Dagenham & Redbridge cruised into the hat for the next round of the FA Trophy as they sealed an emphatic 5-2 victory over Ebbsfleet United.
A brace from Darren McQueen and goals from Paul McCallum, Angelo Balanta, and the returning Callum Reynolds helped seal back-to-back victories in all competitions.
Daggers manager Daryl McMahon made four changes to the side that secured a 1-0 victory over leaders Torquay United in mid-week and went back to his preferred formation including wing-backs.
New loanee signing Liam Gordon returned to Victoria Road and went straight into the team as Callum Reynolds returned from injury while Charlee Adams and Angelo Balanta also came in to replace Dean Rance, Luke Croll, Myles Weston and the suspended Mitch Brundle.
It didn’t take too long for the hosts to open the scoring as an unmarked Paul McCallum nodded an Elliot Johnson corner into the top left corner in the 16th minute of play.
Two minutes later Ebbsfleet goalkeeper Tom Halder kicked the ball straight into the path of Angelo Balanta, who looked to chip the ball into McCallum, but it was cleared behind for a corner which they didn’t have as much joy with this time round.
The Daggers did however make it 2-0 shortly after as Balanta picked out the bottom right corner after right wing-back Andrew Eleftheriou won a loose ball inside the box and pushed it on to the attacking midfielder.
McCallum went close to grabbing a second as he almost scrabbled the ball home before Darren McQueen then used his pace to race onto a great ball forward from midfielder Charlee Adams and fired his shot across the face of goal before it ran wide of the target.
Defender Callum Reynolds then stretched the lead to 3-0 on his return to action as he headed home a corner with just one minute left in the first-half.
Seven minutes into the second-half the visitors pulled one back as former Daggers striker Reece Grant rounds goalkeeper Elliot Justham after a mistake from Reynolds where he laid the ball of to Lee Martin to fire home.
It was short lived as Dagenham resumed pressure and in the 64th minute made it 4-1 as McQueen picked out the back of the net after Fleet shot-stopper Hadler denied Balanta’s original effort before it bounced out to the former Dartford front-man.
Two minutes later McQueen grabbed his second of the match as he drilled the ball into the bottom corner to make it 5-1 against his former club and put the game out of sight.
Ebbsfleet did manage to find a second in added time after Daggers McQueen went off with a knock leaving them with 10 men as Rakish Bingham picked out the bottom right corner to reduce the arrears to 5-2.
Dagenham & Redbridge: Justham, Eleftheriou, Clark, Reynolds (Wright 70), Johnson, Gordon (Clements 77), Ogogo, Adams (Robinson 46), Balanta, McQueen, McCallum.
Unused subs: Strizovic, Croll, Brown, Wilson
Ebbsfleet United: Hadler, Adebayo-Rowling, Rowan, Wood, Chapman, Egan (Payne 46), Joe-Taylor (Kahraman 66), Paxman, Bingham, Grant (Mekki 63), Martin.
Unused subs: Holmes, Allen, Goodman, West.
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