rmoore

JANUARY

With the title all but gone and our cup shenanigans over, it was time for us to regain some form and keep up our pre Christmas momentum. With five more games in January this would be a critical month, so it was just as well we got back to winning ways with a decent 3-1 result at Rochdale. Back to full fitness after a niggling groin injury, Richard Naylor was the catalyst, scoring two and involved in the third, a rare strike from Mark Janney. We lost momentum almost immediately, though, with a 2-1 defeat at Reading, although Oleg Salenkoreminded us of his existence with an exquisite free kick to equalise.

Bury were next up at Victoria Road, and we were in no mood to let an early 3-0 lead slip, volleys from lee Crooks & Juan Garaibracketing a trademark bullet from Salenko. although we almost let the lead slip in a sloppy second half, McDougald popped up again to seal the game. A second win in a week followed as we overturned Rushden 2-1 with goals from midfielders Toure & Keeble, and three days later a last gasp Salenko drive gave us three wins out of three away at promotion rivals Blackpool.

A better month then, still not quite firing but grinding out the results and reopening a bit of a gap in second. We can't relax yet but at least we're over the debacles of last month.

GAMES

Rochdale 1 (Piper 8) Daggers 3(Naylor 23, 28, Janney 52)

Byrne 8; Nicholson 7, Carslake 7, Marshall 7, Maley 7; Terry 7; Keeble 8, Janney 7; McLean 7, McDougald 7, Naylor 9. Subs Salenko 8 Dalglish 6, Pater 7.


Reading 2 (Potter 11, 45) Daggers 1 (Salenko 26)

Byrne 7; Nicholson 6, Carslake 7, Marshall 7, Maley 6; Garai 7; Keeble 6, Janney 6; Salenko 8, McDougald 6, Naylor 8. Subs Henderson 7 McLean 7, Pater 6.


Daggers 4 (Crooks 12, Salenko 15, Garai 26, McDougald 70) Bury 2 (Whitman 62, 73)

Byrne 5; Nicholson 7, Carslake 5, Marshall 8, Crooks 7; Garai 7; Keeble 7, Janney 7, Toure 7; McDougald 8, Salenko 9. Subs Dalglish 7, Pater 6, McMennamin 6.


Rushden & Diamonds 1 (Partridge 87) Daggers 2 (Toure 9, Keeble 65)

Rachubka 8; Eaton 6, Parry 8, Marshall 6, Maley 6; Garai 6; Keeble 8, Janney 7, Toure 7; McDougald 7, Salenko 8. Subs Vaughan 6, McLean 7, Carslake 6.


Blackpool 0 Daggers 1 (Salenko 90)

Rachubka 8; Nicholson 7, Crosby 6, Carslake 6, Little 7; Terry 7; Keeble 6, Henderson 7; McMennamin 7; McDougald 6, Salenko 8. Subs Mainwaring 7, McLean 7, Parry 7.

rmoore

5/2/04

For some reason a lot of contracts seem to have been up over the last couple of weeks. It would have been out f character for me to ignore this so there's been a bit of an influx of new blood over the last few days. It's not that we particuularly need it, but squad depth is always good & i haven't had to spend any money other than wages & signing on fees.

The new faces are;

Stefan Stam, DL, 20, dutch. Free from PSV Eindhoven
Cliff Byrne, DLC, 19, Irish. Free from Sunderland

Left backs are a precious commodity at any level, & these two have both come from top division clubs so must have had something going for them. Honestly i've not been that impressed in training with them, but they're both on fairly short term contracts so we wont lose a lot if they don't make it.

Stefan Hoppe, DMC, 27, German. Free from Leverkusen
Dirk Hempel, DMC, 30. German. Free from Wolfsburg
Olaf Fahrenholz, MRL, 30. German. Free From Bayern Munich

Adding a bit of teutonic steel to the midfield, these three Bundesliga rejects will either turn out superbly or be released again within months. i'm a bit concerned that for all their experience and upper division pedigree, noone else was remotely interested (and that they came to us on short, low paid contracts) but hopefully at least one of them will surprise me.

Emilio Cid, AMC, 19, Spanish. Free from Ceuta

This is the one i'm happy with. Emilio has real potential, he's small, nippy and a good finisher. He's probably the only one of the six with genuine long term potential but i think he could blossom into a genuine first teamer.


Of course, on a budget like ours, new arrivals need to be offset by departures to balance out the wages. Therefore five of our current players have left us this week as well.

Steve Vaughan (22, MC)has left on a free transfer to local(ish) rivals Southend United.
Tony Mitchell (21, DC) & Mark King (17, SC)have left the club to find new clubs in the lower leagues.
Tommy Douglas (20, SC)has joined Swansea for 1K
Club legend Mark Stein (39, SC)has left the club and intends to retire quite soon.

As you can see i've tried to reduce my surfeit of strikers somewhat. It's always sad to see youngsters leave (and doubly so with veterans like Steino) but hey - we're a progressive club with one eye on division 2.

Our first game of the month was at hoe to Hartlepool; and we can't seem to shake this habit of high scoring draws at the moment.
Stefan Stamscored a penalty on his debut, and Oleg Salenko continued his hot streak with two more excellent goals, but Hartlepool, inspired by Richard Langley in midfield, more than deserved a point.

Next up were Halifax away, a game in which we were rarely at the races. Richard Naylor grabbed an early opener, but from then on we offered little, the home side running in three disappointingly easy goals before Juan Garai grabbed a meaningless consolation.

Worse was to come as we entertained Mansfield, another weak home display leading to a 2-4 reverse, and leaving me with a defensive headache. Our back line aren't playing terribly as individuals but they dont seem to have a lot of coherency and we're shipping goals at an alarming rate. Toure & Salenko scored for us but we were always going to lose this one.

Better performance, same end product as we travelled to Cheltenham. Steve Cotterill's men are a good side but we had the measure of them in the first half. Oleg scored another beauty early on but we were unable to turn pressure into goals, and were punished when we conceded a couple of sloppy goals in the second half.

We managed to stop the rot (just) in our last game of the month, at home to Torquay. Once again we were far from our best, and had Chris Keeble sent off early on, but a David Hendersonfree kick six minutes from time saved us a point. Overall, though, it's been an awful month, and for the first itme this season we've fallen out of the automatic promotion places. On the plus side, Rotherham only have a point advantage over us, so it's hardly a lost cause, but we need to find some form quickly.

GAMES

Hartlepool United 3 (Henderson 8, Langley 34, Horsley 84) Daggers 3 (Stam 31, Salenko 47, 81)

Rachubka 8; Stam 7, Parry 7, Carslake 7, Little 7; Garai 6; Keeble 7, McMennamin 6, Henderson 8; McDougald 8, Salenko 8. Subs Janney 7, Pater 7, McLean 7.


Halifax Town 3 (Stoneman 10, Thirlwell 40, Davis 81) Daggers 2 (Naylor 6, Garai 90)

Rachubka 8; Stam 5, Parry 7, Carslake 6, Little 5; Garai 9; Keeble 6, Toure 7; McDougald 6, Salenko 6, Naylor 8. Subs Henderson 6, Marshall 6, McLean 7.


Daggers 2(Toure 43, Salenko 60) Mansfield Town 4 (Beardsley 5, 29, Porter 23, De Souza 66)

Rachubka 5; Keeble 6, Carslake 7, Little 7, Henderson 7; Marshall 7; Hempel 7, Toure 6; Cid 8; Salenko 7, Naylor 6. Subs Byrne 7, McDougald 7, Parry 6.


Cheltenham Town 2 ( T Naylor 57, Cawley 59) Daggers 1 (Salenko 10)

Byrne 7; Marshall 7, Carslake 7, Little 6, Henderson 7; Garai 8; Hempel 7, Toure 7; Cid 6; Salenko 8 Naylor 7. Subs McLean 7, McDougald 7, Parry 6.


Daggers 1 (Henderson 84) Torquay 1 (Graham 46)

Rachubka 8; Keeble 6 (SO 16), Carslake 6, Parry 6, Henderson 8; Marshall 8; Garai 7, Hoppe 8; Cid 7; McDougald 6, Naylor 7. Sub Salenko 7

rmoore

MARCH

With a much needed two week break before our next game at struggling Lincoln, i was able to sit down and take a look at the squad. We seemed a bit light on the left so i put in a bid to Hartlepool to take their young winger Mattie Robson on loan. I also took the decision to release Olaf Fahrenholz well before the end of his three month contract, as his attitude was all wrong and he was starting to upset people...to be honest, from what i'd seen in training, he was no loss on the pitch either.

The trip to Lincoln turned out to be a positive one; our first win in six games, and a comfortable one at that. David Henderson got us going with a neat chip from the edge of the area, before Oleg Salenko took over, drilling home from thirty yards then netting with a powerful header. We could have had more but breaking our winless streak was the main thing.

Next up was the crunch tie against Rotherham. They were still a point ahead of us so a win at Victoria Road would put us back into second. It was a good match, both sides threatened but ultimately we pulled off a narrow victory thanks to a close range effort from David Henderson, his third in as many games and just reward for a man of the match performance.

We couldn't quite repeat the trick away at Macclesfield, although had Matthew Carslake netted a late penalty things might have been different. As it was McLean & Salenko pulled us back from 2-0 down to get the draw, the first of Macclesfield's goals a beautiful volleyed own goal from Carslake (not one of our captain's finer days...)

Despite the positives of the last few games i was soon tearing my hair out with frustration as we turned in yet another shameful home display against Bournemouth. A first from the club for Emilio Cidand another belter from the still-hot David Henderson were positive signs, but we shipped four at home for the fourth time this season and eventually lost convincingly.

At the end of March we still sat second, albeit on goal difference. Kidderminster were already as good as promoted, but we should still be able to join them as long as we kept things going. With seven games left (one against Kiddy) we would probably be looking to win at least four or five in order to go up. Rotherham had a tougher run in so we could probably get away with less, though.

GAMES

Lincoln City 0 Daggers 3 (Henderson 15, Salenko 45, 66)

Rachubka 8; Marshall 8, Carslake 7, Parry 7, Henderson 8; Garai 6; Hoppe 7, Toure 7; Hempel 6; Naylor 6, Salenko 10. Subs McLean 6, McDougald 7, Cid 7.


Daggers 1 (Henderson 23) Rotherham 0

Rachubka 8; Keeble 7, Carslake 7, Parry 7, Henderson 9; Marshall 6; Garai 7, Hoppe 7; Toure 6; McLean 7, McDougald 7. Subs Salenko 7, Naylor 7, Cid 6.


Macclesfield 2 (Carslake OG3, Whitehead 27) Daggers 2 (McLean 22, Salenko 58)

Rachubka 8; Little 6, Carslake 6, Crosby 7, Henderson 8; Marshall 6; Keeble 6, Hoppe 6; Cid 7; McDougald 5, McLean 9. Subs Salenko 7, Naylor 6, Mainwaring 6.


Daggers 2 (Cid 11, Henderson 68) Bournemouth 4 (Barton 7, 37, O Connor 67, Murray 89)

Rachubka 5; Crosby 6, Parry 7, carslake 7, Henderson 9; Garai 7; Robson 6, Hoppe 6; Cid 8; McLean 6, Salenko 6. Subs McDougald 7, Terry 7, Naylor 6.

rmoore

APRIL

With the transfer deadline looming i made one last signing for the season, bringing in Cardiff and ex Liverpool winger Layton Maxwellon a two month loan.

With three games in ten days from the start of the month, it was critical we find some form quickly, especially as the crunch Kidderminster tie was the last of the three. We travelled to Darlington first, finally getting a bit of luck as we came away with a win courtesy of a last minute McDougald header despite being second best for much of the game. We then managed to repeat the scoreline at home to strugglers Cardiff, Salenko the scorer this time.

The day of the big game arrived with us in good spirits. Rotherham had started the month badly and we suddenly had a five point cushion. The champions elect could dent our promotion plans though, and could actually claim the title with a win at Aggborough against us. The match was a back and forth affair, with Oleg and Garai coming close for us, and star striker Peter Weatherston missing two good chances for the home side. I made three substitutions on the hour and it proved decisive when one of them, Aaron McLean, bundled home probably the most important goal of his career on 65 minutes. We held on for the three points, and although we had little chance of catching the leaders, we had one foot in the Second Division.


GAMES


Darlington 0 Daggers 1 (McDougald 90)

Byrne 7; Msrshall 6, Parry 7, Carslake 7, Henderson 6; Garai 8; Maxwell 7, Keeble 6; Cid 8; Salenko 8, Naylor 7. Subs McDougald 7, Terry 7, Mainwaring 6.


Daggers 1 (Salenko 64) Cardiff City 0

Byrne 8; Crosby 6, Carslake 7, Parry 7, Henderson 7; Garai 6; Maxwell 7, Hoppe 7; Cid 8; McDougald 7, Salenko 8. Subs Naylor 6, Toure 6, McLean 7.


Kidderminster Harriers 0 Daggers 1 (McLean 65)

Byrne 8; Little 6, Carslake 6, Parry 7, Marshall 6; Garai 7; Maxwell 9, Hoppe 7; Cid 6; McDougald 6, Salenko 6. Subs McLean 7, Toure 7.



Exciting and vital though the Kidderminster win was, it barely prepared us for what was to come next...

rmoore

SKY SPORTS 3, 19/4/04

Welcome everyone to today's vital Nationwide League division 3 game between promotion chasing Dagenham & Redbridge, and a side many were expecting to feature in the run in, Rushden & Diamonds. Our commentary team is Martin Tyler & chris Kamara, with special studio guest, former Dagger Warren Barton.

MT Welcome to todays crunch tie as the daggers attempt to secure promotion to the Second Division in their first ever season of League football. Warren, as a former Dagger...

WB Well actually Martin, i'm not. i played for Leytonstone ilford.

MT Yes, well, close enough. They became Dagenham & Redbridge, didn't they.

WB Well yes, but...

MT So, anyway, Chris, how do you think today's game will go?

CK To be honest Martin, it's a difficult one to call. The Daggers are tremendously unpredictable, and have a habit of conceding a lot of goals at home...but the Diamonds are in a rut, and have nothing left to play for this term. I'm going for a 3-2 win for the Reds.

MT Warren?

WB 2-1 to Dagenham, i think they'll want it more.

MT OK, the teams are on the pitch, let's get started.


7 minutes - MT Well, a cagey start her at Victori Road, but Salenko is looking to go through here...he's passed Bassinder into the area, and Taylor's hacked him down! Penalty, and Martin Taylor will walk for that, wont he Chris?

CK I think so, Martin...yes, the ref's produced the red card, Rushden are down to ten men with just seven minutes on the clock. A pity for Martin Taylor there, he's had a good season on loan from Blackburn, but he had to go.

MT And it's going to be Garai with the penalty...and its there! The young spaniard gives the Daggers an early lead. E xcellent penalty there, Warren.

WB Yeah, top corner, no chance. Garai's been a great bonus for Rich Wellard this season, he's really coming good.

MT so 1-0 to Dagenham as we restart...and darby's been dispossessed by Maxwell, out to Henderson on the overlap, great cross and NAYLOR! Its there, two nil to the reds and we haven't yet had ten minutes. Chris?

CK Excellent goal, Rushden look shellshocked, that's two in 90 seconds.

17 minutes MT Dagenham very much on top here, its Maxwell on the ball, plays it to Salenko in the box, beautiful one two, MAXWELL! superb strike, top corner, and the Daggers are flying.

WB rushden look to have given up already...this could be a mauling.

22 minutes MT ...and Salenko on the ball again, he's running the game at the moment. to Naylor, who beats Shaun Teale and hits it from the edge of the box...GOAL! Unstoppable effort from the former Ipswich man, 4-0 to the Reds and this is already over.

CK This Dagenham side have already proved they can score goals this season, but they're looking like they could notch up double figures today.

MT Rushden kick off, and it's Teale to Partridge, who runs at the defence...and he's through! Partridge against Byrne and its 4-1! Great play from the Rushden winger but what happened to the Dagenham defence?

CK I think they were still celebrating, Martin. Parry just dozed off for a moment there.

MT Kick off for Dagenham in this extraordinary game, and i doubt its over yet...in fact, Garai has the ball & has found Maxwell...the Rushden defence is just opening up in front of him...great through ball to Salenko and its there! Deft flick from the big Russian to beat Tony Roberts and its 5-1. Warren?

WB I can't quite believe this game, Martin. Thats three goals in the last three minutes. This could end up any score.

31 Minutes MT Rushden are looking a bit more adventurous but surely this game is long gone...mind you, here goes Duane Darby, he's beaten Carslake and drives it home! Byrne at fault there Chris.

CK Yeah, he was too slow to get down. rushden might believe they're still in with a chance here.

WB We've already seen this season, Daggers are defensively frial, but surely they wont concede five at home?

MT Daggers kick off, and again they're right up the other end. Good work from Emilio Cid, and he's won a corner. Henderson to take...NAYLOR! That's the hat trick and that's surely it now. 6-2 to Dagenham and we've still only played 33 minutes!

HALF TIME

MT Well, finally we can take a breather. Chris, have you ever seen anything like that first half?

CK Simply unbelievable, Martin. The goals were just flying in all over the place. It's been a great advert for lower league football.

MT But not lower league defending, eh Warren.

WB Well, its been shambolic at times. Rushden have been clueless since the sending off, and dagenham not much better. Don't be surprised if there're more goals in this one.


55 Minutes MT It's been a lot quieter this half, both teams look worn out after their exertions before the break. It's Artur Correia on the ball for Diamonds, we've seen very little from the Angola international so far...but that's a great ball to Partridge, who pulls it back...Gower on the overlap and goal! 6-3, and Rushden are still alive, if only just.

61 minutes MT Corner for Rushden. Andy Burgess with it...PARTRIDGE! Bullet header and its 6-4. surely daggers can't conspire to lose this one from here, Warren.

WB I doubt it, Martin, but you never know.

MT Two substitutions for Dagenham. McLean is coming on for Naylor, who is limping slightly, and Rachubka for Byrne, who's had a bad time of it out there.

66 Minutes Corner to Dagenham. cid to take, Salenko up, heads it back for McLEAN! 7-4! Extraordinary stuff as the young striker grabs a goal with his first touch. No way back for Diamonds now as they kick off yet again. Correia has it, but Salenko robs him and runs at the defence again...past one...past two...nutmegs Shaun Teale...clean on goal and its there! Glorious effort from Salenko, one of the goals of the season. And they just keep going in!

88 Minutes MT This incredible game is winding down here, both teams are exhausted by their endeavours. Carslake with a hopeful punt forward, McLean is after it against Mark Gower... the dagenham man is fresher and he's going to get there first...Roberts out but McLean rounds him and slots it home. 9-4! What a scoreline!

FULL TIME

MT A remarkable game there then, lads

CK Unbelievable, Martin. simply unbelievable.

WB One of the best attacking games i've ever seen. And one of the worst defensively.

MT With that result the Daggers need just four points to secure promotion...and if they play like that there wont be a problem. thanks for joining us on this remarkable night in East London.


Dagenham & Redbridge 9 (Garai P7, Naylor 9, 21, 33, Maxwell 17, Salenko 26, 68, McLean 67, 83) Rushden & Diamonds 4 (Partridge 24, 61, Darby 35, Gower 55)

Byrne 5; Parry 6, Carslake 7, Marshall 7, Henderson 7; Garai 8; Maxwell 7, Keeble 7; Cid 10; Naylor 10, Salenko 10. Subs McLean 9, Rachubka 8.

MOM Naylor

retired_confal2

Nice to see this up and running again...

retired_reichenbach

very nice story, like the player profiles especially funny and well, exactly what i feel when i manage lower league teams. how some of them actually managed to get into the clubs is beyond me sometimes. cheers :thup:

rmoore

Cheers for the feedback folks, hopefully it's here to stay this time...

Junz - there's nowhere quite like the Conference for rubbish players on long contracts - its why when i buy potentially mediocre players i always put them on three month contracts or less; that way you can get rid of them easily. A better tactic would be to just not buy them in the first place, but i've never been able to resist free transfers


MAY

with three games left, we could book our place in Division 2 if we got a better result than Rotherham in our next game, at home to Scunthorpe. For reasons that escape me i decided to play a severely weakened team...complacency? Arrogance? There's no need to decide. We were predictably turned over by one of the division's lesser lights, the eventual 2-1 reverse a lot less humiliating than it probably should have been. Oh well, two games left, although our lead was reduced to 2 points as Rotherham won.

Fortunately i needn't have worried, a stronger and fresher side comfortably eased past York City 3-1, and a Scunthorpe draw meant we were promoted with a game to spare. Just as well really as we were poor against Bristol Rovers, scraping a lucky draw after losing Mark Maley sent off after 9 minutes. I made the excuse that we were all looking forward to next year, but the celebrations were still a little muted despite our achievement.


A good season overall though, and had Kidderminster been a little less stellar we might have challenged for the title. Things would need to be tweaked before next year, especially at the back, but i was confident our forward play would see us through at the higher level.


GAMES

Daggers 1 (Janney 90) Scunthorpe United 2 (Dixon 57, Matthews 77)

Byrne 8; Crooks 6, Carslake 7, Farley 7, Janney 7; Quinn 7; Robson 6, Keeble 6; Toure 5; Naylor 8, McLean 6. Subs McDougald 6, Cid 7, Terry 6.


York City 1 (Fox 90) Daggers 3 (Carslake 45 (p), Keeble 57, Henderson 71)

Byrne 7; Quinn 6, carslake 7, Parry 7, Janney 6; Garai 7; Keeble 8, Maxwell 6; Cid 7; Salenko 7, Naylor 7. Subs McLean 6, Henderson 8, Toure 6.


Bristol Rovers 1 (Stuart 15) Daggers 1 (McDougald 81)

Byrne 8; Hoppe 6, Parry 8, Maley 5 (SO 9), Crosby 6; Hempel 5; Robson 5, Janney 7; Toure 5; Pater 7, Mcdougald 8. subs McLean 6, Cid 6, Henderson 6.



LEAGUE TABLE


1 Kidderminster 46 28 11 7 73 44 95
2 DAGENHAM 46 25 9 12 104 76 84
3 Rotherham 46 23 10 13 61 50 79
4 Blackpool 46 23 9 14 85 56 78
5 Halifax 46 22 9 15 70 63 75
6 Cheltenham 46 20 10 16 84 68 70
7 Darlington 46 19 11 16 66 56 68
8 Scunthorpe 46 19 10 17 65 61 67
9 Doncaster 46 19 9 18 69 64 66
10 Rochdale 46 17 15 14 49 45 66
11 Reading 46 19 7 20 63 73 64
12 Bristol Rovers 46 16 14 16 66 60 62
13 Mansfield 46 16 13 17 58 59 61
14 Bury 46 18 7 21 69 82 61
15 Torquay 46 18 5 23 68 72 59
16 York 46 17 8 21 54 74 59
17 Exeter 46 16 10 20 72 77 58
18 Bournemouth 46 14 16 16 73 82 58
19 Macclesfield 46 13 14 19 61 74 53
20 Lincoln 46 15 8 23 59 72 53
21 Rushden 46 13 12 21 75 87 51
22 Hartlepool 46 13 12 21 52 64 51
23 Colchester 46 13 10 23 58 75 49
24 Cardiff 46 12 9 25 63 88 45


As it turned out, our rivals Rotherham were promoted anyway, beating Blackpool 3-1 in the Playoff final.

rmoore

POST/PRE SEASON

A few days after the end of the campaign, i settled down to plan for next year. I expected to bring in a lot of new faces so i released four players, and transfer listed a further 5. With former No 1 Willy Gueret already committed to moving to Rushden on a bosman, that made ten players who would hopefully be on their way quite rapidly. There were probably another dozen who could go, but i'd see how well i did with incoming players before deciding.

The four released players were:

Craig Woodman (20, DL)
Daggers Career P18, G0, A1, MOM 0 AR 6.25

Craig had a bit of a run last season, but was patently not up to the task this year. As fourth (or even fifth) choice left back there was no point him staying.

Darren Pearson (SC, 20)

Darren never played for us in two years. If i was kind i'd suggest he had unfulfilled talent...but i'd probably be lying. The worst of our many strikers.

Dirk Hempel (30, DMC)

What, you actually played in the Bundesliga? Seriously? Wow. Obviously Division 3 was too big a step up...

Andy Crosby (27, DC)
Daggers Career P14 G0 A0 MOM0 AR 6.53

A useful backup but simply not up to the task day to day. Difficult to see him playing above Div 3 level.


On the transfer list are;

Andrew Mainwaring (27, FRLC)

Versatile, yes. Capable, ish. Needed, no. With so many strikers Andy's age and essential mediocrity make him dispensible.


Chris Jackson (18, DMC)

There's ability here, but after two years Chris is no nearer first team football. best that he tries elsewhere.


Lee Crooks (25, DMLC)

A disappointing failure, especially for what we paid. inconsistent, rarely fit and costly in wages, its likely that we'll need to take a significant loss to get rid of him.


Paul Dalglish (30, FRC)
Daggers Career P11(9), G0, A2, MOM0, AR6.64

Paul's never done that much wrong, but his age and wages are against him & he's not a regular. Again, we'll probably make a loss.


Wayne Vaughan (27, SC)
Daggers Career P4(23), G5, A1, MOM0, AR6.93

Wayne's almost worth keeping, but i need to get rid of another striker and he's the least of them.



I called up my customary army of trialists & scheduled an early friendly against the fearsome might of Atherton Collieries. A 5-1 win was enjoyable enough, but told me little. Young strikers Martin Taylor & Alan Kinsella did well & both scored, while keeper Greg Bass again showed his potential, but the only trialist of note was Argentine winger Pablo Facundo Bonvin. Seeing as he had a British passport, i offered him a year's deal, which he accepted. I also managed to secure the services (permanently) of Cardiff winger Layton Maxwell, who'd impressed me greatly in his brief loan spell. The winger was available on a bosman free so i snapped him up.

rmoore

We had two more friendlies scheduled before the end of June, against a couple of local (ish) non league sides, Leyton Pennant and Bishop's Stortford. We beat Pennant comfortably enough 2-0, but could only draw with Stortford, and once again those who impressed me tended to be the youngsters already at the club. I did offer a short contract to 23 year old Swedish full back Linus Ritheim, on the back of a couple of solid performances and the fact thhat he can play on both sides of the pitch, but none of the others offered anything to the club.

On the flip side, the offers were beginning to turn up for the transfer listed players, our rock bottom bargain prices attracting interest in all five. By the end of the month all of them were gone to a variety of locations:

Andrew Mainwaring to Lincoln for 5k
Chris Jackson to Charlton for 10k
Lee Crooks to Peterborough for 50k
Paul Dalglish to Doncaster for 10k
Wayne Vaughan to Blyth Spartans for 2k

Despite going for significantly less than their stated values i was surprised and pleased to get rid of them all. The small cash injection, combined with my savings and tv rights money, gave me a war chest of over £1 million...pretty good for division 2 Not that i was going to spend much of it at the moment.

Nevertheless, on the last day of the month, i did manage to seal a cash deal, and a good one at that. Portugal under 21 winger Hugo Vianawas unsettled at Sporting Lisbon and looking for a move, so i put in a bid at 85k and surprisingly had it accepted. A few days on and the skilful 20 year old was on board, on admittedly quite high wages, but i felt he was worth it

Hugo Viana, AMRC, 20, Portuguese (2 under 21 caps)
Quick and skilful, Hugo will give us some much needed guile in midfield. Although his once great potential is yet to materialise, he'll be keen to prove his ability and move on to greater things (hopefully with us...)