George Saunders reflects on his man of the match performance, as the Dagenham & Redbridge came back from two down to beat King’s Lynn 3-2 in the final minutes on Saturday.
The winger came into the side and looked sharp, beating his man on several occasions and delivering some dangerous balls into the area.
However, the Daggers found themselves behind at the interval, despite having 11 shots in the opening half.
“It wasn’t ideal coming in at the break two-nil down, but I thought in the first half we created so many chances that we should have still been in front. In the second half we made sure we put some of those chances away.
“The gaffer said to us at half-time to continue with what we’d been doing on the attacking front, because we were constantly creating opportunities.
“Sometimes you look at all the chances you’ve squandered and think ‘are we ever going to score?'. But with the quality we have in the squad and how close we’d come in that first half, I knew we would get more chances in the second half.
“It just shows that if you keep going then chances will come and thankfully Callum Reynolds, Andy Eleftheriou and Mitch Brundle got the goals for us.”
Saunders has had a frustrating start to life at Victoria Road since making the move from Hornchurch.
A succession of injuries and periods of self-isolation have limited his time out on the pitch.
“This season has been on and off for me personally, I’ve been out injured for a while and then had to self-isolate because of NHS Track and Trace, so I’ve just started to get back to it.
“It’s almost like getting used to full-time football again and it’s been frustrating to have missed so much, but I was so happy to be back out there on Saturday.
“It was my first start since Maidenhead at the back end of October, so it was really pleasing to end it with a victory and pick up the man of the match award. I was trying to keep things simple and keep myself involved, as well as being positive with the football, which is my game,” he said.
But Saunders just wants to stay injury-free and get a consistent run of games under his belt, as well as helping to push the Daggers up the Vanarama National League table.
“I love trying to get past my opposite number and the delivering a good ball into the box, and I did that on a couple of occasions on Saturday, which was pleasing.
“I’m still learning and taking everything in, but I’m really hoping that I can put some of the disruption I’ve had over the last two months behind me and contribute as we look to move up the table,” he added.
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