Venue: Huish Park
Tuesday March 8, 7.45pm kick-off

Conditions: Rain before the match.
Pitch: Skiddy due to the rain but in good nick.

Attendance:

Scorers: Paul McCallum 6 (0-1), Paul McCallum 22 (0-2), Junior Morais 63 (0-3)

Bookings: 1,836 (23 away supporters)

Yeovil: Barnett 32,
Dagenham: Rance 45,

Referee: Adrian Quelch



Yeovil Town
: (4-3-3)

Grant Smith

Morgan Williams, Luke Wilkinson, Ben Barclay, Jordan Barnett

Alex Bradley (for Lawson D’Ath, 60), Josh Staunton (for Matt Worthington, 78), Dale Gorman

Charlie Wakefield, Olufela Olomola (for Adi Yussuf, 71) , Tom Knowles

Substitutes: Mark Little, Reuben Reid.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Justham, Wright, Reynolds, Comley, Hare, Johnson, Rance, Sagaf (for Robinson, 89), Weston, McCallum (for Akanbi, 90) , Morais (for Walker, 75).
Substitutes: Balanta, Zouma.


Match Report

 

A piece of sloppy defending followed by two absolute howlers saw Dagenham & Redbridge run out comfortable winners at Huish Park.

Visiting striker Paul McCallum, whose own goal gave the Glovers the win in the reverse fixture, put them ahead after six minutes and when a clanger from Grant Smith gifted the striker a second on 22 minutes it was game over.

Junior Morais added a third in the second half from another mistake in the Yeovil back line which has been such a strength of this season and, in depressingly familiar fashion, we failed to muster anything going forward.

We loaded the bullets in the Dagenham gun and invited them to shoot us in both feet – and they did it in professional fashion.

Here’s how it played out…….

First half

Team news saw on loan striker Olufela Olomola return having missed the previous two matches through injury, he replaced Jordan Barnett who shifted back to left-back.

Mark Little dropped to the substitutes’ bench with Morgan Williams replacing him on the right side of defence.

After three minutes, Myles Weston, who caused the Glovers’ problem in the reverse fixture, took a run at Williams and fired in a shot which took a small deflection off the centre back-turned-full back and forced Grant Smith in to his first save.

That was a warning and the poor start got worse. Josh Hare got away down the other side and put the ball in for the unchallenged Paul McCALLUM to fire the Daggers ahead.

Sensing blood, the visitors kept attacking a wobbly looking Yeovil and an error by the normally reliable Josh Staunton gave midfielder Dean Rance the chance to shoot and Smith was again force in to a fine stop.

With Barnett playing his first game at left-back for a long while and Williams playing on the right, there were some unfamiliar combinations across the hosts’ side which Dagenham seemed to sense pressing us extremely high up the pitch and getting results.

Grant Smith. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Grant Smith’s free-kick with no Dagenham player around him, he’s tried to be clever and clip a ball to Williams, but did not even get past Paul McCALLUM who chested it down and fired it in to an empty net. His 12th goal of the season, he’ll never score an easier one.

Having not scored more than twice in a league game since November, the writing felt like it was being daubed on the wall. In fact, when was the last time we came back from 2-0 down to get anything? AFC Fylde away in December 2019. The last time at Huish Park? A 2-2 draw with Dagenham in October 2015.

Having executed their plan to perfection, the next stage was to frustrate their easily irritated hosts and, again, did it perfectly all the way through until half-time which was met by a few boos.

Half time: Yeovil Town 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 2

Second half

The second half saw a reshuffle in midfield with Staunton playing further forward and Dale Gorman now the man picking the ball up from deep, but as caretakers of the ball, we were lacking.
Having seen a further 15 minutes of his side huffing and puffing, Darren Sarll introduced a player more than capable of holding on to the ball in Lawson D’Ath who replaced Alex Bradley.
But, instead of that being a spark, another defensive howler gifted the visitors a third. Junior MORAIS got the wrong side of both Luke Wilkinson and Ben Barclay, who have looked so solid since the latter’s arrival, and ran through to score.
If there was any wind was left in the Yeovil sails, it was extinguished. Incidentally, the last time we came from three goals down to win a match was the 5-4 FA Trophy win at Doncaster Rovers nearly 20 years ago.
Fear not though, Adi Yussuf replaced Olomola on 71 minutes. In fairness, it was not Fela’s night. He had no service and was almost entirely anonymous.

Dagenham goalkeeper Eliot Justham probably did not need to wash his kit after this one, he hardly broke a sweat.

A miserable night.

Full time: Yeovil Town 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 3

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