Nuneaton Chris MacKenzie Andy Thackeray Michael Love Terry Angus Lee Howey Richard Lavery John Turner Jason Peake Warren Peyton Lee Charles Jason Harris Substitutes Dunkley Steve Hodgson Simon Weaver Richard Burgess Adam Cooper

Goals Turner   Harris   Stats 6 Goal Attempts 7 3 On Target 3 3 Off Target 3 0 Hit Woodwork 1 2 Corners 5 Cards Yellow Dunkley Hooper Lavery West Red None Stein

Dag & Red Paul Gothard Lee Goodwin Steve West Mark Smith Dean Hooper Mark Janney Steve Heffer Paul Terry Mark Stein Ken Charlery Matt Jones Substitutes Jason Broom Danny Shipp Junior McDougald Danny Hill Neville Southall

The Daggers put another dent in their own title aspirations with another inept performance in which they failed to get going at all. The Daggers created two goals - unfortunately, they created them for the opposing team in a display of kamikaze defending. At no point did an away win look likely as the away side were slow and laboured throughout with only the odd scattering of class on a day where neither side offered much in the way of build up, both favouring the long punt down the middle. Much of the early season enthusiasm seems to have been lost as the season has progressed and again too many players were not battling as hard as they had done in the past.

The game showed no signs of life at all in the opening minutes as both sides scratched around and both seemed to want as little possession as they could get, such was their eagerness to give the ball away with pointless hoofs. Turner, on his home debut, seemed to want to change the pattern of the game though as he dribbled through and shot powerfully, but Gothard did well to get strong hands on it and push it away.

However, this did not really spark the game as was hoped and the only real football on show was on the rare occasion Stein ws given a half decent pass and allowed to control and find a teammate. Not that there was much point to this, as whoever he passed to invariably gave it away. However, the game was still under control and the Daggers were looking reasonably solid, apart from the odd time where West left Smith to win the headers and then refused to pick up the loose balls.

However, the game was to take a rather different slant as the Daggers gifted their hosts an Easter present, and it was Gothard and Smith who very much looked like the Easter Eggs. A long punt down the middle by the home side, something which was to become a rather regular occurance, seemed to be bouncing through to Gothard as Smith tracked it back under pressure. Gothard did not give the call though, and Smith took appropriate action of safety first, and hooked the ball clear. However, with Gothard having come to the edge of his box to collect the ball, and the clearance falling straight to a home player with no Dagger looking interested in making a challenge on the ball, Turner simply lifted the ball over the two and into the empty net.

The Daggers didn't really pose a threat, although prior to the home goal Jones had lifted an 18 yard shot over the bar from a right wing cross. Charlery had a good chance to get the Daggers level though, when he was put through on goal. The keeper was quick off his line to try and reach the ball first, and it seemed like a 50/50 challenge was in the offing, and you would have backed Ken, with all his size, to win it. However, for some reason that nobody in the ground could work out, Ken decided that the best course of action would be to leave the ball for the keeper to collect. This would not have been so bad, but for the fact it was the only time in the first half where the Daggers got near MacKenzie's penalty box, let alone goal. West had a free kick that went over the wall but it was right down the middle and the keeper could probably have chested it down and passed it out had he really wanted to mock the effort.

At half time the players should have been ashamed of their performance. The management probably ranted and raved in the dressing rooms, and as the saying goes, some teacups may well have gone flying. But they must have heard it so many times in recent weeks, it could barely have registered. With Southall also adding his two pence worth, a better second half performance may have been expected. Anyone who was expecting it would have been severely mistaken though, as the Daggers degenerated even further apart from a late flurry when the game was already lost. It took less than 10 minutes for the Daggers to gift the home side a second goal, and if the first was an Easter gift, then this was an absolute surrender of the points.

Smith again tried to let the ball run back to Gothard and seemed to have it under control. Gothard seemed reluctant to come and get it though, and the sensible thing would have been to hook it out for a throw. But with neither of them talking to each other at all, Smith was dispossesed and the ball squared to Harris who just tapped the ball into the net. As the away side continued to bomb balls down the middle where Angus and his keeper dealt effectively, the panic buttons were pushed with the introduction of two strikers, Shipp and McDougald, for a midfielder and defender respectively. However, the home side probably did not want to rub salt into the wound and did not attempt any more attacks against the Daggers' depleted defence.

As has become all too common in recent weeks, the visitors waited until they were two down before mounting any sort of meaningful period of attack. Most of it was easily repelled as the midfield, bereft of ideas, failed to play any passes remotely resembling creative. However, Shipp did have a volleyed effort that went just wide across the goal, before Ken missed the golden chance to get his team back in it. He interchanged passes with Stein as they progressed up the field in the only real flowing move built by either side all day. Ken went for the shot from about 15 yards though, and horribly skewed it wide of the goal, and you could almost see the smirk on the keeper's face, safe in the knowledge he wasn't going to be beaten if he played all day and all night. If there was any more doubt in his mind, he became absolutely sure that his luck was in as he saved a Charlery header and saw his bar help to keep it out, and then watched as Goodwin hit a shot across him only for it to hit the post and go straight to Angus. And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, in possibly the worst game I have ever seen, Stein got himself a red card and three game ban for kicking out at an opponent.