The recent 5-0 mauling of Shrewsbury Town at Victoria Road brought memories flooding back of an identical drubbing dished out to the same opposition in January 2004. That day it was an effervescent Chris Moore who grabbed the headlines with a stunning double amidst a turbulent campaign for the Daggers as a whole. Yet despite putting ten past the Shrews in those two matches, calls to play Town every week would be a little wide of the mark. In fact that was only the second time the Daggers had tasted success over the Shropshire club in eight meetings, losing five times. So, who would we like to play every week?
Woking
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Admittedly the stats don’t really stack up with this choice, but for pure entertainment alone, Woking was always a mouth-watering fixture. With the net bulging a total of 83 times in 24 encounters, at an average of almost 3.5 goals per game, you couldn’t take your eyes away from these games. Particularly impressive is the Daggers record at Kingfield. Not intimidated by the ‘Woking Wall’ (the mountain of a stand behind one goal which dwarfs the rest of the stadium making it look faintly ridiculous) the Daggers never lost in 11 contests. Perhaps most memorable was that nine-goal thriller in 1994 which the Daggers edged, just, by eight goals to one.
Basingstoke Town
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Now my mate’s a Basingstoke Town fan, so I take no pleasure (well perhaps a little!) for this inclusion. Robbo’s FA Cup goal scoring heroics in 2001 not only kept the Daggers in the Cup that year, but also preserved a proud, unbeaten record against the ‘Stoke spanning from 1997 to 2001. A few seasons of mediocrity have followed for the Hampshire club since, but this year is looking far more promising, as they currently sit fifth in Conference South, one place below Robbie Garvey’s Braintree Town.
Hampton & Richmond Borough (formerly Hampton)
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Admittedly the Daggers only took on Hampton on five occasions, but with a 100% record, they can’t be overlooked as victims of the Daggers. Scoring almost 3.5 goals a game, the Daggers took no half measures when demolishing Hampton. Classic memories include Steve Heffer’s rocket in 1999’s 5-0 victory, Shane Huke’s speculative effort which found the net from range in the first round of the FA Cup two seasons ago, and lest we forget, the classic 3-2 win with only nine men, which capped promotion from the Ryman League, and gave this site its name! With Mark Keen between the sticks at the death, it really did prove that the Daggers could do no wrong against Hampton.
Walton & Hersham
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One of the minnows of the Ryman League, the Daggers delighted in playing Walton. With five wins out of six, they were certainly a team the Daggers would have kept an eye out for when the fixtures were released each season. Probably the most distinctive memory from these duels would be Shippy’s diving header in the 2-0 away win in 2000. The ground never recovered after that. It brought chants of ‘You’re Shipp and you know you are!’ much to the bemusement of the locals who thought we were castigating their team.
Dover Athletic
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Dover are currently riding the crest of a wave, sitting atop of the Conference South, but it wasn’t so long ago that both clubs met on a regular basis in the Conference Premier. Excluding friendlies, these two paired up 13 times, with the Daggers never on the losing side. For me the clinical nature of our performances against Dover would be summed up in one moment; Mark Stein’s winning goal in October 2001 which earned a 1-0 win. A rain-drenched evening in Kent saw the ex-Chelsea front man put away a one-on-one with great aplomb and ensure three points returned to Essex.
Billericay Town
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Local rivals Billericay Town weren’t exactly on the end of some right royal thumpings, but they fell victim to the Daggers, a lot. In competitive fixtures, the Daggers won a whopping 80%. It wasn’t perhaps as fierce a local rivalry as with Thurrock (aka Purfleet), but it was still great to claim local bragging rights, something that couldn’t be said to often when playing the Fleet…
Dulwich Hamlet
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The name alone conjures up non-league nostalgia. Yet no such sentiments were on display as the Daggers swept past Dulwich with tremendous regularity. Not put off by the garish purple and pink jerseys (whoever decided on that combination?!), the Daggers were supreme when taking on Dulwich. Scoring only three goals in eight matches against the Daggers, Dulwich are no doubt glad to have seen the back of the East-enders. A rematch doesn’t appear imminent just yet, with four divisions now separating these two ex-Ryman Premier League foes. That may well be something of a relief for Dulwich.
