Two first half goals by Dagenham’s, Alex McQueen, were enough to ensure that Town slipped to their first away league defeat of the season.
For Town,Mark Beck and George Thomson replaced Liam Agnew and Aaron Williams in the Town starting line up after Tuesday’s cup defeat at Wrexham.
An early cross from Jordan Thewlis was just too far for Beck to reach and soon afterwards,Town suffered a blow when Thewlis had to leave the field through injury,to be replaced by Jack Muldoon.
Town were creating early pressure,and Liam Kitching made a powerful run before shooting at the goal from a tight angle.
On the half hour,a Joe Leesley cross to the near post was met by Beck,and home keeper,Elliot Justham,made the first of many fine saves he was to make in the course of the match.
Dagenham then gave Town a warning of things to come,when James Belshaw had to pull out a fantastic save to prevent,Tomi Adeloye, opening the scoring.
However,Town were rocked when the Daggers scored twice in three minutes just before the break.
Firstly,a long ball over the top was collected by McQueen and he raced through to dink the ball over Belshaw for the opener.Next, McQueen held off Kitching’s challenge and his low shot bounced off both goalposts before crossing the line.
The second half was mainly one way traffic,as Town mounted attack after attack, to rescue something from the game. A Leesley free kick flashed over the bar,and Callum Howe ventured forward to head another Leesley free kick at Justham.
The Dagger’s goal had a charmed life as a Josh Falkingham header almost crept in at the near post and Muldoon forced the keeper into two saves.
With only seven minutes left,Town managed to breach the dam when Leesley cut in from the left and drove the ball into the net,via the underside of the crossbar.
Town mounted a final onslaught in an effort to rescue a point and Justham denied Muldoon with a block at the near post after he had been played in by Falkingham,before making a brilliant one handed save to keep out Kelvin Langmead’s header.
Town have an early chance to get back to winning ways when the host Barrow on Tuesday evening.
Town
Belshaw,Falkingham,Howe,Burrell,Thomson,Emmett,Beck,Leesley,Thewlis(Muldoon 18),Langmead,Kitching.
Unused subs,Cracknel,Agnew,Williams,Kerry
Scorer,Leesley 83.
Dagenham,
Justham,Nunn,Onariase,Goodliffe,Smith,Robinson,Phipps(Donovan 90),McQueen,Munns(Reynolds 81),Adeloye,Balanta.
Unused subs,Moore,Pennell,Mullings.
Scorer,McQueen 39,42. Att.1446 (108 away).
Booked Adeloye,Phipps,Onariase,McQueen.
Referee C Brook.
By John Harrison.
@JohnHar59276371
