Lately, the Daggers have been on the slide. A painful, jarring slide which makes you wince as you gradually drop to your inevitable fate, powerless to stop the force of gravity. Rather like when you were a child and made the mistake of going to the playground in your shorts before crying in agony as your legs screeched against the metal surface.

Since last month’s narrow but poignant defeat at the hands of Hereford, the defence have finally succumbed to the burden of having to keep a clean sheet to stand a chance in any game. You sensed it had been coming, but the point was forcefully hammered home at Edgar Street.

Some of our defending since has been shambolic. The following week’s visit to the hell-on-earth which is the Don Valley Stadium saw the “home” side hit three first-half goals without really breaking sweat. Phil Walsh, who certainly gives his all but just isn’t cut out for life in the Football League, was found wanting and replaced at half-time but the damage was already done by then. It strikes me as strange that Walshy is seemingly our 3rd-choice centre back when we have a surplus (when fit) of midfield players, but that is a conversation for another day.

The Oxford match was more of a return to our normal pattern of creating chances and failing to convert. Nurse, Woodall and Williams were all guilty and Hall’s goal shortly before half-time was enough to give the visitors the spoils. It would be difficult to blame the defence on this occasion, but Morecambe’s long trip south a few days later saw another exhibition of how not to defend.

One long, diagonal ball was enough to cut out the entire back-line on two occasions, one of which ended with the ball in the back of our net. A quickfire second left us on the ropes but Lee made things interesting with an exquisite free kick into the top corner. Woodall provided a more pro-active attacking force from the bench as his header was cleared from the line, but the game was lost through our two defensive howlers.

And so it continued at Northampton. Early in the game Lewington made a superb double save and still no Dagger reacted as Davies gleefully fired the ball into the Daggers net. We were much improved after the break but couldn’t find a goal, Williams missing a sitter with his head from inside the 6-yard box, and Scannell firing a good chance wide. When roly-poly Akinfenwa headed home Northampton’s only chance of the half it added insult to injury, meaning Lee’s last-gasp shot straight through the cardboard keeper wasn’t enough to save a point.

A run of 5 straight league defeats with just 3 goals scored and 9 conceded was finally halted with a vital three points against Crewe. The Daggers started very well but neither Nurse nor Tomlin could convert their chances. The predictable goal came with 15 minutes left, Moore bundling home a rebound. But, for once, the Daggers clawed their way back. Tomlin, who had a fine game in a left-wing role, ran at the defence and crossed for Williams to poke the ball in. And deep into the injury time partly created by Crewe’s own time-wasting, Rose, erm, rose to head home McCrory’s corner and seal the comeback.

It seemed this form would be carried into the game at Cheltenham as a bright start from the Daggers saw Nurse head a good chance over and Tomlin denied by the bar after a lovely move between himself, Lee and Scannell. Williams’ season-ending injury against Crewe gave loan signing Troy Hewitt a chance to shine, and he almost marked the occasion with a goal. He done well to get on the end of Nurse’s excellent right-wing cross but could only spoon the ball up from 6 yards. Although the ball wasn’t finding its way into the net, the movement of Nurse and Hewitt as a pair was a welcome relief after weeks of watching a static front-line without the hunger to get into goalscoring positions.

After controlling the half so well against a good side, it was incredibly frustrating to fall behind. A harsh free-kick was lofted into the Daggers box, and Bennett was given the freedom to nod the ball just inside the post with the defence asleep. Thankfully we took some reward from the half as Scannell almost immediately drove at the defence and crossed for Nurse to turn the ball home.

The expected second-half impetus never came. An early goal from more slack defending set the tone, Pack’s pass squirming under Gain’s foot to Spencer who drilled past Lewington’s somewhat early dive. Gain had largely controlled the first period but was helpless after this as the Robins dominated proceedings. A midfield 4 of Scannell, Lee, Gain and Tomlin looked increasingly fragile with 3 attack-minded players, something which had been hinted at in periods against Morecambe and Oxford when the opposition enjoyed possession.

Pack bossed the second period in the absence of any physical challenge to his possession of the ball, and only Lewington’s superb goalkeeping kept the score down particularly when turning Spencer’s header away.

This recent run means Saturday’s visit of Plymouth takes on huge significance as the Daggers find themselves in a real fight to stay clear of the drop zone. It seems we are really struggling at the moment to put together a 90-minute performance despite patches of good play. It is what happens in the 2 boxes that decides football matches, and we’re making mistakes in both at the moment. The defence need to regain the focus which led to our early-season clean sheets, whilst we are still to find the right blend in midfield and up front. I would recall Bingham to add some bite alongside Gain and keep Lee in reserve for any late salvage missions. Hopefully the return of Green and Elito will also offer us the chance to do something different in attack.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 14th, 2011 at 8:00 am 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.