DAGENHAM & Redbridge boss Ben Strevens thought his side had enough chances to pick up more than a point against Southend United.

The Daggers were held to a 1-1 draw at Roots Hall by their National League rivals on Saturday.

But Strevens, celebrating a year in charge, felt the visitors could have made more of their first-half pressure.

“In the end we’ll take a point and move on, but we were excellent in the first half,” Strevens told the club’s YouTube channel.

“We were really dominant and should have gone in more than 1-0 in front, but their goalie pulled off some great saves.

“In fairness to them they were excellent second half and we’ve got massive respect for them as a management team and a football team.

“They put us on the back foot and we struggled to get out from it.

“There are reasons from our point of view we couldn’t do that, but we’re respectful towards them and the changes they probably made at half-time to get them more dominant.”

But Dagenham were also hindered by having to make two enforced changes during the first half as both Elliott Johnson and Tom Eastman went off injured.

And Strevens felt Eastman’s departure was a big moment in the match.

“Jonno for Pagey (Lewis Page) is a straight swap,” said Strevens. “They’re both left-backs and fantastic players.

“But the Eastman one meant Phippsy (Harry Phipps) had to go into the backline.

“It was a massive moment for us because we lost his presence up front.

“It changed the game because Phippsy was getting all the first contacts and we were getting the second balls to attack them.

“It’s no-one’s fault but Phippsy up front and Eastman at the back for longer, I don’t think the game would’ve changed as much as it did but credit to them as well.”

Dagenham dominated the first 45 minutes in front of the live TV cameras at Roots Hall with Harry Phipps seeing an early effort pushed to safety by Shrimpers goalkeeper Collin Andeng Ndi.

And they opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Ryan Hill netted his fourth goal in seven games, firing home following a left-wing cross from Dion Pereira.

Midfielder Josh Rees then saw an 18-yard shot bounce back off the crossbar before also having a close-range header tipped over the crossbar by Andeng Ndi.

However, Southend improved after the break and drew level in the 47th minute when Danny Waldron converted a right-wing cross from Harry Cardwell.

The Shrimpers came close to taking all three points late on with substitute Henry Sandat slamming a shot against the top of the crossbar.

Dagenham, who gave striker Dan Nkrumah, 20, a debut off the bench at Southend after his arrival on a month loan from Middlesbrough late last week, have now drawn 10 away games this season.

The latest left them in 12th place in the table ahead of their midweek trip to Gateshead and they return to Victoria Road to play host to Maidenhead United on Saturday, looking to avenge a 1-0 loss suffered at York Road back in August.

Daggers confirmed striker Freddie Sears had seen his contract cancelled by mutual consent last Friday.

The 34-year-old had netted once in 21 appearances after joining in late September.