Another victory on the pitch, admissions of failure and renewed promises off it - there is a lot to talk about this week at the Daggers.
We’ll begin with the matters on the pitch, and just the one game this week, something we’ve become accustomed to in recent weeks. We’ve also, dare I say it, got used to winning; with Saturday’s victory over King’s Lynn the third one on the bounce for Daryl McMahon’s men.
It was a dominant display from the Daggers, albeit you might say expected, but these are the games we’ve often made hard work for ourselves in this season.
The 3-0 win saw the Daggers never looked threatened and very comfortable throughout - something we haven’t seen enough of this season.
But, what we have seen more of is Matt Robinson and Paul McCallum on the scoresheet - a welcome site with the latter now hitting some form - finally!
This uptick in form and performances came in time for this season’s fans’ forum which was a lively affair as unlike many thought - no pre-submitted questions were filtered out!
So, I’ll give a brief overview of the topics discussed and key moments from the panel of: Daryl McMahon, Peter Freund, Craig Unger and Steve Thompson. I’ll start with McMahon who had questions fired at him left, right and centre.
The first being, no holding back ‘have you failed this season?’ To which he replied - yes! Which is brutally honest as he has seen his side miss out on the ‘minimum expectation’ of play-offs but frustrating for some who argue therefore he should be sacked.
The latter opinion I disagree on, and so do the owners it seemed who gave Daryl their full backing into next season on Thursday night’s forum. Before we move to the owners, I’ll just talk about another issue that Daryl was questioned on - the initial omission of Matt Robinson.
It’s safe to say that the fans’ favourite has earned the respect of the manager who stated part of the reason Robinson has been on such good form is because of his spell on the sidelines.
The Irishman did, too, praise the midfielder’s ‘Daggers spirit’ in fighting for his place - seeing off any competition in his position - though league position is a different matter.
On that latter note, Freund shared the frustration of the fans but said how these tough seasons make when we do reach our goal of the football league that much sweeter.
The football league still the aim, as the chairman renewed his promises, he took heart from recent performances - let’s hope the Daggers can replicate that today at Barnet.
The Bees under new management (again), have began to find some sort of form despite being at the foot of the table - former Dagger Tomi Adeloye getting in amongst the goals recently.
But, the Visitors will look to do what they haven’t done for some time, win four games in a row; which they’ll see as achievable.
Then, the Daggers return to Victoria Road to hopefully make it five from five against rivals Woking - the hosts seeking revenge for their defeat back in October.
Though play-offs now seem out of reach, the top-half finish is the main focus, which will be an improvement on next season.
Let’s hope we can make big strides towards that top 10 in another action-packed week - until then, Stay Safe and Come On You Daggers!
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