scored more to be honest.”
Friendly Thoughts
Kandi and Bloomfield kept their places in the side after Wednesday’s fundraiser friendly against West Ham which went someway in helping to raise the £300,000 needed for the club to stay afloat. Still gave his thoughts on the team’s performance in the friendly and its significance.
“I thought it was good game for both sets of supporters, for my own team I thought we were terrific, we managed to give some of the youngster a chance on the pitch as well.”
He continued, “It was nice to have a game without pressure, there’s a lot of pressure on the players at the moment, at the moment they don’t know month by moth if they’re getting paid.”
“A massive thank you to West Ham, because in our situation, we need all the help we can get. They deserve all the plaudits for coming here and bringing their strongest team possible,” explained Still.
The Daggers are sat comfortably in 11th position in the National League. Their next fixture is an away trip to Gateshead on Friday 30th March as they look to keep their slim play-off hopes alive.
Daggers: Cousins, Nunn, Pennell, Robson, Howells, Boucaud, Adams, Kandi (86’ Howell), Okenabihrie, Sparkes, Bloomfield.
Unused Subs: Moore, N’Gala, Robinson, Cheek.
AFC Fylde: Lynch, Montrose, Bond, Tunnicliffe, Grand, Smith (70’ Tasdemir), Montrose, Burke, Hardy, Muldoon (45’ Blinkhorn), Flores (63’ Jones), Rowe.
Unused Subs: Taylor, Chettle.