Dagenham & Redbridge (1) 2 Bingham 22, Woodall 64
Gillingham (1) 1 Kedwell 6
Att. 3,120
Entrance: £19
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 92/2,998
Match Report
It is Pantomime season and in the space of three days the players of Gillingham Football Club have gone from the Principal Boys to the Ugly Sisters.On a wet night, Chris Lewington, in the Daggers goal, played the part of Fairy Godmother after just six minutes, losing control of a slippery ball, allowing Danny Kedwell to drive the ball home after the keeper lost the ball a second time at the feet of Chris Whelpdale.
Whelpdale, slippery balls, no don’t go there!
Then after 15 minutes of one-sided action, in which the visitors scored, hit a post direct from a Danny Jackman corner and Lewington redeeming himself with a decent save from Kedwell and tipping over a Garry Richards header, just like the genie in Aladdin, Gillingham disappeared in a puff of smoke, barely to be seen again.
At this point I should confess to a foot in mouth moment, never to be repeated should I heed the lesson. Such was Gillingham’s domination of the opening period, I uttered the words “if we continue like this, it will be done and dusted by half-time”. Fateful words as no sooner said than Dagenham found an equaliser with their first real attempt on goal. Billy Bingham latched onto a loose ball on the left hand side of the box and sweetly half-volleyed past Ross Flitney.
Gillingham ended the half having huffed and puffed their way to a couple more half chances, including a goal line clearance from a Kedwell header, but the purple patch of the opening 15 minutes had disappeared almost without trace.
The home side were in the ascendancy when Brian Woodall gave them a 64th minute lead. A neat move opened up the chance for the Daggers man to curl a shot beyond Flitney into the far corner in front of the massed ranks of dismayed Gillingham fans.
Searching for an equaliser, Hessenthaler made strange substitutions, withdrawing Joe Martin for Lewis Montrose and, unless an injury demanded, bizarrely replacing Kedwell with Dennis Oli. But it was to no avail; Gillingham never looked like retrieving the deficit and 1,302 disappointed fans returned over the Bridge scratching their heads as to why a performance like that followed the highs of Crawley.
Since our last visit, on a freezing Boxing Day in 2008, Dagenham have replaced the open terrace on which we stood with a smart new stand. The Traditional Builders’ Stand is easily the best in the stadium, so it is strange that they give it over to visiting supporters. Seeing the couple of hundred home fans behind the opposite goal, on an open terrace, in the rain, is a bit like giving up your comfy armchair to a total stranger!
So into 2012, perhaps a New Year’s wish is that when we reflect on the Pantomime season in May we might be able to answer the question as to where the other 23 sides are positioned in the Division with the cry, “They’re behind you”.
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