ON-LOAN striker Jamie Guy certainly knew what he was letting himself in for, when he agreed to join Dagenham & Redbridge for a month, writes MIKE SIMMONDS. Although he has spent most of his career at Colchester, Guy, 21, who scored his first goal for the

ON-LOAN striker Jamie Guy certainly knew what he was letting himself in for, when he agreed to join Dagenham & Redbridge for a month, writes MIKE SIMMONDS.

Although he has spent most of his career at Colchester, Guy, 21, who scored his first goal for the club in the 1-0 win at Port Vale on Tuesday night, was born and bred in Dagenham.

He grew up within a stone's throw of Victoria Road and admitted that he relished the chance to join his hometown club.

"I was born in Barking and brought up in Dagenham," he said.

"I went to Eastbrook School which is just down the road from the ground and although I'm a West Ham fan, I've always been over to Dagenham when the Hammers weren't playing.

"I was there for the their first play-off match and also the FA Cup games against Charlton and Ipswich too.

"When I was back at Colchester, I saw they were third in the table, which was amazing.

"When the chance came to move to Daggers, I jumped at the opportunity."

Whether or not Guy will become a permanent fixture at Victoria Road remains to be seen, but the striker admitted he would like to extend his loan spell until the end of the season.

"It is something I would be interested in," he said. "I've still got another year left on my contract at Colchester, but if something was to be done in the future, then I wouldn't rule it out.

"Who knows what will happen though?"

Guy headed his new team's only goal of the game at Vale Park in midweek, converting a fine cross from winger Matt Ritchie.

Not known for his prolific goalscoring record, Guy had scored just seven times in 95 previous appearances, so he was delighted to get off the mark.

"It is always good to get the first goal out of the way early and with service like that, then you can't really do much wrong," he said.

"It was a quality ball in from Matt Ritchie and all I had to do was get my head on it.

"I've been really impressed with Matt since I came here.

"He's a very nippy winger, who likes to get forward.

"Ben Strevens is a good player too and also a very nice bloke.

"We're getting an understanding going and building up a good relationship, so that bodes well too."

Daggers remain six points outside of the play-offs with just nine games to go and travel to Chesterfield on Saturday.

The Spireites have enjoyed an indifferent campaign to date, and are seven points behind John Still's side, albeit with five games in hand.

"We need to go there, get our heads right and pick up the three points which will be vital as both sides are pushing for the play-offs," said Guy, who revealed the Daggers players still believe they can make the end of season lottery.

"To be fair, since I've come here, nobody has said the play-offs are beyond us and there is still the aim to get there.

"We had a bit of a bad run recently, but everyone is still really confident going into the games I have been here for.

"We just need to carry that on against Chesterfield on Saturday."

Should Daggers try and extend Jamie Guy's loan until the end of the season? Email your views to: sport@ilfordrecorder.co.uk