Daggers down the Robins

Daggers down the Robins

An in-form Ashley Hemmings helped struggling Dagenham and Redbridge to leapfrog another out of form side in Paul Buckle’s Cheltenham town on Saturday at Victoria Road. The win for Wayne Burnett’s side has seen the Daggers climb to 19^th in the League Two table, the highest they’ve been since mid-October.

Veteran striker Jamie Cureton scored in this fixture last season in which the former Cheltenham front-man scored his 250^th career goal in the Robins’ 2-1 victory over the Daggers.

Cureton looked the main threat straight from the off and had the chance to open the scoring in the 13^th minute. Cureton finding himself one-on-one with keeper Carson on the left side of the box, only for Cureton to curl the ball wide of the far-post.

Cureton scores after his penalty was originally saved

However Cureton was not to be denied a goal against his former team. After a stalemate in the first half it took until the 55^th minute before midfielder Andre Boucaud was tripped by Craig Braham-Barrett. Jamie Cureton stepped-up to take the spot-kick, however Robins’ keeper Trevor Carson dived to his right to parry the shot only for Carson to be picking the ball out of his net moments later as Cureton was quickest off the mark with the follow up with a shot from the left-hand side of the box into the bottom corner.

Cheltenham have been struggling to gather results since the appointment of Paul Buckle looked down and out of the game, that was until the referee, Graham Horwood, awarded a controversial penalty after Daggers goalkeeper Mark Cousins was adjudged to have  brought down Jack Dunn in the six-yard box, even though the goalkeeper appeared to have reached the ball first. Dunn picked himself up to send the keeper the wrong way, putting his spot-kick into the right-side of the goal.

Hemmings finishes off a fantastic solo move

Like Dagenham’s penalty, Cheltenham seemed to gain confidence from their equaliser only for Wayne Burnett’s side to go back in-front with Ashley Hemmings beating two Robins defenders and finishing off the move by blasting the ball home past the trailing Carson.

And with Paul Buckle’s side pushing for a later equaliser the Daggers gave a killer blow to the away side with on-loan Watford striker Alex Jakubiak running through the Robins defenders before finishing at the near left post from a tight angle to secure an important three points for the Daggers, their first home win since a 1-0 victory over Bury earlier in the month.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Mark Cousins, Damian Batt, Scott Doe, Ayo Obileye, Joe Widdowson, Billy Bingham, Andre Boucaud, Luke Howell, Ashley Hemmings, Rhys Murphy (Alex Jakubiak, 36’), Cureton (Abu Ogogo, 91’).

Unused substitutes: Liam O’Brien, Brian Saah, Ashley Chambers, Joss Labadie, Jodi Jones.

Cheltenham Town: Trevor Carson, Lloyd Jones, Matt Taylor, Troy Brown, Craig Braham-Barrett, Kane Ferdinand, Matt Richards (Omari Sterling-James, 78’), Joe Hanks, Jake Gray, Jack Dunn (Harry Williams, 84’), Zack Kotwica.

Unused substitutes: Harry Reynolds, Lee Vaughan, Terry Gornell, Jack Deaman, Durrell Berry.