A Hereford team that, apart from Samson replacing Murray in goal, was the same starting squad that had defeated Cheltenham was dumped out of the FA Cup in this evening's replay at The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Stadium by a 2-1 final score line.
The opening skirmishes provided little goalmouth action but it was clear from the off that The Daggers were the more determined outfit as they were quicker to close down and showed a hunger for round 2 that was missing from The Bulls play. Fans may have been excused for thinking that we were playing a team of bosom pals rather than fighting for progression in the oldest Cup competition in the world. A couple of early efforts from Sam Saunders whistled passed Samson's goalposts before Guinan headed a Kris Taylor cross narrowly wide. The Daggers took the lead on seventeen minutes when Saunders swung in a cross from the right, which was met by a thumping header from Paul Benson who had risen well above the United rearguard. Shortly afterwards, Sam Gwynne released Andy Williams but his sharp effort was turned away by the aging Roberts in the Dagenham goal. The resulting corner saw a Beckwith header scrambled clear. The second and decisive Daggers goal came just after the half-hour mark when a poor defensive header from Broadhurst fell invitingly at the feet of Solomon Taiwo who volleyed in a once in a lifetime shot that hit the net before Samson could even blink. If he plays for another century, I doubt Taiwo will ever hit another like that one. Things were not looking good at this stage. However, within a couple of minutes The Bulls had reduced the arrears when Kris Taylor's speculative 20-yarder found the far corner of the Daggers goal following neat work by Ben Smith. Although the hosts continued to look the sharper, Hereford did have an opportunity to level the contest when, on forty minutes, Guinan flashed a header just wide when well placed. Just before half time, Turner was seen to give referee Deadman a piece of his mind following a few unpenalised robust challenges.
HT Daggers 2 Bulls 1
The second period followed in similar fashion to the first with the home side again seeming to pick up most of the second ball and generally looking the more purposeful although when a Kris Taylor cross was only half cleared, Easton saw his snap-shot blocked and cleared while Samson did well to get down to Strevens header following a Saunders corner. Strevens, the rumoured Bulls close season target, then rolled off Broadhurst and fired a shot, which Samson, again, did well to turn away for an unproductive corner. With twenty-five minutes left on the clock, Turner made a couple of uncharacteristic early changes. Richard Rose joined the fray at right-back allowing Diagouraga to revert to his more customary role in midfield at the expense of O'Leary who, it has to be said, had been having one of his less effective games. At the same time, Hudson-Odoi replaced Andy Williams. In a rare breakaway, Guinan got between the two centre backs to fire a fine effort from the edge of the box but Roberts was well positioned to parry the ball to safety. Simon Johnson replaced Sam Gwynne on the right with around fifteen minutes remaining but was easily controlled by the Daggers wide defender. He produced very little by way of threat and didn't once get behind the home back-four.
FT Daggers 2 Bulls 1
In truth, we never looked like winning this game. In fact, some might say we never looked like wanting to win it. It would be extremely difficult to pick a player from either team who really impressed and it makes you wonder why the vivacious Darren Ferguson bothered to travel from the Bank vaults of Peterborough to watch the game. I did ask him but he mumbled something about just taking in a football match. Maybe I should have hung around to ask Mr Deadman how the hell you can be offside from a throw-in? No, seriously...
Dagenham & Redbridge: Roberts, Foster, Okuonghae, Arber, Foster, Ritchie, Taiwo, Gain, Saunders, Benson, Strevens. Subs: Hogan, Nurse, Southam, Graham, Nwokeji, Uddin, Tejan.Sie
Hereford United: Samson, Diagouraga, Beckwith, Broadhurst, Taylor, Gwynne, O'Leary, Smith, Easton, Williams, Guinan. Subs: Breen, Hudson-Odoi, Rose, Johnson, Jones, Chadwick, MacLeod, Done
Did anyone catch the attendance, because I didn’t although the thought of playing a load of Cobblers next does have a certain irony to it.