Daggers drawn for new rivals

REUBEN HAZELL . . . “very big games coming up”.

DAGENHAM and Redbridge and Athletic will make history when the two sides square up to each other for the first time ever this weekend.

John Still's promoted side — who only joined the Football League ranks in 2007 — are battling away in the lower reaches of npower League One, bidding to prove wrong the critics who predicted they would find this level of football too hot to handle.

A 3-1 win at struggling Yeovil Town did their cause plenty of good last week.

One of those goals came from Medy Eliot on his debut, the midfielder having signed for the Victoria Road outfit earlier in the week on loan from Colchester United.

However, Eliot was ineligible as the Daggers lost their midweek FA Cup first-round replay at Leyton Orient 3-2 on Tuesday night.

A slow start saw Dagenham go 2-0 down at Brisbane Road, with strike duo Scott McGleish and Alex Revell putting Orient in front and in control at half-time.

A pair of goals in two second-half minutes from Danny Green and Solomon Taiwo brought Dagenham level again in the tie.

But McGleish added his second 14 minutes from full time to leave Daggers assistant manager Terry Harris concentrating on the better aspects of his team's performance.

"This season is a major learning curve for the players at this club, but what we have to do is to go back and look at the DVD of the first half, reflect and learn from that," said Harris.

"We can take a lot of positives from the second half and hopefully take those plus points into our game with Oldham on Saturday."

Veteran goalkeeper Tony Roberts returned on the bench in the Orient match and may come back into the starting line-up at Victoria Road on Saturday.

The 41-year-old, who has two full Wales caps to his name, is one of the great characters of the lower-league scene and has made over 400 appearances for the club.

Darren Currie is another familiar name in the Daggers squad. The creative former Barnet and Ipswich midfielder (35) joined the club on a free transfer from Chesterfield at the start of the year.

Bustling centre-forward Bas Savage, formerly of Brighton and Tranmere, has also had his fair share of clubs and will lead the line, while at the other end of the field Mark Arber — who had a 14-game spell at Boundary Park in between stints at Peterborough — will bid to keep the Athletic strike force quiet.

Athletic captain Reuben Hazell will do likewise in the visiting defence as he bids to guide his men to a third successive league win.

The centre-back hopes his team-mates have learned the lessons from the recent FA Cup defeat at Accrington, particularly with a run of matches coming up that have been pinpointed as being fairly attractive from a points perspective.

"We have got to learn that every game is important," said Hazell.

"We have drawn a few games at home against so-called lesser sides, where we thought we would get three points.

"And turning those into wins is the difference between being eighth in the table or second.

"These games count. We have three very big games coming up now (Exeter at home and Rochdale away follow) and will prepare in the right way.”

Hazell also had praise for fellow centre-back Jean-Yves Mvoto, who has recovered from a shaky start to his loan career at Boundary Park to put in a series of big performances.

"He has been on loan before this at Southend, but he is really getting used to the English style of football now.

"He is a giant who wins his headers and is a very good defender.

"We are forming a nice partnership and we are aiming for a few more clean sheets."