 |
|
| Daggers 1 Burton Albion 2 |
| Conference - 14/09/02 |
| Back to Fixtures/Results 02/03 |
| Back to Index |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mark Janney was welcomed back into the team for his first start of the season after injury. Paul Bruce also returned, but Tim Cole and Lee Matthews remained out of the squad despite rumours they would play. Steve Potts made a solid if unspectacular debut.
The first half was perhaps the best 45 minutes of football played by the Daggers this season, and they deserved to be over the hills and far away at half-time. As it was, they struggled to put the ball in the net and suffered a 25 minute onslaught in the second half which turned the game on its head. Within four minutes the Daggers had the first chance, a penalty after Blount's hand-ball in the box. Stein stepped up and duly sent the keeper the wrong way, but hit the post and out it came. Stein did get off the mark though when he headed in after Duke had save Jūniņr's header at the back post.
It seemed the Daggers would now move away as they knocked the ball around very well and created several chances. Duke made a superb save from Stein's volley which seemed destined for the top corner from well outside the box. Danny Hill almost chipped the towering Duke but saw it drop just over the bar, and also had another shot saved. Stein, who was very lively, had another one-on-one which Duke got to just as he did and it was scrambled away. The largely ineffective Paul Bruce curled a free-kick just over the bar, and Terry missed the easiest chance of all after a cutting move found him a couple of yards out and he hit the ball wide.
At the other end, Clough was threatening to create as he found space behind the midfield, but was unable to get his passes right as he had one of only a couple of shots on target which Roberts saved. The other was from Talbot and Roberts parried it and Johnson cleared. It seemed all very controlled for the Daggers and only a matter of time before the goals flowed and a big win looked on the cards. Everybody was playing well.
Second half, Burton had other ideas. Obviously fired up, they came out of the blocks and put the Daggers under a 25 minute period of relentless attack in which they scored twice. Despite possession, they had no shots at all until Clough equalised. A good move ended when Clough got the ball in the six yard box and finished well whilst the defence appealed for offside. Burton were now really into their stride and Glasser hit a shot against the Daggers' post when the fans were already cheering the goal. The winner came soon after with a freak goal. Webster, who had come off the bench, curled a corner kick into the corner of the goal to put the Brewers 2-1 up.
The Daggers rallied after this and bombarded the Burton box with West and Shipp joining Stein and Jūniņr. West won man aerial balls which always seemed to ball to a defender in the packed box. Danny Hill was nearly through when he tackled the defender, but the referee inexplicably gave a free-kick against the Daggers midfielder. He also went through again and almost set up Janney but the ball was deflected for a corner. Mark Stein had a half-chance when he had a difficult left-foot volley from an angle that he put just over, and at the other end Christian Moore hit a shot at Roberts in a rare attack after their second goal. Towards the end Lee Goodwin was carried off on a stretcher with a suspected broken foot. The Daggers pressed more as Burton tried to waste time, and but for the bombardments very few shots came out of it and a goal didn't look likely as the referee blew time on a frustrating afternoon.
