Cutting edge is still missing

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE manager John Still felt his side's lack of a cutting edge was to blame as they slipped to their third home defeat of the year against Bournemouth on Tuesday night, writes MIKE SIMMONDS.

Danny Foster (pictured right) had a goal disallowed midway thro-ugh the first half, but for all of Daggers' approach play, they never really created any clear-cut chances.

"We had a lot of possession and attacking in and around their box, but we never got on the end of it," said the boss.

"We might need to look at ourselves and think we should have got on the end of those opportunities.

"Maybe a Paul Benson would have made a difference, I don't know, but I have no complaints with the performance.

"On another day, we could have won by four or five, but all credit to Bournemouth. They worked really hard, but they couldn't stay with our pace and we have to make more of our chances."

His view was shared by winger Matt Ritchie, who again put in a superb performance, but felt that Foster's disallowed goal for an offside that only the linesman could see, played a big part.

"I'm not quite sure what the linesman saw, my shot was quite far out, so 'Fozzie' had a lot of time to get there, but the decision didn't go for us," he said.

"The late goal was unlucky as we were on top for 90 minutes, we battered them all over the park, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

"The quality of balls in the box and around the box wasn't great though. We do a lot of work in training on that, but they could have been better."

Despite the defeat, Still remained more than pleased with his side's efforts and is convinced they will turn the corner soon.

"I thought it was as good as we have produced here, and the way we played was terrific," he said.

"We never really let them into the game and they've scored right at the death from possibly their first effort on goal.

"I've been in the game too long to get down and I know the performances all season we have put in have been fantastic.