VNL#29 - Daggers 0 Hartlepool United 1
We may have been able to conjure up a second-half turnaround to claw back points against King's Lynn, or even relatively decent opposition like Wrexham and Boreham Wood, but these are genuine title candidates. Unbeaten in nine, high-flying and an impressive group of players...it was always going to be a step too far. This mountain was simply too steep to climb. The game followed the typical Dagenham trend this season. We started brightly, had countless presentable opportunities which were all wasted, then we promptly conceded with one of the first chances we afforded them on the evening. Typically, it was an absolute gift, a scarcely-believable free header from point-blank range. As decent as our performance was across the first-half, you deserve to lose when you play like that. We seem to do it every week. To their credit, Hartlepool's management of the game was superb, a perfect template of how to get over the line. A ridiculous individual display from Elliot Justham was the only thing that denied them a far more convincing victory, which probably wouldn't have been justified on the balance of play. Overall, though, I can't begrudge them the three points, even though we were good enough to get something ourselves. Frustratingly, it could've been so different. If Wilson had buried the straightforward chance that came his way after just a couple of minutes. If Balanta's glancing header had crept into the corner rather than narrowly wide. If Sagaf's goalbound shot wasn't blocked. If our main driving force from midfield, Rance, wasn't forced off at the interval through interval. Perhaps most importantly, if someone had decided that leaving their top scorer alone right infront of goal probably wasn't the greatest idea. Our form at Victoria Road just hasn't been good enough for ages. Quite why that is remains baffling as the absence of supporters would presumably nullify any advantage/disadvantage that would've otherwise been present with the venue. Ultimately, that's going to end up costing us come the end of a season that has quickly become a non-event for us. Once again, it's looking like we're going to fall short of our ambitions. One defeat against an admittedly decent outfit shouldn't distract from what has been a generally decent period, though. Performances and results have both been improving steadily, a trend that hopefully resumes again from Saturday, when we host fellow promotion hopefuls Torquay United. That game is then followed by the reverse meeting with Hartlepool. It doesn't get any easier.
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May 2024
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