ASSISTANT MANAGER Terry Harris predicted in last week s Post it would happen and lo and behold, striker Paul Benson ended his lean run with a double against Bury on Saturday.

by MIKE SIMMONDS

ASSISTANT MANAGER Terry Harris predicted in last week's Post it would happen and lo and behold, striker Paul Benson ended his lean run with a double against Bury on Saturday.

His first came after some laughable defending from the visitors, allowing Daggers' leading scorer to swivel and find the bottom corner, while his second proved the confidence was back, steering a loose ball into the net from a few yards.

They were Benson's first goals for five games and also finally ended a barren spell in the league spanning back to October 17.

Winning

"It was important that we got back to winning again and also important for me that I got back to scoring," said the striker, who now has 12 to his name this season.

"It was nice that both came hand in hand and generally, if we can score goals, we'll win games."

It's not as if the striker has been guilty of spurning a hatful of chances for Daggers in recent matches, but for some reason, he has found goalscoring opportunities hard to come by.

Hopefully that will change now, as a fully firing Benson could propel the Victoria Road side to an automatic promotion challenge this season.

"I missed one at Grimsby last week that I was disappointed with as I should have scored, but it's not as if I've been missing loads and loads," admitted Benson.

"I just need to keep getting in the right areas and hope that the ball hits me and goes in, like it did for the second one on Saturday.

"Hopefully the tide is turning, as maybe a couple of weeks ago it would've hit me and rolled to the goalkeeper.

"That's how it is with a forward though, when the luck is rolling for you, you take your chances."

Although the luck has been distinctly absent for Benson since he raced to eight goals in his opening 10 games, there has been no pressure placed on his shoulders by anyone at the club.

Instead, they have remained confident that someone who now has 74 goals in 170 games, would always turn it around.

"The gaffer, Tel (Terry Harris) and Wayne (Burnett) have all been great," said the former White Ensign frontman.

"The boys haven't said 'It's about time you scored' either, so I've got a lot of people who believe in me.

"That's helped me a lot and taken a lot of pressure off me.

"I didn't feel not scoring has been playing on my mind, but as a forward it doesn't matter if you're playing well week, in week out, you're always measured by your goals."

Benson was paired up front with Jon Nurse from the start on Saturday and they came up against possibly their toughest central defensive pairing of the season to date in Ben Futcher and Efe Sodje.

It wasn't until Josh Scott was introduced on the hour mark that Daggers were finally able to take the fight back to the visitors, a fact Benson appreciated.

Physical

"He (Scott) brought a more physical presence," admitted Benson. "He upset Sodje, got in his face and caused problems.

"Their defence didn't come as surprise, Sodje is Sodje, he won't take a minute to go through you or take you and the ball.

"We knew it was going to be a physical battle, but I don't mind them.

"It puts you in a frame of mind where you need to concentrate more and that helps."

The result ended a run of three home games without a win for Daggers and was also their first victory in four matches.

In that time, the club have signed a number of loanees and Benson felt there had to be a settling in period at the club.

"It's going to take time because we've got a few players who aren't 100 per cent sure about how we play," he said.

"Although it's a simple enough way, people have got to come in and have to adapt to it.

"It will take time and you can tell that in the results we've had.

"Hopefully we can have another good week's training behind us and go to Rotherham and put in a performance like we did last year."

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