If there'd been any justice at all last season, then
Dagenham would have made the play offs. Not in a "Dagenham deserved it
but Shrewsbury didn't" sort of way as Salop picked up a 2-0 victory on
the final day in their very own version of the "It's up for grabs now"
match but at times last season, Dagenham were sensational and without
doubt the surprise package of the season.
You could point to Exeter for their automatic
promotion in their first season after promotion from the Conference, but
Dagenham were the absolute outsiders, tipped by one and all for
relegation, and had it not been for a terrible spell of injuries, then
they may even have threatened the automatic promotion places.
We had John Still down as your archetypal journeyman manager. Decent at getting
sides into the League but once there, never did anything with them. He'd been
the same at Barnet and if anything, all the signs were that he was yesterday's
man - you'd certainly not have down as the up and coming type
But his
Dagenham side from last season came out of nowhere and Still did an excellent job in assembling a
side put together on a pittance that could battle their way against any side in
the division, without having to resort to kick and rush tactics along the way.
Is he capable of repeating that success? Well history would suggest no he isn't
without wanting to totally dismiss him as a manager. Last season was no fluke,
its just repeating it may test Still's abilities to the extreme.
There were many aspects to their success last season that have
unfortunately for fans of the Daggers moved on to pastures new. Strevens
has gone off to Brentford, as has Saunders and Foster, Richards returned
to Pompey before going to Notts County which will be a real blow, as he
stood out against ourselves last time out. Jon Boardman has left to join
Woking, but am sure that somehow they'll battle through without his
services.
One player who has remained is striker Paul Benson. He was one of the
stars of League Two last season, and few would have predicted that he'd
still be at the Victoria Road ground this next season. After his 21
goals, there's been widespread interest with Brentford, Gillingham and
Shrewsbury all having made bids for the former White Ensign striker.
But Benson has remained with the club. Whether than continues to be the case,
we shall see by the end of August, but for now, all the indications are that he
is happy where he is, and whilst he is there, no opposition will fully relax
when they're up against D&R.
As for the new signings, we must confess to knowing very little about
them. They've signed a defender from Arsenal, slightly cheaper than the
Arsenal defender who has signed for City. Abu Ogogo joins after a nine
game spell at Barnet last season which brought two red cards. They've
also brought three others in from the non league circuit, two of which
haven't played league football before.
So they'll be up against it again this time round, and despite the
fact that there's still a fair bit of quality left within that squad,
it's impossible to look upon that squad as being as strong as it was
last year and therefore we can't see them finishing as high as they did
last time round. And if Benson was to depart early on, we'd have serious
reservations about them finishing where we have them down to.
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