Dagenham & Redbridge 2 Tonbridge Angels 2

Match 15/25/2358 - Tuesday, 19th August 2025 - National League South

Dagenham & Redbridge (2) 2 Wilson 10 Hemmings (pen) 16
Tonbridge Angels (1) 2 Warren 37 Allen 67
Attendance: 1,523
Admission: Pass
Mileage: 110/989

Tonbridge Angels produced a stunning comeback to secure a well-deserved point at Dagenham and Redbridge on a thrilling evening at Victoria Road.

Undeservedly two goals down after 16 minutes after a bright start, Craig Nelson’s team took the game to their illustrious opposition and a screamer from Matthew Warren and second half finish from Alfie Allen brought delight and appreciation to 178 travelling Angels supporters, who had given their team immense support throughout.

Craig Nelson reflected in his post-match interview: “We worked hard, we ran, we made a lot more forward runs to put them under pressure and we got our just rewards for it. We played really well in patches, particularly in the first half, in the latter part of that half we really grew and if we could have nicked another one, it would have made the second half really spicy.”

Craig made four changes to the starting XI well beaten at AFC Totton with Eddie Simon returning to partner Marcell Taylor-Crossdale up top; Allen and Warren were drafted into midfield with Nazir Bakrin added to the back line. Scott Wagstaff, Brandon Pierrick, Marcus Sablier and Jack Matton took places on the bench.

Tonbridge showed their attacking intent from the outset with Eddie Simon curling a low shot from the left side of the box into the welcoming arms of the Dagenham goalkeeper, Sam Howes.

The momentum was still with the Angels when they went a goal down on 10 minutes. A surging run down the right from Reggie Young took him to the bye-line from where he pulled the ball back for Donovan Wilson who had made space in the box to allow him a smart finish into the bottom corner.

The lead was doubled on 16 minutes, when a run into the box from Joe Haigh was stalled and as the ball ran loose, Ashley Hemming went down under a challenge from Bradley Williams leaving referee Morgan Conn to point to the spot. Hemmings despatched his penalty to leave the Angels with an uphill task.

There was an almost immediate response as Brody Peart cut in from the right to curl a shot that struck the far post, but, for a 10 minute period, the visitors were hanging on to the game by a thread, mainly due to fine goalkeeping from Jacob Adams who saved from Haigh and turned over an effort from Paul Kalambiyi with an acrobatic save.

Another Peart cross, who was enjoying himself down the right brought a deflection from a defender under pressure from Taylor-Crossdale on 33 minutes before a magic moment from Warren cut the deficit to a single goal four minutes later. The ball was fed into midfield from Taylor-Crossdale into the path of Warren, who took aim from 25 yards with a shot that found the top corner.

The half-time break didn’t come at a great time for the Angels as they were ending the half with all the momentum forcing Howes into an added time save.

The second half began with Taylor-Crossdale again testing Howes, who made a very decent save.

On the hour, Adams needed to be alert to save from Kalambiyi before, on 67 minutes time almost appeared to stand still for an agonising moment. Jordan Higgs fired a shot towards goal that took a deflection off Simon, who challenged for the ball with the goalkeeper and a defender as as the ball broke loose Allen was on hand to loft his shot over Howes, whose hand slowed the ball but wasn’t enough to stop its path into the unguarded net.

Dagenham needed a response with their own supporters becoming frustrated and Adams saved well after79 minutes, but the home side’s efforts were mainly desperate going either wide or high and the final act saw a chance for substitute Wagstaff that drifted wide.

A memorable evening in the east end of London was brought to an end to rapturous appreciation from the Angels faithful, who had been truly magnificent.

Dagenham & Redbridge 1 Gillingham 2

Match 13/12/966 - Saturday, 25 August 2012 - League Two

Dagenham & Redbridge (1) 1 Gayle 34 (pen)
Gillingham (1) 2 Burton 30, Weston 62
Att. 2,251

Entrance: £19
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 92/528

Match Report

Gillingham maintained their 100% record this season and along the way Martin Allen is laying a few ghosts. Tuesday’s win at Wycombe, a perpetual bogey ground, went some way to eradicating the memory of their 2010 relegation after one of the most spineless displays ever seen by a Gillingham team and today, at Dagenham’s Victoria Road (old name, but even that’s more catchy than its present-day title), horrendous displays in the last two visits were despatched to the archives.

This win was another, like last Saturday’s that I would put in the patchy category, and that actually gives me a great deal of encouragement, giving belief that there is an awful lot more to come from this squad. And a squad game it is proving to be under Martin Allen. Win last Saturday equalled five changes on Tuesday; win on Tuesday accounted for another five changes today including a surprise benching for Danny Kedwell.

Trips to Dagenham always seem to come with a weather warning; we froze on the then terraces on Boxing Day 2008 and last year it was a very wet night, albeit under the cover of the new Traditional Builders’ Stand. Today was another wet one with lightning arcing its way across the leaden skies and torrential downpours at regular intervals.

Gillingham could easily have been ahead within 10 seconds of the start when a quick throw caught the Daggers defence cold, but Chris Lewington was alert enough to thwart Deon Burton. For 20 minutes Gillingham looked capable of running riot, opening up the home defence almost at will, but without reward. Chances came and went for Myles Weston who struck one into the side netting and rounded Lewington before standing up a cross that ended with Chris Whelpdale’s shot being blocked with penalty appeals being turned away.

A little of the momentum went out of the visitor’s play and it was during the hosts best period of the first half that Gillingham took the lead. Having survived a real scare following Billy Bingham’s free kick which Stuart Nelson did well to parry (or, at least, the ball hit him), a swift counter attack ended with Matt Fish placing a pinpoint cross for Burton to head home from the edge of the six yard box.

The lead was not to last long. A superb through ball from ex-Gill, Luke Howell allowed Dwight Gayle a run into the box which was ended when Nelson brought him down. The keeper was shown a yellow card and then sent the wrong way as Gayle despatched the spot kick.

Gillingham started the second half in the same manner they had the first and immediately chances fell once more to Weston, one into the side netting and a second over the bar. On the hour, Martin Allen made his first changes, Kedwell on for Burton and Jack Payne replacing Whelpdale with an immediate dividend, albeit with neither substitute involved. Fish played a long ball over the top to the galloping Weston who advanced into the box and drove a fierce shot through Lewington’s legs to the delight of the best part of a thousand Gillingham supporters behind the goal.

Gillingham created a couple of further chances before Dagenham mounted a grand finale that left the visiting fans biting fingernails, but Stuart Nelson was equal to the task with a couple of parrying saves and the home forwards aiding the cause with some wayward finishing.

So, even in these embryonic days of the league table, it is satisfying to see Gillingham sitting equal points at the top of the table, but kept in second place by a single goal disadvantage to Oxford United. As football banter goes its early doors and as a result of Gillingham’s away form of previous years, there are plenty of ghosts to exorcise in the coming months.

Dagenham and Redbridge 2 Gillingham 1

Match 37/11/924 - Friday, 30 December 2011 - League Two

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”.

Dagenham 2 Gillingham 0

Match 34/08/718 - Friday, 26th December 2008 - League Two

Dagenham and Redbridge (1) 2 Strevens 1 Benson 50
Gillingham (0) 0
Att. 2,844

Entrance: £16
Programme: £2.50
Mileage: 88/3,840

Match Report

Over 1,100 Gillingham fans gave up the comfort of their armchairs in their centrally heated sitting rooms to brave a six mile crawl to the Dartford Tunnel, freezing temperatures and poor viewing conditions only to be rewarded with a display as inept as those suffered in the larger defeats at Shrewsbury and Exeter.

Take your choice of adjective, woeful, wretched, appalling or just plain lousy, because they all perfectly describe Gillingham’s performance at Victoria Road this afternoon.

Things could not have started worse, a goal conceded in just 20 seconds and it failed to improve from that low point. I’m going to struggle to describe the goal such was the poor vantage point that I had, but firstly how do you manage to concede so quickly given that you have the ball from the kick off? Having lost it, the ball was pumped forward, Garry Richards and Alan Julian dithered and Ben Strevens got in between them to roll the ball in, off a post. Strevens and his partner Paul Benson have scored plenty this season, but this was pure charity.

Gillingham went on to have an equal share of possession in the first half. This is not a compliment, Dagenham were awful and for Gillingham to fashion just one shot on goal, a weak effort from Albert Jarrett is a testament to the pathetic 45 minutes put in by the visitors. They did have the ball in the net from a Adam Miller header, but the flag had long since been shown by the linesman. It had been a half when as a spectator you were aware that it was getting colder and colder because there was nothing happening on the pitch to divert your attention.

Surely the second half could not be any worse. Wrong. Five minutes into the half and Benson added a second. He picked the ball up deep into Gillingham’s half on he right hand side, unchallenged he shot across the face of Julian’s goal into the bottom right corner. Once again the angle of my view wasn’t great, but it certainly looked that the keeper could have done a whole lot better. Julian’s inclusion had been a surprise, Simon Royce was on the bench, so it didn’t appear to be an enforced selection.

After 52 minutes another of Stimson contentious selections was finally substituted. Albert Jarrett produced another performance of stunning nothingness. Misplaced passes, the odd run into the inevitable cul-de-sac and the lack of understanding of the winger’s role in supporting his full back, turns his selection into a team playing with ten men from the first whistle.

Dagenham now had the game in their control, sadly for the home support they were far from good enough to inflict on their visitors a far bigger humiliation. Benson wasted a better chance than the one from which he scored and Nicky Southall forced Tony Roberts into his only meaningful save of the game, comfortably catching an on target free kick.

A train of thought is that Gillingham’s minds are elsewhere with the upcoming FA Cup tie, could it be that no bookings show a lack of application that could be said to have been apparent. League leaders Wycombe are the last opponents of this Christmas period and if the one point gained against Brentford is to be our sum total, then the Villa game might be seen as a costly distraction.

The mouthful that is the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Stadium is typical of football grounds of clubs recently promoted from non-league. I last visited this stadium forty years ago on an equally cold, in fact snowbound, first round FA Cup day. Since then they have added a functional grandstand in that prefabricated style seen all too often. We were housed in the terracing behind the goal that had not enough height to make viewing pleasurable. Opposite the new stand is a length of covered terracing that has survived from that 1968 visit.

Back home the left over turkey was accompanied with a dollop of piccallili, how ironic that our turkeys also left a sour taste.