Enfield Town 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 0

Report by Ken Brazier

There was plenty of endeavour, but precious little quality, in this match with an outcome which leaves the Towners five points from safety with leaders Dorking Wanderers due to visit the DBS on Tuesday.

Prior to kick-off the was a minute’s applause among the 1,076 present for long-time supporter and disability liaison officer Martin Convery, who sadly passed away recently.

Lamar Reynolds had a couple of early chances for the hosts; visiting keeper Sam Howes kept out a low drive and then a subsequent effort was deflected behind after he had been played through by Bayley Brown.  Brown then limped off with a leg injury on 23 minutes and was replaced by Yacou Traore.

A lofted attempt from Will Sweet from distance was the first Daggers shot of note, with both teams probing tentatively in a half of very few chances.  Kayden Harrack had another long-range effort for the visitors around the half hour mark and they had a half-shout for a penalty soon afterwards but, in truth, the opening 45 minutes were devoid of anything clear-cut in either box.

Half time: Enfield Town 0 Dagenham & Redbridge 0

The tempo didn’t change too much after the break, although Henry Hawkins did head off the line for Town after Joe Wright had punched away a Dagenham corner which had been played back into the danger area by Paul Kalambayi. A triple substitution for the visitors on the hour had little effect, with both sides remaining relatively shot-shy. Sam Youngs couldn’t generate enough power from Billy Leonard’s cross to trouble Howes while at the other end Wright saved comfortably from substitute Stan Leech.

In the 64th minute Reynolds looked to have been
impeded in the box after picking the ball up from Corie Andrews, but referee Steven Hughes saw it differently. Further substitutions during the final twenty minutes failed to inject sufficient impetus to produce a win for either side. In the closing stages Mickey Parcell shot wide for Enfield while Christian N’Guessan was off target for the Daggers. 

In truth, neither side did enough in the final third to break the deadlock, which Gavin Macpherson acknowledged afterwards. “I cannot fault the lads for their effort and work rate” he said, “but we see some quality in training that we are not transferring onto the pitch.  We need to get more shots off, but we have belief and will have a go on Tuesday”.

Enfield Town: Wright; Benjamin, Appiah, Hawkins; Leonard, Brown (Traore 24), Parcell, Youngs, Adom-Malaki; Andrews (Ackason 73), Reynolds (Knight 81).

Unused subs: Connolly, Lambert, Donaldson.

KB