History will be made this Saturday as the Daggers host their first ever match in English football’s third tier.
With the tragic passing of Exeter City striker Adam Stansfield earlier this month, and the subsequent postponement of our game with the Grecians, it will be Tranmere Rovers who make up the first contest.
The Daggers have yet to pick up a point from their opening two league fixtures and still seek their first goal. How that will be celebrated when it arrives! In fairness though, it’s been something of a baptism of fire for the Reds; away games against title favourites Sheffield Wednesday and League 2 champions Notts County, are more than a little tricky.
Yet all three encounters, including the 2-1 reverse at MK Dons in the League Cup, have been close-run affairs, showing the players are certainly not out of their depth at this level.
So to Saturday’s game, and if we pay much attention to the early league table, the pundits would have this down as a relegation six-pointer! With ourselves and Rovers 24th and 23rd respectively, both teams will sense a chance of grabbing all three points.
So, what of our opponents? Well, Tranmere have had a mixed start to this campaign. An opening day defeat to Oldham Athletic was followed up with a commendable point at Huddersfield Town. Since then a 1-0 victory at League 1 rivals Walsall in the first round of the League Cup preceded Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth, who were without Bristol City-bound Brett Pitman. Rovers’ most recent result was defeat to Swansea City on Tuesday night, ending their interest in this year’s League Cup.
That Tranmere are still competing at this level this season owes largely to the work of Les Parry; physio-cum-manager who guided the team to safety following the calamitous reign of John Barnes and assistant Jason McAteer at the start of last season.
It’s a far cry from the all-conquering Cup giantkillers from the early noughties. Who will ever forget their “bouncebackability” in overcoming Premier League Southampton at Prenton Park in 2001? Three goals down they went on to famously win 4-3.
Those days are some way off for now but boss Parry has attempted to strengthen his squad in the close season. He fought to get Andy Robinson back at the club following a successful spell on loan from Leeds Utd at the end of last season, but high wages proved a stumbling block for the Merseysiders.
One signing that does look imminent though is that of Northern Ireland striker Sam Morrow. Currently at Coleraine (former club of a certain Mr Shipp), Morrow previously had spells at Ipswich Town and Hibernian. He is thought to be a replacement for Ian Thomas-Moore who seems likely to join his father at Rotherham before the transfer window closes.
Fingers crossed Thomas-Moore gets a move on as Tranmere minus last season’s top goalscorer will certainly be a less potent threat!
Similar to the Thomas-Moore saga, the Daggers have a mini soap opera going on themselves right now. The main protagonist is Paul Benson who looks all but certain to be on his way to Charlton Athletic. The timing is of course not ideal but given Benno’s loyalty and incredible service to the club over the past five years, many fans will surely not begrudge him his big move.
Yet it leaves the forward line in disarray. With Tomlin an injury doubt and allegations surrounding Scott’s personal life, other players will have to carry the can going forward. Scannell came on a substitute at Meadow Lane last Saturday and could offer an option in a more advanced role and we could see Jon Nurse deployed more centrally than we’ve become accustomed to.
With these concerns up top, a lot of emphasis must be placed on keeping things tight at the back. The sloppy errors that led to the two goals conceded at Hillsborough on the opening day will no doubt have been addressed. But for a Craig Westcarr goal last time out, which had a hint of offside to it, the Daggers would have notched up their first clean sheet of the season. So progress is certainly being made.
Saturday promises to be an emotional day all round at Victoria Road. It’s likely to be a tight affair between two sides yet to hit their stride. Needless to say, a scrappy 1-0 win will do very nicely.
We deserved to win and the draw felt like a loss.
My thoughts are that we were a little naive after being 2 up, we seemed to switch off a bit and should have used substitutes to freshen things up , tiredness was setting in ,especially down our left flank.
But putting those thoughts aside, we are in League 1 and it was a historic day playing Tranmere at home and every game will be another new learning curve. The club and the players have new hurdles to overcome and we will find out where our strengths lie.
When we were promoted from the Conference, I wasn’t concerned if we were immediately relegated but now as we have moved on, it would be a great disappointment to me if we were immediately relegated from League 1.
The fight is on again, made more difficult through the sale of Benno. (Can I just say that Benno is and will always be a Dagger, a Legend, he was more than just a goal scorer and was able to link play and use the channel to great effect?)
We will see how well we cope now that he has departed and feel we need a quality striker to replace him.
I’d like Walsh to become the new Benno but it will take time and I’ve not really seen enough of him to be certain that it is possible.
If there is any truth in the rumours connecting us with TK , for me it would not be a bad thing and feel that he could do the job required.
But again we must sit and wait and see what tomorrow bring us …. Leyton Orient on Sat. will be the next highlight of the season and hopefully this time 3 important points.
Up the Daggers !!