This is Part 2 of the Season Review. Click HERE for the first installment, which covers pre-season and the opening months of the campaign. Losses to Barrow, then Solihull, then Stockport, sent the Daggers slipping despairingly into lower mid-table with each defeat worst than the last. Then, out of nowhere, they faced Aldershot for what was one of the most ridiculous afternoons at Victoria Road in years. Debutants House and Deering shone as goal-shy, freefalling Dagenham won 6-1 in front of their American owners. Was this it, the turning point, the caveat of the season? Sadly yet not surprisingly it proved nothing more than a one-off, as normality soon resumed. The very next weekend they were soundly beaten away at 20th-placed AFC Fylde, the one after that they were embarrassingly defeated by bottom side Chorley. A midweek home defeat to Sutton separated these two results, meaning it was three straight losses for Peter Taylor's wounded troops. It wasn't going to get better, either, two further losses taking the tally to five in a row, with only FA Trophy progression against Sutton offering the tiniest speck of happiness. The Christmas period was the final straw for Taylor. Usually the most exciting spell in the calendar due to the hectic run of games in a short space of time, it was instead dreaded by supporters, for watching Dagenham was now more of a chore than a pleasure. Taylor simply had to go, but such was the level of perseverance towards him from the Dagenham hierarchy that it seemed unlikely. Every game the Daggers would play on the back foot, with the sole intention of nullifying the opposition. It was ineffective, it was dreadful to watch, and it was a tactic symptomatic of a one-dimensional manager who was long past it. The mood around the place was painfully low, with people who would once travel the length and breadth of the country now driven away. Part of this was down to the fact that Taylor showed little respect for the fans as if under the impression that we were lucky to have him, and as if he was baffled as to how supporters of little old Dagenham could possibly question the credentials of someone who once managed England. Quite simply, we deserved more for our money and the Americans deserved more for their investment. We needed a young, forward-thinking manager who could match our ambitions and restore some long-overdue cheer to Victoria Road before it was too late. We needed a man who strived to go better for himself, not someone on the way down in his managerial career. Above all else, we needed a man we could all get behind, rally round and support. For now, though, we were stuck with Taylor and morale around the club was at an all-time low. After a disappointing draw against bottom side Ebbsfleet on Boxing Day, which we wouldn't have even secured had it not been for a late Chike Kandi equaliser, a 3-0 defeat at Bromley made it nine defeats from eleven outings and marked 450 minutes since the Daggers last found the net on the road. This was a far cry from the season we'd dreamed of in the summer, and relegation was now a genuine possibility. It was hard to imagine things being much worse than they already were. Then, at 2pm on Sunday 29th December, the words every Dagger had been praying for: ''Club Statement: Peter Taylor''. The devastation of the previous day's events at Bromley were replaced with overwhelming joy and relief. The situation at the club was so abject that it seemed this news was inevitable, but the truth is it had gone so far that it simply felt like it would never happen. For all their investment, this was the biggest statement of intent that the Americans could've possibly made, and while Taylor had done enough to leave Dagenham's ambitions for the campaign irretrievable, it meant there was at least chance of some enjoyable moments in the next few months. No more five-at-the-back away at Chorley, no more playing for a point every week, no more inexplicable decisions like loaning out Liam Gordon or persistently starting Joe Quigley. The boost around the club was tangible. In their next game, with Terry Harris and Jody Brown in charge, the Daggers could only draw at Ebbsfleet but the performance was an unmistakeable improvement. Debate was raging about who would be the new man, with candidates ranging from Luke Garrard to Garry Hill. In the end, the Daggers made a popular choice by selecting someone young yet still equipped with good experience at this level: Daryl McMahon, who left League Two strugglers Macclesfield to take up the vacant post. The 36 year-old previously secured promotion from the National League South with an Ebbsfleet side who registered 96 points in the process, before guiding them into the play-offs in their first year in non league's top tier. His credentials seemed promising, and the fact that he played football in this division up until just a few years ago also would also bode well as he knew the modern game. McMahon watched from the stands against Torquay but his mere presence in the ground was enough to inject some life into it. A goalless draw littered with both positives and negatives would've given the Irishman plenty of food for thought, and it wasn't long before he begun to add his own hallmarks to the Dagenham squad with the additions of Alex Reid, Ben House, Myles Weston and Gabriel Zakuani in the next few weeks. The new manager bounce is well known but McMahon had an instant impact, with his impressive brand of fearless, attacking football a direct contrast to the defensive style of his predecessor. In the first two months of his reign, the Daggers were beaten twice; one was a last-minute defeat in the FA Trophy courtesy of a screamer from nearly the half-way line, the other a narrow defeat against the league leaders Barrow in biblical weather conditions. Results were good, with victories against play-off contenders Notts County and Solihull Moors, plus a late equaliser against Stockport, highlighting the progression made in a short space of time. Though they were eliminated in the FA Trophy, the Daggers were also able to enjoy success in another competition, the Essex Senior Cup. Naturally, in keeping with the club's stance towards this regional competition, it was utilised as an opportunity to play fringe players more than something they aspired to win from the off, but after wins against Hullbridge, Barking, Tilbury and Concord Rangers - the latter three under the stewardship of McMahon - the Daggers found themselves in the final. Unfortunately, as is now widely known, there is every chance that may never be played. In the first six weeks under McMahon, the Daggers racked up the same amount of clean sheets as in the previous six months with Taylor at the helm. However, the most important result came away at Aldershot Town in the first weekend of March, when a succession of brave substitutions enabled Mitch Brundle's 86th minute winner. That afternoon in Hampshire was one of, if not the best moment of the entire campaign, with instances of such celebration in painfully short supply throughout the course of 2019/20. It was only their eleventh away goal, the worst total in the division by four - a statistic that speaks volumes about the frustration of following the Daggers during this season. A home clash against Fylde, who hadn't tasted victory for three months, three days after the Aldershot victory presented the perfect opportunity to build momentum. Football, though, has a funny habit of not conforming to expectation and, perhaps unsurprisingly given the trajectory of Dagenham's season, things didn't go to plan. Despite a leveller from Brundle, the man of the moment who'd found a knack of being in the right place at the right time, Dagenham were beaten 2-1. The gut-wrenching winner came in the 95th minute and sent home supporters slumping to the floor in despair. However, little did they or indeed anyone know but, after the gates were locked on that bitterly-disappointing March night, they wouldn't be reopening for months. Amidst a global pandemic that dismantled every aspect of society one by one, including the sporting world, the National League was suspended indefinitely. Then, following weeks of deliberation, all remaining fixtures were cancelled and the season was immediately ended. That the final game proved to be a defeat in the 95th minute against a team winless for three months beforehand proved an apt conclusion to a campaign that mostly consisted of bitterly disappointing lows. For the Daggers, it was frustrating to see the season end just as it seemed, Fylde game aside, that they were growing better by the week. Equally gutting was the fact that the final weeks of the season, usually littered with drama and played out against a backdrop of glorious sunshine, would not come to fruition. However, all of those concerns were overshadowed in by the severity of the world crisis going on, and as a result diminished into an insignificant afterthought.
As a result, the 2019/20 season will be remembered as one of the most unusual in history. For now, the Daryl McMahon revolution is on hold and there will be a prolonged absence of football until the Daggers have an opportunity to write the wrongs of the season that has just been cut short. Until then...
4 Comments
David Hopkins
2/5/2020 12:35:00 pm
A good assessment of the season. Aldershot by the way is in Hampshire not Surrey but you have done a good job.
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Joel
3/5/2020 02:32:59 pm
Appreciate the comment, and thanks for pointing out my geographical mishap!
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John Brooks
3/5/2020 11:00:30 am
Well done Joel. A great read
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Andrew
10/5/2020 10:16:08 am
Great read Joel really enjoyed it fella 👍⚔️🔴🔵⚽
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