Venue: Huish Park
Saturday August 27th, 3pm kick-off
Conditions: Dry and bright
Pitch: Looking good
Attendance: 2,152 (70 away supporters)
Scorers: Jamie Reckord 34 (1-0)
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Worthington 81
Dagenham & Redbridge: McCallum 76
Referee: Wayne Cartmel
Yeovil Town : (3-5-2)
Grant Smith
Alfie Pond Josh Staunton Ben Richards-Everton
Morgan Williams Matt Worthington Lawson D’Ath (for Sam Perry, 54) Jamie Reckord
Gime Toure (for Jake Scrimshaw, 73)
Alex Fisher (for Callum Rowe, 63) Malachi Linton
Substitutes (not used): Max Hunt, Chiori Johnson.
Dagenham & Redbridge: Justham, Hare, Onariase, Longe-King (for Vilhete, 41), Weston, Tavares, Robinson, Sagaf (for Mussa, 63), Ling, McCallum, Walker (for Morias, 63). Substitutes: Strizovic, Zouma.
Match Report
A first half goal from Jamie Reckord saw Yeovil Town earn their first win of the National League season at home to Dagenham & Redbridge.
The wing-back made it three goals in his opening five matches for the Glovers after good play from striker Alex Fisher on 34 minutes.
However, it was a performance which relied on defensive resilience with young loanee Alfie Pond impressive alongside captain Josh Staunton and the returning Ben Richards-Everton in a back three as Dagenham dominated the second half.
Here’s how it played out in manager Chris Hargreaves’ first win since taking charge…..
First half
With two games in three matches, manager Chris Hargreaves made three changes with Ben Richards-Everton, who had been missing with a knee injury since the opening day, and young Exeter City loanee Alfie Pond coming in for Chiori Johnson and Max Hunt, who dropped to the bench.
The other change saw Charlie Wakefield, who was suffering with a thigh injury, replaced by Gime Toure with new signings striker Jake Scrimshaw and defender Callum Rowe named on the bench.
Josh Staunton headed an early free-kick from Lawson D’Ath just over, but it was the visitors who made the brighter start with winger Myles Weston firing a decent chance in to the side netting after ten minutes.
A nice bit of passing play seven minutes saw the ball break to Toure who caught it sweetly but his effort ricocheted off defender David Longe-King and behind for a free kick.
The absence of on loan winger Sam Pearson, still suffering the after effects of a back injury, was obvious as the half progressed. With Toure keen to get far forward as possible, the hosts were missing someone to pick it up and take it forward in the way we’ve seen from Pearson so far.
After a fragmented 34 minutes of very little to trouble either Grant Smith or his counterpart Elliot Justham, out of nothing Yeovil went ahead. A brilliantly time run by Alex Fisher saw him beat the Daggers’ offside trap and fired a great ball across to Jamie RECKORD turned home his third goal of the season.
That sparked the hosts in to life and Malachi Linton found himself through and collided with Justham, the ball broke to Worthington who had a shot despite having Toure in acres of space on the edge of the six yard box. Manager Chris Hargreaves left his midfielder in no doubt what he felt he should have done – to put it mildly.
With the game closing to half-time, a good effort from Worthington forced a good stop out of Justham.
Half time: Yeovil Town 1 Dagenham & Redbridge 0
Second half
Within two minutes of the restart, good play by Myles Weston saw him play a ball to the back post where it found substitute Mauro Vilhete, he found Nikola Tavares whose effort hit the post with the goal at his mercy.
It was Dagenham who dominated the opening 15 minutes after the restart, but aside from Tavares’ chance and a header over the bar from striker Paul McCallum there was not a huge threat from the visitors.
With another game coming up for both teams on Monday, there were unsurprisingly changes. D’Ath, who returned after the break with a brace on his knee, was replaced by Sam Perry on 54 minutes, and Rowe replaced Fisher soon after the hour.
Rowe was described as “a ball-playing midfielder” by Glovers’ boss Chris Hargreaves and his arrival was perhaps a desire from the manager to take control of the game with their opponents upping the pressure. Their substitutes Omar Mussa, who was part of the W*ymouth side relegated last season, and Junior Morias both looked bright after coming on after 63 minutes.
On 73 minutes, Scrimshaw replaced Toure who had tired as the match progressed.
Rowe impressed with some confident touches in the middle of the park, but it was Dagenham – led by the impressive pair of Mussa and Weston – who were firmly in control as the game ticked towards the conclusion. Is this holding out the return of the resilience which Hargreaves has spoken about so much in recent weeks?
There were calls ahead of the match for his leaders to step forwards and it’s fair to say that captain Josh Staunton and Morgan Williams responded the strongest although it was Alfie Pond who received the sponsor’s man of the match.