Ricky - Sky Sports Expert

In at number one

Daggers reach the summit, but can they stay there

Posted: 18th November 2009 13:22

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In at number one

Miller: One of two new faces in East London

Well, for us it will be after our next two matches as they are against the teams directly below us and will give us fair indication of where we are likely to be come May.

Dagenham FanZoner Riky Butler
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Top of the league! That sounds sweet doesn't it?

Yes, little Dagenham and Redbridge are top of the league! How good is that? Not the August kind of top when everyone has only played two or three games, which have enjoyed ourselves in the last two years, but proper midway-through-the-season top.

16 games in, over a third of the season gone, and no one is above us! Who would have thought it? It is definitely unchartered territory for us so excuse me if I want to make the most of it while I can!

Okay so we have not been playing that well recently but we have developed a happy knack of grinding out results and it is that consistency that has got us to the top. While everyone around us seems to be dropping points on a regular basis we just keep on picking them up and the Sunday papers certainly made pleasant reading this week. Well, at least they would have done if we ever got any coverage in them, but the league table looked good anyway!

Stormy

Now it's never easy going to Accrington but in awful weather conditions and the fact that they were unbeaten in five matches this one was always looking likely to be a banana skin for us, especially after our cup thrashing at Huddersfield last week.

However manager John Still had been busy in the loan market and brought in young Chelsea right back Nana Ofori-Twumansi and the rather unpopular midfield terrier Adam Miller from Gillingham and both were thrown straight into the starting line up, along with fellow loanee Matt Lockwood, to make it very un-Dagenham looking team!

Now I have knocked the loan market in the past as we have been on the wrong end of it but I can obviously see the benefits of it if it is used in the right way. It can give players who are not playing regularly at their clubs the opportunity to get some games under their belts while also helping out teams who have some injuries in key positions.

How good it is in the long term though I'm not so sure. If players like Miller, Lockwood and Nana help us to get into League One that's all well and good but what happens when they go back to their clubs? As we are unlikely to be able to afford to buy replacements of similar experience and quality we will ultimately be the ones to lose out while helping increase the value of those players by giving them regular games in a wining team. It is a definitely a double edged sword.

However none of that mattered on Saturday as we finally managed to get a league win over our bogey team Stanley to go to the top. In truth the game was not great as the soggy pitch made good football almost impossible but we battled hard and dug deep to leave with a very good win.

We actually played quiet well in the first half and probably deserved our 1-0 lead although they had hit the bar, seen another effort cleared off the line by Scott Doe and our goal, when it arrived, was somewhat fortunate.

Having failed to score on our previous two league visits there it was no real surprise that we didn't score this one either as Mark Arber's header was probably going to hit the corner flag until it took a wicked deflection of an Accy defender and flew into the net!

Redemption

The second half saw us have to weather the storm in more ways then one as the rain started again and Accy threw everything at us. Robbo, after taking the predictable stick off the home fans behind the goal, made a great point blank save while the much-maligned Doe then made another goal line clearance.

Now I have been one of his biggest critics this season but he has been playing out of position at right back while this was his first start for us at centre back and what a difference it made!

The lad had a very good game and his partnership with the equally outstanding Arbs was the main reason we kept a clean sheet. The last fifteen minutes seemed to last a lifetime but we held on and were rewarded when we heard that the results from Rochdale and Bradford had sent us to the top.

The new loan guys did very well and young Nana in particular looks as though he could have a similar impact for us as Matt Ritchie did last season. Let's just hope we can extend his loan for longer then a month.

The highlight of the day for me though came as we were leaving the ground and my six year old son Emerson shouted in his loudest voice, 'We are top of the league' and even the Accy fans had to laugh!

Improvement

Finally it was good to see that their ground has improved since our last visit in February with seats now in the away stand and with more work going on I am almost looking forward to my next trip there, something I never thought I would say, although hopefully it wont be in League Two next season!

The journey home meant I had to miss the England game but you know what, does anyone really care about a money making friendly played in the Far East with a largely second string team of even more over hyped, over paid prima donnas? As I drove back across the Pennines listening to England getting taken apart by Brazil on the radio I knew I had made the right decision to watch the mighty Daggers instead and Emerson certainly agreed...

Now at what point does a good start to the season actually begin to turn into the realistic hope of success? Well, for us it will be after our next two matches as they are against the teams directly below us and will give us fair indication of where we are likely to be come May.

Third placed Rochdale are next in line to put our unbeaten home record to the test on Saturday before we then visit second placed Bournemouth the following Tuesday. If we are still top after those two then maybe little Dagenham will be taken seriously and you never know we might even get a proper write up in the papers this Sunday!

So I'm going for a 2-1 win over Rochdale on Saturday followed by a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth and our place at the top intact as we head into December. Optimistic? Maybe but we keep proving everyone wrong this season so who's to say it will not continue?

Come on you Daggers!

Can Still's side retain their high flying position? Which of the two loanee most impressed you? Join the FanZone debate by filling in the feedback form below

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