IT S UNSURPRISING that Daggers take on a Crewe Alexandra team on Saturday that are managed once again by Dario Gradi.

EXCLUSIVE by MIKE SIMMONDS

IT'S UNSURPRISING that Daggers take on a Crewe Alexandra team on Saturday that are managed once again by Dario Gradi.

The Milan-born 68-year-old had more than 20 years in charge at Gresty Road after taking over in 1983, before finally handing the reigns to Steve Holland.

Holland's tenure never worked out, and Gradi was back in caretaker charge until Gudjon Thordarson was given the job in December 2008.

The Icelander left the post in October, and Gradi once again took the hotseat, on a caretaker basis until further notice.

Since his return, he has won five and drawn three of the 14 matches to date, but Alex remain stuck in mid-table, unable to mount a consistent play-off push.

Crewe's away form has been pretty decent of late, despite a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Macclesfield in their last outing.

Before then, they had embarked on a four-match unbeaten run, winning at Barnet, Cheltenham and Chesterfield, along with a draw at Northampton.

Upfront, Crewe don't appear to have any problems, with striker Calvin Zola in goalscoring form.

A recent seven-game drought was ended with a strike at Macclesfield, pushing the former Tranmere frontman's tally to 14 goals in all competitions.

Strike partner Clayton Donaldson has also made a return to form, after going 10 games without a goal since his move from Hibernian.

But Gradi's faith has paid dividends, with four in his last seven, and he is now showing the predatory instincts that made him such a feared forward at York City.

WE'VE MET BEFORE

Daggers have played Crewe just once before this weekend's game and that was the opening day of the season when Jon Nurse and Paul Benson struck to ensure a 2-1 victory at Gresty Road.

The Post is now on Twitter, so if you follow twitter.com/Post_DagRed then you will get up to the minute updates on goings on at Victoria Road