Dagenham & Redbridge host Eastleigh on Tuesday night, as they head into the first of their final 10 fixtures of the 2020/21 season.
Both teams come into this one after a rough couple of games and will be pushing for those all-important three points as the season starts to come to a close.
On one end of the scale, we have a team that is attempting to gain a play off place and the other team are floating down in the bottom half of the table looking to climb up. A tough game for both competitors.
So far, Dagenham’s biggest loss this season has come against the Hampshire side, when they were on on the receiving end of a 3-0 defeat at the Silverlake Stadium, back in January.
Last Time Out
The last time around, the Daggers ventured to Bromley, where they suffered a slim 1-0 defeat.
Michael Cheek, who is currently the National League’s top scorer, broke the deadlock in the 32nd minute.
The Ravens were reduced to 10 men after Luke Coulson was deemed to have verbally abused the referee, warranting a red card. The sending off came in the 92nd minute, leaving next to no time for The Daggers to capitalise on the opposition being a man down.
Dagenham had their attempts to bring the game level but time ran out, as they continue their bad run of form, losing their fourth game out of the previous five.
The Opposition
Eastleigh haven’t had the best of times recently, gaining just four points out of a possible 15 in their previous five games.
Despite this, The Spitfires are still in position to make a charge for the play-offs and hope a win over Dagenham will give them the boost they need to achieve their goals. The side are currently sat in ninth spot, just three points away from Halifax Town who occupy seventh.
Dagenham will surely want to turn around their recent bleak period and be a real thorn to Eastleigh’s play-off push.
Manager Thoughts
Daggers manager, Daryl McMahon, looks ahead to the Eastleigh game, hoping not to repeat the 3-0 loss of last time. He spoke to DaggersTV, admitting,
“We were poor last time out against Eastleigh, to be honest. We conceded a goal from a corner and they scored two penalties. It was a bad night for us and probably a night that sparked a lot of changes that you can see now in the team.”
On how they initially responded,
“After one of them types of losses, we had to improve and since then there’s been more legs and more energy in our team that we probably didn’t have that night”.
As for the contest on Tuesday, McMahon said,
“We know Eastleigh are a good side, they’re having a decent season. We’re looking forward to the game on Tuesday night and hope to get a win under our belt.”
Pressure Off?
As for this season, The EFL have decided that no teams will be relegated from the National League due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Sitting in 17th and dangerously close to the drop zone, The Daggers will be glad there is no threat of relegation this year.
The final 10 games however, give the East London side a chance to experiment with tactics and playing styles, to prepare for another tough season in this unforgiving league. Let’s hope we see the start of this come Tuesday night – 7pm.
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