Venue: Victoria Road
Saturday 21st April 2003, 3pm kick-off.
Conditions: Typical April watery sunshine and breezes
Ground: Reasonably green but hard and bumpy
Nationwide Conference :
Dagenham & Redbridge 0 Yeovil Town 4
Attendance: 2,588
Referee: Mr N Perkin (Gravesend)
Bookings:
Yeovil: Lockwood (57 mins, foul)
Dagenham: Gothard (45, foul)
Line up : (3-4-1-2)
 22. Steve Collis |
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2. Adam Lockwood |
4. Terry Skiverton |
14. Roy O’Brien |
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10. Nick Crittenden |
6. Darren Way |
8. Lee Johnson |
11. Michael McIndoe |
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24. Abdelhalim El Kholti |
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25. Kirk Jackson |
9. Kevin Gall |
Substitutes: 1. Chris Weale 5. Colin Pluck (84 mins, for O’Brien) 12. Chris Giles (72, for Crittenden) 15. Steven Reed (64, for El Kholti) 16. Andy Lindegaard
Dagenham & Redbridge: 18. Paul Gothard 4. Lee Goodwin 17. Lee Matthews 2. Tim Cole 6. Steve Heffer 19. Tarkan Mustafa 9. Danny Shipp 8. Paul Terry 26. John McGrath 10. Mark Stein 15. Steve West
Subs : 1. Tony Roberts 5. Mark Smith 14. Danny Hill (65, for McGrath) 23. Jason Broom (65, for Shipp) 24. Steve Potts (78, for Terry)
Scorers: Kevin GALL (24 mins, 0-1), Kirk JACKSON (47, 0-2), (63, 0-3), (68, 0-3)
This report courtesy of Jeremy Gear:
99 Not Out!
Back around Christmas time when Yeovil fans scanned the seasons remaining fixtures they would have been forgiven for suffering a bout of the butterflies when seeing the final two away games were at Doncaster and Dagenham respectively. They need not have worried, both swept aside with consummate ease by four goals to nil! The bandwagon just keeps rolling on, and unfortunately for Chester, who visit fortress Huish this Saturday for the last game of the season, the bandwagon still has a completely full tank of petrol!
If milestones were the objectives for Gary Johnson’s team after winning the league, with some to spare, then 2 out of three would have been a realistic target. But after today’s showing, the record points tally, 100 goals and the golden boot for the hugely impressive Kirk Jackson are all now within touching distance.
Yeovil entered what must be one of the smallest pitches in the conference through a “guard of honour” made up of the Dagenham players and staff. A wonderful gesture, as was the standing ovation from the Daggers fans at the end of the game.
Playing in white, the laundry department on Easter holidays I guess, was not the only change from Saturday. Starting with the usual 3 at the back Colin Pluck was rested as Adam Lockwood made the starting line up for the first time in the league following his recent ban. Pluck, ironically is one booking away from a similar 3 match punishment at the start of life in division 3 if he picks up his 15th yellow card of the season before then. Steve Collis made his seasonal conference debut between the sticks as Gary rotated his squad! Gavin Williams did not make the bench, unfit presumably, Andy Lindegaard returned to it as Nick Crittenden was given the nod for his first start since his groin operation. Abdel El Kholti was given the left wing back spot and Michael Mcindoe took the “hole” in the absence of Williams.
The opening quarter had the feel of an end of season game, warm sunshine and a dry and hard bumpy pitch which was not conducive to playing total football. The Glovers forced a couple of early corners which came to nothing, Collis was more than comfortable when called upon to intercept. A couple of snapshots from Way and Gall followed before the half burst into life when Jackson completely took out the linesman after being tackled himself. They both brushed themselves off before the ref’s assistant had the nerve to flag the Yeovil striker offside from the resulting throw!
Yeovil gradually began to boss the game, and on 24 minutes, as Lockwood linked with Way down the right, his perfect cross found Jackson who seemed to hang in the air for ages before heading back across the face of goal for Kevin GALL to nod home and continue where he left off on Saturday -1.0!
As the champions adapted to the tricky surface, so their usual fluent passing game crept back in, a superb move involving Roy O’Brien (who was superb today incidentally), Abdel and Johnson resulted in the latter forcing the keeper into a last ditch save when a goal beckoned, and one that would have been richly deserved.
Then on the stroke of half time, Lockwood, with a long throw into the box from the right, teased Paul Gothard, the Daggers keeper into coming for the ball with Kirk Jackson, his mistimed punch appeared to connect with the back of the Yeovil strikers head and the ref had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, a little harsh maybe, but when your top of the league you are entitled to make your own luck. Up stepped Mcindoe, down went the keeper and pushed the attempt around the post for a corner!
The large travelling contingent from around the West had barely regained their places at the start of the second half when down the right hand channel Kevin Gall became the provider this time, and slotted the ball to Kirk JACKSON who took his time before picking his spot low in the bottom left hand corner of the net to give Yeovil a 2-0 lead on 48 minutes.
Adam Lockwood was booked, harshly in my opinion, for a shoulder barge type challenge, in a game that was never dirty. Three minutes later, after being knocked to the ground by a high boot, he brushed himself down but would have been disappointed not to see a card produced for a challenge which was more reckless than his own a few moments previous.
The game continued as before, with Yeovil pretty much untroubled, when on 63 minutes Darren Way broke down a Dagenham move in typical fashion, fed Gall, who unselfishly squared for Kirk JACKSON to notch his second of the day. 5 minutes later a carbon copy move with the same duo resulted in the almost flattering score line 4-0 as Kirk JACKSON completed his hatrick and equalled Doncaster’s Paul Barnes tally of 24 goals in the hunt for the Golden Boot
Gary Johnson gave Stephen Reed his first conference appearance, replacing El Kholti, as Yeovil reverted to a 4-4-2 formation. Nick Crittenden then gave way to Chris Giles in a straight swap down the right, shortly afterwards Colin Pluck replaced Roy O’Brien.
In the dying moments Kevin Gall had the chance to score the clubs 100th league goal of the campaign, his lob just evading the far post by a whisker. Five would have been lovely, a little tough on Dagenham perhaps, but make no mistake, this was another highly professional performance with a capital P. The daggers have always been a hard nut to crack for the greens, today was a measure of just how far the club has come in recent months. To inflict the biggest home defeat of the season on the play off hopefuls in such a clinical and effective manner was a joy to watch…Bring on Chester.
Jeremy Gear
Internet Man of the Match Voting Result:
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Overall match rating: 8.9 / 10
Performance: 9
Entertainment: 8.8
24 votes received.
Kirk Jackson receives an award before scoring a Hat Trick in the game.
