Dagenham & Redbridge manager Daryl McMahon delighted with the ‘mental strength’ shown to score two late goals to progress in the FA Cup despite being down to 10 men.

Angelo Balanta found the net twice in the dying stages to seal a 2-1 win for Daggers away to league rivals Wealdstone.

Paul McCallum saw red in the second minute of play and Stones Jay Bird found the back of the net shortly after but Dagenham rallied their way to victory.

“Thoroughly, I thought even though we had 10 men from two minutes into the game, I thought we were the better team throughout the whole game,” McMahon said.

“We created an unbelievable amount of chances with 10 men, our football was excellent, and we spoke during the week about us returning to our identity to how we work and how we play.

“I thought the mental strength and the togetherness of the team was outstanding.”

Barking and Dagenham Post: Dagenham & Redbridge forward Angelo Balanta on the ball against Wealdstone at Grosvenor ValeDagenham & Redbridge forward Angelo Balanta on the ball against Wealdstone at Grosvenor Vale (Image: Jon Taffel)

He added: “We spoke at half-time about breaking down the 45 minutes down to three 15 minute games and we said that we only need to win one of them.

“If we can draw two and win one then we’ll be in the next round. Lucky for us we got two at the end to win that last 15 minutes.

“I thought we were excellent and I'm very proud of the team.”

Dagenham will be appealing the red card given to McCallum and the boss insists he wants referee’s to be better across the division.

“I’ve seen the red card decision and the penalty that wasn’t given on Myles Weston in the first-half, he got booked for diving amazingly, they’re two wrong decisions and we’ll be appealing the Paul McCallum red card and sending in the video to the referee’s.

“You know me, I've said this more than I ever have this season, but I really don’t like talking about referee’s but I feel we’ve been on the end of some real terrible decisions so far this season and if anything it’s not me complaining, it’s me wanting it to be better for everyone in the division.

“I want a better standard of refereeing.”

Balanta missed a penalty in the 69th minute before notching twice.

“I never think that, I always believe in this group, we’ve got a fantastic group here and you can see how much they believe in each other as well.

“We believe we’ve got match winners and great characters.”