Dagenham & Redbridge boss Ben Strevens has said players can leave if they do not want to play for the club.

Daggers were sent crashing out of the FA Trophy by National League North side Peterborough Sports at the weekend, losing 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Victoria Road.

And they return to National League action against Wealdstone on Saturday, having lost eight of their 11 home fixtures so far this season and with Strevens refusing to accept their current plight.

"We have got to be mentally stronger, I need more leaders within the group," he told the club website.

"I need people that want to play for Dagenham & Redbridge and I've said to them I've got no problem with people wanting to leave this club.

"If people do not want to play for Dagenham & Redbridge, they don't have to. They can come and speak to me and I will do what I need to do to help them.

"I want to be manager of the club, I want to make things better, I'm here fighting. If people are not going to fight with us, then that's on them.

"That's nothing against them, I will continue to try and do my best for this club and the right things for this club to make it better.

"That might be short-term pain leading to long-term gains, I don't know.

"If I'm afforded the time to try and get things right then that's what I'm going to try and do because I'm not going to accept where we are right now."

Daggers sit down in 16th place in the table, having also been knocked out of the FA Cup by lower league opposition in the form of Bracknell Town.

And Strevens admits it has not been good enough, adding: "The league form is the bread and butter of it, I want that to be better.

"But if you've not going to be up challenging to get promotion, or in the play-off places, you've got to have good cup runs.

"Whether that be an FA Cup run - and we've not done that - and certainly going into this Trophy game, trying to get through to the next round to give people something to smile about, go on a good journey in the Trophy, we've not done that either.

"So looking at it from three fronts, we got knocked out the FA Cup, we got knocked out of the Trophy, and we're not getting the home performances or performances in the league to be where we want to be."

Strevens took over the reins in March, following the departure of Daryl McMahon, and admitted he needs to do better.

But he also wants to see a better return in matches for the work he is putting in during training sessions to reward their loyal fans.

"Did I know it was going to be really difficult taking over Dagenham & Redbridge and trying to steer it in a way I did?" he asked.

"Probably harder than I'm expecting right now. I look at things I tried to change in the summer moving into this year.

"The home form is the most important for me because that's where the fans see us and get to see the performances, the characters and the people that are inside the building.

"Inwardly I'm looking at myself right now. I'm not blaming anyone else. I need to do better myself.

"I don't feel I'm getting enough back for what I'm giving out and what the staff are giving out.

"We can help and try and be positive and do stuff with them on the training pitch, try and help them improve, there's some youngsters we're trying to do that.

"I can see stuff on the training pitch where I feel like that person is getting better, but that don't mean anything.

"I need to see people showing on the Saturday, especially at home, and on Tuesday night especially at home, to our fans what I'm seeing.

"There's no doubt they're not seeing what they want to see. I'm watching that today and I completely agree with them and it's not the first time."