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| Nuneaton Borough 1 Daggers 3 |
| Conference - 15/02/03 |
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The Daggers finally got back on the road in the Conference, in what was the first away game since Boxing Day at Barnet in the league. And it was the place that has held nightmares on the two previous visits, both 2-0 defeats that the Daggers were keen to avenge this time around. Nuneaton we're struggling with injury and had to call in Clint Davies from Birmingham in goal who looked a little nervous, and also Eliot Paschalis who had been on work experience from Walsall. Angus also returned from injury for them.
The Daggers made no changes to the winning team at Telford in midweek, although Westy made a welcome return on the bench. This meant a rather dodgy formation which seemed a little lop sided with Vickers and McGrath on the left but at times only Mustafa on the whole of the right side as Junior attempted to drift infield to a more natural position.
The visitors made most of the early impression and should really have secured a bigger lead by the time Nuneaton scored. Steiny in particular looked again out of sorts as he attempted to get back into the goals and missed some good openings. New boy Watts was in and out but showed some very good touches at times to set the Daggers into attack. Stein had the best early chances when he fired over twice, one missing by inches with a right foot curler.
McGrath also fired a half-volley over the bar from about 20 yards and Stein put one wide of the far post as he shot across goal. However, the opener came through Watts on 20 minutes. A corner from McGrath landed at the back post and Watts found a gap in the human wall on the line to score. The Daggers continued to press.
However, the home side were close to equalising when Quayle shot at Roberts when well placed. The visiting attacks were becoming a little less frequent as Nuneaton got back into it through Paschalis. Quayle was put away and Roberts made a good save, but the defence still failed to react and Paschalis buried the rebound.
The rest of the half petered out a little on the abysmal pitch where both sides found it hard to string anything coherant together, the passing game almost impossible although the Daggers had a go.
The second half saw the Daggers struggle to score as they again pushed on. Shipp was through on goal almost immediately but didn't even hit the target from eight yards, the ball rolling wide of the post. Junior pulled one back for Shipp who shot against keeper Davies, and Watts rounded the keeper and tried to thunder the ball across the line but it evaded everyone. In this period the Daggers had about 4 handball penalty claims all turned away, two of which looking likely, the other two more in frustration than belief. The Daggers then moved Junior into a central role as Stein made way and with it, the visitors started to dominate.
Junior tried to catch Davied out at his near post with a low shot but after advancing for the cross, he managed to stop the ball. However, with five left the Daggers managed to score. The ball was cleared as far as Shipp on the edge of the box after a corner, and he lashed the ball on the half-volley past everyone and into the net. With the home end emptying and the Daggers happy to play out time, they were gifted a last chance as Junior went through after fortuitously beating a defender and he lashed it home left footed to seal the win.
Steve Watts 
John McGrath 
Danny Hill 
Steve West