It may be too early to refer to this is a relegation six-pointer already but as two of the three teams on zero points clash at Victoria Road, there's no disputing that a win for either side could be absolutely huge, even at this stage of the season. For the Daggers, it's been a case of what could've been so far with two solid performances failing to yield the deserved points, so there's the sense that a victory today, regardless of how they perform against the Magpies, would be a reward for the courage that the players have displayed.
Similarly to Dagenham, Maidenhead's early season problems can be attributed to them losing so many key players over the summer. Just as the Daggers were forced to bid farewell to countless key faces such as Okenabirhie, Cheek and Boucs, Maidenhead were victims of their own brilliant first National League campaign. Having already lost Tarpey to Barnet throughout the season, they lost Barratt and Pritchard to Southend United and Blackpool respectively. Owing to no transfer window at this level, their preparations for the trip to the Daggers were rocked by another departure as 21 year-old defender Max Kilman made a dream move to Premier League Wolves just yesterday. However, despite suffering defeats to Gateshead and Solihull so far, Alan Devonshire gets his team organised and will be targeting his first points of the season against a Daggers outfit who he knows are in a similar position. As mentioned, we really should be on four points by now and one of our biggest problems has been the lack of centre-forward. It's obvious that we're creating chances and have lots of pace but a great striker with the ability to lay the ball off to supporting players with his strength really could be the missing link to change our fortunes, as Peter Taylor said at the forum on Thursday. Even though we didn't expect to sign somebody before this game, yesterday we finally did and it could be massive for us. So it's a big welcome to Tomi Adeloye, who's a powerful 23 year-old striker who's enjoyed previous stints at Chelmsford, St Albans and Hartlepool United having been developed at Charlton, Millwall and Stoke as a youngster. Not only will Tomi hopefully be the answer to our problems, but his mould of player could well bring the best out of Elliott Romain. Therefore, today or in the future, we may well see a change in formation to accommodate our current flat back four, our pacy wingers and now the two forwards. Tomi follows fellow recent signing Alex McQueen into the building, and in Peter Taylor's own words McQueen is a very athletic and versatile player who will be good for us. However, having signed from Finland, McQueen is currently awaiting international clearance and sadly this means he is unavailable for today's game, although he should be ready to start at Aldershot Town on Tuesday for our second away game of the season under the EBB Stadium floodlights. So what does that mean for today's lineup? Well, Elliott Justham will all but certainly retain his place in the side and his made a good start to the season, especially considering his lengthly spell out injured, although possibly could've done better with Maidstone's first goal in midweek. It's likely to be a similar story in defence as we'll stick with Gordon, Davey, Wright and Hoyte. Those four have impressed so far and will keep their places with no other real options as Goodliffe, Pennell and Nunn remain out. Taylor did confirm that Pennell may be fit enough to make the bench but not to start just yet. I imagine we won't want to disrupt the rhythm by tinkering too much so Taylor might keep the same midfield; Kandi and Reynolds out wide with Robinson and Donovan either side of them. This means Adeloye and Romain may make their first starts as a duo which could really define the trajectory of our season. So two games in and it's not time to worry yet, but a defeat today would potentially be damaging. However, if we perform even half as well as we did against Maidstone, I'm adamant we'll get the points that we deserve. Here's to another dominant display but this time coming alongside a three points. The team don't deserve to drop their heads as Taylor said, so imagine how much a win today would mean to all of us. Let's back the boys for the full 90 minutes and hopefully play our parts in how things turn out. Come on you Daggers. You've restored immense pride in this team and there's a big sense of hope around the place. Let's get that first win on the board, because we desperately deserve it.
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January 2024
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