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| Daggers 2 Northwich Victoria 0 |
| Conference - 12/04/03 |
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Northwich must have realised they would be struggling for strikers after selling top scorer Blundell to Doncaster, and at 43 years of age, Jimmy Quinn took up his place in the front line. Player-manager Quinn in fact turned in a solid display when other around him wilted, and although he didn't come close to adding a trademark headed goal as he has done against the Daggers in the past, he still managed to ruffle a few feathers.
After disappointments at Morecambe and Stevenage, the Daggers came into this game after beating Leigh 3-1, with Steve West notching his first hat-trick of his Daggers career. There was still room for changes though, as the injured Janney made way for Heffer with Mustafa moving forward onto the wing. Mustafa resumed his excellent play after more average games of late, and was a constant threat with his crossing and dribbling.
In truth, the Daggers weren't exactly on the top of their game, but it was still enough to hand out a mauling to a Northwich side who haven't now kept a clean sheet for 40 first team games if you exclude County Cups. Indeed, it took a matter of minutes to beat a shaky offside trap when Goodwin came in on a freekick to chest down and volley straight at Parry when in acres of space. Missed chances was to prove symptomatic of the Daggers' play.
Northwich managed a header from a corner straight at Roberts, but this was to be a rare threat of the first half. The only other chance was a thunderous Quinn shot after a lay off from a free kick, which Roberts turned over the bar with a wonderful full-length stop.
Steve Heffer was given the ball a few yards outside the box and he didn't hit it early enough and it skimmed across the ground to Parry. Shipp had a similar chance but he took a touch rather than having a go first-time and the chance was gone. Mustafa tried the spectacular with a volley from outside the box but it was again straight at Parry.
It was a more simple shot that gave the Daggers the lead however. Northwich were struggling to get any good possession in the Daggers' half, and the pressure finally gave the crowd a goal to celebrate. After a penalty box scrap where it appeared there was a handball on the ground by a defender, Stein eventually found Shipp who blasted the ball under Parry and into the net via the inside of the near post.
Shipp, having scored number 98, could sense the 100 coming with a spectacular hat-trick, and seconds after the restart, he thundered a shot just past the post from about 25 yards. The Daggers' lead was soon made to look more safe as McGuire was sent off. After an initial late tackle into the grounded Goodwin that earnt him a yellow card, he again went in with a very poor tackle on McGrath and was given his marching orders. After this, the lead should really have been 'consolidated' to use Garry Hill's favourite term of the first season of our Conference return.
West came in on Mustafa's cross but headed over as he stretched for the ball with Goodwin coming in behind him. Tim Cole was also enjoying the game as he decided to engage in some wing-play of his own, skinning the full back with some clever trickery before his low cross was cut out by the keeper. West's free kick was then parried by Parry, who then turned away Stein's effort from the rebound as he tried to turn back across goal. Quinn tried to level it on halftime with a header but it was closer to the tea hut than the goal.
After the break, Shipp tried again to leave himself one short of the ton, but he dragged his shot wide of the goal. This was to be a rare foray a while though, as Northwich forced about 5 corners in the space of a couple of minutes and put some physical pressure on to the home back line without creating much in the way of chances.
Steve West headed over the bar, and then minutes later hit it, Stein's cross landing right on his foot a few yards out. The big striker somehow managed to leather it into the crossbar. The second half had become much more disjointed and there was a scare for the Daggers as Roberts made a rare spill from Quinn's shot, but McNiven was given offside after netting the rebound.
Shipp's hopes of a hat-trick ended as Danny Hill was introduced, but he nearly added to the lead when he curled just wide from the edge of the box with the outside of his right foot. Broom had two chances, one on each foot, which he refused to take and instead passed which ended the move on both occasions. West thought he had scored when his header looped down on the line only for Garvey to head it up against his own bar and then Mustafa's volleyed lob was superbly saved by Parry with a dive to his left.
Stein finally sealed it with a few minutes left. The Daggers this time finished the chance with a superb breakaway, ending when Mustafa played Stein in and he lashed the ball home across the keeper with his left foot. Soon after, the left foot was not so trustworthy as he rounded Parry and slammed his finish into the crossbar. There was time for a Roberts save before news came though of Hereford's loss and with it confirmation of the sealing of a Play-Off place with 3 games remaining.
