Dagenham & Redbridge FA Cup preview

[Sweden Stag]

The first round of the classic FA Cup was littered by giant-killings big style. Just ask Northampton, Scunthorpe, Colchester and Port Vale to name but a few. All fallen victims to clubs outside the EFL, some of them even at home tasting their own medicine as Colchester were kayoed on spotkicks by the lowest-ranked side, namely Marine and Port Vale, dumped out by Conf National newcomers King’s Lynn. Some former FA Cup winners also fell by the wayside. To name but two: Wigan and Sunderland. The former were dumped out by Chorley, while Sunderland were felled by the Stags at their own Stadium of Light, which meant progress to the second round. And their opponents, Dagenham & Redbridge, belonged also to the first round giant-killers as Grimsby Town with Matt Green in their side were dumped out by the Daggers at their Victoria Road ground thanks to two late Daggers strikes.

This will be the first-ever FA Cup tie between the sides and the first game overall since February 2016 during a season which was to be the Daggers’ so far final one in the EFL after nine seasons there. And one reason for the demise of the Daggers was their poor home form, as they by the time of the last EFL meeting between the sides
were the ONLY club in the entire FL and PL yet to win a home fixture. Then, fifteen consecutive League Two home games yielded a paltry four points, all from draws, and scoring just ten goals at Victoria Road in the process.

Three of those came against the Stags on October 3, 2015. That game signalled the Stags’ greatest comeback that season, summing up the fortunes of both sides. The Stags were 3-1 down inside the first 32 minutes, then converted their first FL penalty for two years, finally scoring twice inside the last ten minutes to secure a 4-3 victory, their first away at Dagenham & Redbridge, and the first Stags goals was their first-ever at Daggers soil in the fourth attempt.

In the end, the Daggers were relegated along with York City with the points total ever reached by two sides dropping out of the EFL as both clubs managed a paltry 34 points apiece. And during their entire EFL stay, the Daggers called upon just two appointed bosses, Wayne Burnett and the experienced John Still. Fantastic and laudable in fact and proof of making the best out of very limited resources and low home gates comparable to those of Accrington and the side that followed the Daggers into the FL way back in 2007, Morecambe. Between the sacking of Burnett and the return of Still, ex-Stag (as a player) Warren Hackett together with Darren Currie were caretaker bosses at the Daggers, whose promotion to the League as Conference champions in 2007 was long overdue as the Daggers five years earlier had missed out due to inferior goal difference to Boston, relegated from the League in 2006-07. And in 2002-03, Dagenham & Redbridge were the first side to lose a playoffs final, thus after a Doncaster golden goal.

And the Daggers could thank two factors for staying up in 2008 after being close to be the first side ever to be relegated back to Conference aka BSP after one season. One factor was five straight League Two victories between February 12 and March 1, 2008. The other was overturning a 0-2 deficit at Darlington into a 3-2 win, coupled with our 0-1 defeat against Rotherham at Field Mill, all this happening within the space of ten second-half minutes, on April 26, 2008. Had the Daggers lost and we had drawn, the Stags had had their league survival in our own hands.

And the Stags’ final EFL game for five years was at Dagenham & Redbridge in May 2008. Enough printed on that fixture. But revenge was sweet on the Stags’ EFL return as the Stags’ first home victory back (after draws against Exeter and Portsmouth) was a convincing and clear-cut 3-0 home victory against the Daggers on August 31, 2013. Goals by Clucas, McGuire and Rhead completed the rout then.

The Daggers also belong to the teams promoted to the EFL which did win on their first-ever visit to Mansfield, did so in September 2007. Others are Barnet, Cheltenham, Rushden & Diamonds, Yeovil, Salford and most recently Harrogate Town while the old Halifax club, Doncaster, Grimsby, Bristol Rovers, Grimsby, Leyton Orient and most recently Barrow are and were EFL return clubs which have won at Mansfield on their respective current League Two return.

In their first EFL campaigns, the Daggers more than held their own on limited financial resources. The proof: being close to the playoffs in 2009, winning the League Two playoffs in 2010, thus earning the right to play League One in 2010-11 facing such sides as Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton, Southampton, Huddersfield and Brighton. But the Daggers' League One adventure lasted just one season, but they were much closer than expected to stay up. Just a few points more, and the Daggers might have played at least one more season at that level. But the Daggers were realistic on the survival task from game one. Credit to one man: John Still, who managed the Daggers from 2004 up to February 2013, when he was targeted by Luton Town. Well there, he steered the Hatters back into the FL after five seasons in the BSP, the same number of campaigns it took the Stags (and previously the old Halifax club, Doncaster and Exeter) to return to the FL. Still also managed the Daggers in their first few years of their very existence and returned for a third time in 2015-16 but were unable to stave off relegation.

Dagenham & Redbridge are one of the younger clubs in League Two. Some facts:

Dagenham & Redbridge were formed in 1992 through a merger between Redbridge Forest and Dagenham FC.
Before the merger, Redbridge had been promoted to the Conference in 1991-92. And Dagenham FC had also been a non-league top-tier outfit as well. In the 1980's, Dagenham FC were a non-league top echelon side for seven seasons up to the 1987-88 season, when they finished rock bottom being whipping-boys at the end of that term with twelve straight defeats and having had 104 goals put past them in 42 games. In Dagenham's first season in the non-league upper house way back in 1981-82, they finished fifth, and at that time, sides like Macclesfield, Kidderminster and Wycombe weren't even playing at that level.

Redbridge Forest themselves also were a merger product between famous non-league sides. One such, Walthamstow Avenue, did play against the Stags in the FA Cup after WW II, did so at Field Mill on November 25, 1950, in the first round of the FA Cup. In front of 11784, then player-manager Freddie Steele scored the only goal of the game. That season, the Stags went on to their then longest FA Cup run, reaching the fifth round after kayoeing two then Division Two (then second tier) sides, Swansea in the third round at home, and Sheffield United in a fourth round Field Mill replay. Two seasons later, in the 1952-53 campaign, in which the all-time Field Mill attendance record was set on January 10, 1953, in a third round tie against Nottingham Forest, Walthamstow managed a famous fourth round 1-1 draw at Manchester United! Only to lose the replay to a respectable 5-2 scoreline.

The other were Leytonstone/Ilford, merger between Leytonstone (did reach the FA first round in 1965-66, losing 0-1 at home to Hereford) and Ilford. Leytonstone did also reach the first round in 1967-68 as well as in our record-breaking 1968-69 campaign, both times being drawn at home to Walsall and losing twice 0-1. Even in the season in which the Field Mill attendance record was set, 1952-53, Leytonstone reached the first round, only to lose 2-0 at home to Watford. In 1973-74, Leytonstone reached the first round for the last time in 1973-74, losing 3-0 at Hendon, who later in the third round managed a 1-1 draw at Newcastle, only to lose the replay 4-0 at Watford in front of over 15.000. Just after WW II, Leytonstone managed at least the first round in six seasons out of seven.

And in three consecutive seasons during the 21st century, the Daggers did reach at least the FA Cup third round. In 2000-01, Dag & Red were very close to beat then Premiership side Charlton away! Only a late goal saved Charlton's blushes, and in the replay at Dagenham, the Valiants needed extra time to go through. In 2001-02, Ipswich were too strong for the Daggers in the third round in front of nearly 6000 at Victoria Road. But in 2002-03, Dagenham & Redbridge embarked on their to date best-ever cup run. Disposing of then Division Two side Plymouth at home in a replay, the Daggers travelled to Norwich in the fourth round and were only denied a replay through a Norwich goal in the final minute. Even in 2015-16, the Daggers reached the third round and were dumped out by Everton at Goodison Park to a respectable 2-0 scoreline.

Dagenham, in fact reached the FA Cup third round in 1984-85, when they lost away at then second tier side Carlisle, one of the teams which have managed to bounce back to the FL after a relegation.

On a few other occasions, Dagenham reached the first round. One such was in 1988-89, when they lost 4-0 at home to Sutton, the same Sutton side which kayoed Coventry 2-1 at home in the third round! Sutton also dumped Dagenham out in 1969-70, and Sutton then went on to reach the fourth round and play Leeds at home! The first time Dagenham reached the first round proper, was in 1967-68, when they managed to reach round two and a replay at home to Reading, lost only 1-0.

A link between the Stags and the current Daggers is Richard Pacquette, who in 2007-08 played for Havant & Waterlooville, the Blue Square South side that then more than held their own at Liverpool's Anfield Road in the FA Cup fourth round, Pacquette actually scoring first after just eight minutes. In that same round, the Stags lost 2-0 at home to Middlesbrough. He actually managed to start the 2003-04 campaign at QPR, in that playing against Dagenham & Redbridge in a cup fixture before being loaned out to the Daggers, where he played three games before his Stags spell of five games, scoring once, at York on Valentine’s Day 2004

Another link is Paul Mayo. He started a dozen Stags games in their first-ever season outside the FL, and in 2002-03, he played a few games for the Daggers on loan from Lincoln, where he had two spells as a player. There, he played against the Stags at Field Mill on December 13, 2003, along with Alan Marriott and Ben Futcher.

Played for both sides: Daniel Carr, Jonathan Fortune, Exodus Geohaghon, Ashley Hemmings, Paul Mayo, Richard Pacquette, Steve Prindiville, Ian Stringfellow, Soloman Taiwo, Lee Wilson, Clive Day (as Dagenham, 1985).

Of the above-mentioned players, Exodus Geohaghon played two games for the Daggers before entering his first out of two Stags spells, while Soloman Taiwo, who appeared just once for the Stags, played against the Stags in May 2008, yet played 18 times during the Daggers’ solitary season in League One a decade ago. Daniel Carr played in Sweden for Karlstad BK three years ago and is currently playing in Finland. While Ashley Hemmings played against the Stags in October 2015. And his next EFL club was to be the Stags in 2016-17, but he failed to score in League fixtures for the Stags, but did so in the FA Cup.

Will the Stags bounce back after the poor display against Harrogate last Tuesday night? Come on Mansfield!

[Curry 9 Brace 7]

Could do with a good 3-0 win. None of this just scraping through. I live in hope.

[chip63]

24,500 at the forest game, made £2,800 in ticket sales, just over 10p a ticket.
How times change.

Really good read, thanks.