L2 v Dag & Red (a) L1-2 Oct 17th 2009

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Dagenham & Redbridge: Roberts; Ogogo, Griffiths (Doe 88), Arber, Antwi; Green, Gain, Thurgood, Tejan-Sie; Benson, Nurse (Montgomery 90). Unused substitutes: Lewington, Demetriou, Bingham, Dean.

Bradford City: Eastwood; Ramsden, L O'Brien, Williams (Clarke 87), Rehman; Neilson (Osborne 68), Flynn, Bullock, J O'Brien (Brandon 61); Evans, Hanson. Unused substitutes: McLaughlin, Bateson, Sharry.

Referee: M Russell (Hertfordshire).

Man of the match: Abu Ogogo.






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Bantams hit a sour note at fortress Victoria Road


By Simon Parker »


Dagenham 2 City 1

What price a Dagenham double this season?

Stacey Solomon winning the X Factor and the Daggers clinching promotion?

Stacey, who the PA announcer kept telling us lives just 200 yards from the Victoria Road ground, might need a few more votes than just the hardcore 2,000 fans getting on their mobiles.

But John Still's side could take some stopping.

They may play in a way that won't impress the judges but 19 points from a possible 21 at home is a strong case for a top-seven finish for the first time in their history.

Stacey was obviously too tied up to be there on Saturday so instead the main stand had to make do with the constant shrieking of Abu Ogogo's sisters. They were a poor substitute.

The two of them sat directly above the players' tunnel and embarrassed the young right back every time he came within ten yards.

The cacophony of noise from their row when he slotted home the Dagenham winner threatened to rip off the roof.

Structural damage would not have shocked anybody on a day which saw a 20-minute power cut and a fuse box fire behind the goal opposite the City fans.

They were housed in the most luxurious seats; the new covered end which was only seeing its second game.

It was Dagenham's biggest crowd of the season by far. However much we try to play it down, City remain a big scalp as home boss Still kept repeating afterwards.

But it's the second-placed Daggers who are the real catch, particularly on their own cramped manor.

City came close but, like the losers given the boot by Simon Cowell and Co, they headed home with nothing.

It was not a day for off-days and, unfortunately, there were a few in black shirts.

Fingers will be pointed at Simon Eastwood again over both Dagenham goals.

McCall felt the blame for the first on eight minutes was on those who failed to react to the loose ball afer the keeper had failed to claim the game's first corner.

Eastwood has been criticised for his tendency to hug the goalline. On this occasion he chased a ball he didn't need to, couldn't get anything on it, and watched in a helpless heap as Scott Griffiths nudged goalwards for Paul Benson to convert with his knee.

The Huddersfield loanee atoned for the judgement error with a couple of big saves later on, most notably to spare the blushes of Steve Williams by palming away his misguided own goal-bound header at the start of the second half.

But Dagenham's second did him no favours again. The cross should have been stopped but when it wasn't, Eastwood found himself wide of his goal as Jon Nurse teed up Ogogo to give his supporting banshees their chance to really let rip.

Eastwood was not the only fall guy. Zesh Rehman came off distinctly second best against Benson while Scott Neilson hardly scratched the surface on his recall.

And yet City could still have left this raw corner of Essex with something.

Birthday boy Michael Flynn pulled them up by their bootlaces with another top-drawer strike to cancel out the sluggish start.

Tony Roberts punched a corner clear of the penalty area – only to see the ball come flying back with interest courtesy of the Welshman's flying first-time strike.

And when Dagenham blew an instant chance to restore their lead from the penalty spot, it looked like the tide had turned.

Referee Mick Russell later admitted that it shouldn't have been a spot-kick, which is becoming a bugging habit of officials of late.

He gave it anyway for Nurse's theatrical fall under the combined pressure of Rehman and Simon Ramsden. But Benson, maybe out of guilt but more likely as a result of Flynn's "encouragement" as he ran up, delivered the worst penalty you will see for many a year.

While the fire brigade attended to the electrical blaze, City took control for the remainder of the half. Lee Bullock got on the ball and carried on his good work from the previous week and the visitors looked a decent threat.

Gareth Evans had their best chance but the recalled striker, only playing because Michael Boulding had woken up under the weather, snatched at it after Flynn and Neilson had combined to carve Dagenham open.

It looked a costly miss and City soon found themselves back under the cosh as the second half started the same way as the first.

Benson and Danny Green went close – as well as Williams – and Eastwood plunged at the feet of Nurse after a mistake by Flynn.

There were shades of Paul Mullin last season as City had a dangerous counter-attack flagged off for James Hanson's supposed foul on Roberts.

But then Peter Gain's cross was collected by Benson and Nurse and, with Eastwood not at home, right back Ogogo had his first goal in senior football.

City hit back hard late on but, apart from one Luke O'Brien effort, forced little to unnerve Roberts as the resolute Daggers back four showed how it should be done to negotiate several scrambled moments.

That's two losses on the spin but McCall insisted there was no need for the doom merchants to take over.

He said: "We are a young side trying to gel together and have had some good performances this season.

"We were up against one of the best sides in the division and we could have squeezed a point.

"There were spells in the game which gave me enough encouragement to know that we've got a good nucleus of players. We'll give teams problems but now it's about reacting the right way."



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Lawn: Stuart is his own boss

By Simon Parker »


Mark Lawn would never try to talk Stuart McCall out of leaving Valley Parade.

Not that City's joint-chairman wants to see the manager call it quits any time soon.

Despite the disappointment of back-to-back losses, Lawn believes McCall is on the right track this season with his revamped squad.

But he also reckons that McCall's standing at the club always gives the manager the ultimate power to choose the moment he could walk away.

McCall was close to stepping down at the end of last season after the anguish of missing out on the play-offs. Fans and former team-mates rallied round to change his mind.

Having pushed the boat out to build a squad of serious promotion challengers, failure was a bitter blow for Lawn and Julian Rhodes. But there was never any heat put on McCall.

Lawn said: "There has never been a problem between board and manager. The only frustration was between Stuart McCall and himself.

"He wanted to do well and believed that he didn't and wanted to go. But he'd just signed a new two-year contract and I don't know what everyone was panicking about.

"Don't get me wrong, if Stuart wants to walk away I'm not going to hold him back. He's done enough for this club to have that right.

"If Stuart had definitely wanted to go in the summer, I wouldn't have held him to his contract. It wouldn't have been right."

City are proud to have built up an infrastructure of dyed-in-the-wool supporters but, as the McCall episode testified, that emotional attachment comes at a price at times.

Lawn added: "I'm not sure whether it's good or bad that we are all fans as well.

"I've watched the team for over 20 years and stood on the terraces before getting involved at board level.

"We all feel the pain, perhaps even more than the fans because of what we've put into the club.

"I'm not having a go at anyone but there are some times when I can't face my kids. I've put the whole of their inheritance in this club.

"It's difficult when you get into a conversation where my son can't go to the university he wants to because I can't afford it.

"But it's not just me. Everybody in the club has got that sort of commitment, not just with the money but the time that they put in.

"I believe the whole club are slowly starting to move in the right direction. Behind the scenes as well, we've got the right people.

"It's a general thing which has taken some time to turn round.

"In any business, once the wheel starts going one way, it's very difficult to stop it. Then you've got to get your shoulder to it and push it to get things moving the other way. I think it's slowly starting to do that."

Lawn is into his third year at Valley Parade and finds he is still getting to grips with football culture. But he feels that techniques applied in general business are not totally alien to his present environment.

"I've found the role of joint- chairman difficult at first but I'm getting used to it," he said.

"There are still things I want to bring into football; business practices that aren't being used. But as they say, slowly slowly catchy monkey.

"Things that are used in business can be used, not just behind the scenes but on a football level as well.

"All businesses run on procedures and football is the same. They'll come in and do training on this aspect one day and Friday might work on that one, it's just procedure.

"It's not a million miles apart and I think there are business ethics that can be put in the football side.

"I'd like to see more statistical analysis and programmes put in but I only make suggestions because it's down to the manager and coaches.

"It is Stuart's domain. If the team loses, it's Stuart that gets the stick as well."



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McCALL: PROMOTION DREAM STILL ALIVE

Bradford City manager Stuart McCall believes his side can challenge for
promotion and is paying little attention to the current league table.

The Bantams have slipped to 13th place, five points adrift of the play-offs,
after an eight-match unbeaten league run was abruptly halted by successive
league defeats.

McCall told the club's official website: "As long as we keep going on the
coat tails of the play-off places, four or five points behind, it doesn't
matter where we are in the league right now.

"We are realistic about it. Although we had a good run, there will come
stages in the season when a couple of results go against you.

"It's how we react. With young lads you're always going to get those ups and
downs.

"You look for consistency with players and that tends to improve as you
mature. We should be sat on more points than we are, but there's no reason
to be all doom and gloom."