Yes folks, we managed to lose by less than 7 in the second leg of the playoff semi-final, meaning we are GOING TO WEMBLEY!

The game was far more open than any Daggers fan of a nervous disposition (for example, me) would’ve been happy with, and it wouldn’t have been an unfair reflection had the scoreline been 4-4. Both sides hit the woodwork, and both keepers had to be on their game to make quality stops as the play shuttled from end to end. Benson had a perfectly good goal disallowed for a phantom offside, but did net a header in between goals from Duffy and Artell as Morecambe fittingly won their final match 2-1 at Christie Park.

The affinity between the two clubs means nobody will begruge them that. The final whistle signalled a pitch invasion from the home crowd, who were soon joined by the visitors in a real party atmosphere. In contrast to more high-profile pitch invasions of recent weeks, the only violence that was on show here was over-zealous hand-shaking and back-slapping as Shrimps fans wished us well in our quest to reach the dizzy heights of League One. The only downside was conceding a goal to the labouring Artell who trundles around the pitch at a pace not seen since the days of Ken Charlery.

So this Sunday the Daggers will play Rotherham, a side we have never beaten in 6 attempts, for the right to play the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton and Southampton. We can only hope it is more successful than our last visit to Wembley in the 1997 FA Trophy final, which saw us cruelly denied by an extra-time winner after playing a large part of the game with 10 men. But never fear! On this occasion we have the all new special yellow kit to help us, with a rather snazzy blue arm and sidepanel, which of course is available to buy from the club.

It promises to be a wonderful day, and the atmosphere should be incredible with already over 12,000 sales in the Dagenham section. All we can do now is hope the lads play with the conviction which saw us get this far in the first place, and make sure we all do our part in cheering them on until the final whistle. COME ON YOU DAGGERS!

Anybody who has any interest in the club whatsoever, I urge you to buy your tickets here.

A few photos from the 2nd leg:

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Reaction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.