Dagenham and Redbridge 3 Enfield Town 2
As broken records go, this one appears to be heading for the top of the charts.
Yet again, in all too familiar fashion, Enfield Town conceded a death blow with virtually the last kick of the game as we fell into the bottom four after a third straight defeat in all competitions.
The fact that even Daggers fans conceded we deserved at least a draw came as scant consolation as once again we threw away vital points and now have to pick ourselves up for Tuesday’s home encounter with Ebbsfleet.
Game-changing goalkeeping mistakes are invariably highlighted far more than those of outfield players and Rhys Forster, by most accounts, was at fault for the Daggers’ 96th minute winner.
Yet before that, Rhys more than played his part, preventing the hosts taking an 18th-minute lead with a spectacular save.
That said, Town had the better of the early exchanges with chances for both Sam Youngs and Nono Adom-Malaki before Sam opened the scoring on his 350th appearance for the club, one shy of equaling the record.
A long kick from Forster was headed into Nino’s path and after twisting and turning near the byline, his cross was clinically headed home by skipper Sam.
Billy Leonard and the suspended Mickey Parcell were still missing, the former on the bench, but Town came close to doubling the lead when another Nino cross found lemar Reynolds, only for the former Daggers man to see his shot come back off the post.
By then Dagenham’s Reggie Young had been stretchered off but Town were well worth their halftime lead with so much at stake.
H-T 0-1
After being second best, Dagenham, led up front by former Premier League striker Andy Carroll, immediately changed shape, upped their game and got their reward on 54 minutes when Scott Rendell waltzed his way past Avan Jones for Joe Haigh to sweep home.
Now the Daggers had their tails up and on 73 minutes, Ashley Hemmings breached the offside trap to finish past Forster and seemingly negate all our good work.
Yet Town were not finished and hit straight back as a Nino ball into the box was played square by Lemar for Hayden Bullas to fire in from 10 yards.
Leonard, off the bench, fired straight at the keeper while Haigh blasted over but there was little to suggest there would be a late winner for either side. Until…
Six minutes into stoppage time, a high ball created a melee in the Town area and as Forster came – not once, but twice – he proceeded to drop the ball, allowing Timothee Dieng to poke home, steal all three points and pile more anguish on to Town.
The stats show that without all these last-gasp defeats we would be in mid-table. In one sense, that augurs well. In another, we must stop shooting ourselves in both feet to avoid so many heartbreaking and damaging finishes.
Town:
Forster; Hawkins, Thompson, Benjamin; Adom-Malaki, Bullas, Gallimore, Knight, Jones; Youngs, Reynolds
AW/RI