County v Dagenham and Redbridge

The season starts and County are off and running after our first opening day win since Gillingham away back in 2000. Despite it looking like resolute defending may earn Dagenham a point, changes from Jim that saw us end up with four strikers on the park eventually break them down thanks to a good move and cracking finish from Dickinson in the 85th minute, which sends the home areas of the ground into the first goal "mental" of the season. A good start! Report by Scarf

Left	Ahead	Right

As always, click on the pictures for bigger versions

I woke up early. The first day of the season and, of course, the sun was shining. Maybe it’s written in the stars, I don’t know, but for as long as I can remember, the sun has always shone on the opening day of the season and on Cup Final day. It may rain, hail or snow on all the other days in between, but on these two days in the year, the sun will shine. Divine intervention by the footballing Gods, perhaps. Aside from this pleasing awakening, however, the day was not going well. Firstly, my printer decided to break, meaning it took ages to print out the stuff Martin had asked me to bring along to that morning’s meeting about the Trust AGM, which I am helping to organise. Then the bus decided to turn up a good 20 minutes late, making me late for said meeting. Finally, on the bus I realised I had, using the organisational skills for which I have become celebrated, managed to leave the season ticket I had bought only days earlier, at home. Having taken an enforced detour to the ticket office to sort this out, it was thus a panting, sweaty mess of humanity that turned up late to the meeting. Things, as they say, could only get better.

And better they got as, following the meeting, Martin and I wandered down to the Armoury, whilst Graham Privett departed to the pre-match hospitality and meet his guests from Ireland. I was busy being mocked about the fact that I had not only forgotten my season ticket (surely making me an early contender for ‘idiot of the season’?), but I had also neglected to bring a scarf on what was apparently ‘scarf day.’ My explanation that, being Scarf myself, I in fact did not need to bring a scarf, as bringing myself was enough and that, furthermore, it was nice of the club to name a day in my honour, didn’t seem to be entirely accepted by either Graham or Martin. Shame, that. Inside the pub, Martin and I met a group of Dagenham fans. Down to earth and chatty, this group of fans chatted to us for a good 15 minutes and were a credit to their club – I hope their team does well this season. We were soon joined in the pub by Imposter, Caz, Mikey and Reading, the latter of which, to put it politely, is in serious need of a haircut! Get it sorted, Reads – you’re starting to look like a tramp! J

By this time, the pub was beginning to fill up, with many thirsty County fans waiting in eager anticipation for the arrival of Mr Generosity himself, otherwise known as Deafboy. DB proclaimed on the Mailing List earlier this year that, if Murray won Wimbledon, he would buy the whole List a pint. He, of course, meant Andy winning the singles, but had foolishly neglected to specify as such. Following Jamie’s win in the doubles, therefore, it was time to pay up. Despite protesting to me by text that he had actually got lost and was in Carlisle, he duly arrived at the pub just before the designated time of 2pm. His entrance to the back room was met by a huge cheer, as we all ribbed him with glee about how big the bar bill was going to be and how much lighter his wallet was going to feel afterwards. Most of us had decided in advance that we weren’t actually going to accept his offer of a pint (it would, in reality, be a bit harsh, even for us, to make him buy a round of about 30 pints), but the look upon his face as he saw the number of people was in itself worth more than several pints by itself! Credit to him for being man enough to offer to buy the whole room a pint though and thanks, DB, for giving us a good laugh in the process, too.

Match Action	Deafboy examines his wallet before the mammoth round purchase	Match Action

As inevitably as night follows day and goals follow Luke Beckett, the time soon approached to sup up and go to the game. Wandering into Edgeley Park, there was a freshness about the place that is the hallmark of a new season. The stands did not yet look worn and the paint not yet chipped. The pitch, as yet relatively untouched by football and rugby, looked like the proverbial bowling green. Although relatively few Dagenham fans had made the trip north – by the looks of things, possibly around 300 or so – they got behind their team well and made plenty noise. In sum, the ‘buzz’ was back, and most welcome it was, too. Pre-season was over now; this was the real thing. Time for action, as it were.

County gave debuts to no less than five new players – Conrad Logan, on a season long loan from Leicester, was in goal, James Smith, on loan from Liverpool, played at right back, Paul Tierney, on loan from Oldham until January, was at left back, whilst Gary Dicker, signed from UCD, was in central midfield and Matt McNeil, formerly of Macclesfield, started up front. Amongst the subs were fellow new boys Chris Adamson, from Sheff Weds, and Dominic Blizzard, from Watford via some thieves from Milton Keynes. Of the new players, Logan was particularly impressive – organising the defence and commanding his area well whenever called upon (which, in all fairness, wasn’t often). He will hopefully prove to be the answer to our long-running goalkeeping problems. Smith and Dicker were solid, whilst Tierney and McNeil were both impressive, with the latter my vote for man of the match, holding the ball up well and bringing players into play. The squad we have now appears to have strength in depth in every position for the first time in quite a few years. On paper, at least, we are now looking a very strong outfit this time around.

Unfortunately for us, however, as we all know, football matches are not won on paper, and as our 2004-5, err, ‘vintage’, reminds us, teams who look good on paper don’t always translate this into performances on the pitch! Nevertheless, County set about Dagenham from the outset, slicing open their defence on numerous occasions with some good moves. Unfortunately, as was to prove the case throughout the match, the final ball was often lacking, and the strikers were not provided with as good a service from the wide men as they perhaps should have been. County were definitely looking the better side, but, as against Crewe, were struggling to turn possession into clear-cut chances. At the other end, Dagenham had occasional opportunities, but generally posed relatively little threat to the County goal. Most of their good work came through their number 8, Glen Southarn, but up front their strikers were looking fairly impotent. This was partly due to their own ineptitude, but partly due to the increasingly solid look of our defence. It was lovely to not be head-in-hands every time Dagenham got a set piece, and to feel confident that we would deal with the situation and get the ball away. They had a couple of chances, but in all honesty never seriously looked like scoring. At half time, then, we were reasonably happy with 0-0, confident that, eventually, we would manage to turn out superior possession into goals as the game progressed.

Doubling up with defenders	Cheadle End	Main Stand goes mental after Dickinson's winner

The second half was little different – if anything, County’s dominance was even more absolute than it had been in the first half. Camped in the Daggers’ half throughout the second period, the same anxieties that were articulated at Crewe once again started to appear – the longer we failed to score, the more worried I was that Dagenham would catch us on the break and nick a game they didn’t even deserve a point out of, never mind three. Jim was evidently not in two minds as to what to do; replacing the two wingers with two strikers and going more direct in order to try and get that elusive goal. This meant that the midfield started to be bypassed, but Dagenham offered so little up front that the game didn’t become stretched, but merely concentrated in the final third of the field as County continued to press for a winner. One thing that particularly impressed me was how County, despite throwing in the odd long ball, largely continued to be patient and continued to play football, even though a goal wasn’t immediately forthcoming. Finally, all our good play was rewarded with a super goal five minutes from time when Dickinson was on hand to score a deserved winner following a good move. It was, frankly, nothing less than we deserved.

The victory marks our first win on the opening day for almost a decade and shows some very encouraging signs for the rest of the season. We played professionally against a resolute, if uninspiring, Dagenham side and kept going until the end, never letting our heads drop even when we had a goal disallowed during the second half. Dagenham, whilst lacking a cutting edge up front, look a decent, well organised side and will do OK in this division this season. To have got our season off to such a solid start with a win is very pleasing indeed.

Debra Presentation

Following the game, a quick pint in the Armoury was followed by a trip to the Bobby Peel in time to see Norman Beverley and Mark Maguire present cheques to DebRA and the Disabled Supporters’ Club as a result of the money raised from the sponsored walk to Macclesfield last season. The final totals were that £1,000 was given to the Disabled Supporters, and just over £1,400 presented to Debra.

Debra Presentation, Pete, Norman Beverley + Mark Maguire	Alan Lord + Pete and Mark	Melissa and co

Well done everyone who walked, thank you to everyone who gave sponsorship money, and thank you to Norman and Mark for giving up their free time to make the presentation. It is especially pleasing to hear that DebRA have now been adopted as a designated charity by the club, which will hopefully mean that a good deal of money is raised for this worthwhile cause going forward.

A few drinks back in the Armoury were swiftly followed by rather a few more drinks in the Chunky, our habitual resting place of a Saturday evening. The beer (and cheeky vimto…) flowed, it was the start of the season, County had won and (praise be!) had also kept a clean sheet. Life, as far as I am concerned, does not get much better than this. Happy new season everyone – let’s hope we’ve plenty more victories to cheer between now and May.