Dragons facing an uphill struggle

Mar 25 2008 Western Mail

Wrexham 0-0 Dagenham & Redbridge

WREXHAM boss Brian Little admitted his Dragons side now face a daunting uphill struggle to save their Football League status after being held to a goalless draw by Dagenham & Redbridge.

The Racecourse result leaves his team seven points adrift of safety with time running out for Little to prevent them dropping into the Conference.

He said, “We’ve always been under pressure and the gap has widened now. We’re under more pressure, but we’re not trying to hide from that or deny it.”

The Wrexham boss saw his team create chance after chance but fail to hit the target, with striker Drewe Broughton coming closest to breaking the deadlock.

“It’s a game we tried to win and should have won. There were so many things we did right and Brian Carey (assistant manager) said it’s been a long time since he has seen Wrexham dominate a game from start to finish like that without winning.

“It feels like a defeat because we’ve fallen further behind and it shows how important it is when we play teams near the bottom like Dagenham that we win.

“It’s difficult to count how many chances we had – Drewe had six clear headers. We did more than enough to win and that’s why it’s so disappointing.”

Dagenham boss John Still acknowledged his team did little but sit back and soak up pressure from the Dragons.

“This is a point gained for us because Wrexham would have seen this game as a massive opportunity to get three points. We knew we would have to dig in because they would throw everything at us and we did fantastically well.

“The whole team worked hard in very difficult conditions with a swirling wind. We had to work as hard as we could for the result.”

The Dragons started the contest by far the brighter with striker Michael Proctor seeing an effort deflected wide after latching on to team-mate Danny Sonner’s through ball.

With the Dragons piling on the pressure in search of an early goal both Proctor and midfielder Sam Aiston found themselves in good crossing positions on the right edge of the box, but neither could produce the telling delivery.

Next Broughton went close, seeing a header from winger Matty Done’s corner stopped on the line by Dagenham goalkeeper Tony Roberts.

And just before the 10-minute mark Aiston fired narrowly wide from the edge of the opposition box before Dagenham midfielder Dave Rainford was off target with a speculative effort.

Following a 10-minute lull the Dragons again began to assert themselves with Broughton seeing a header bound for the top corner palmed away by Roberts.

Seconds later Aiston saw a header drift wide, before Broughton provided a knock-down for Proctor, who just failed to bring the ball under control.

After near total dominance by the home side Dagenham began to show signs they might punish Wrexham for failing to take advantage of their pressure, with striker Ben Strevens and team-mate Peter Gain going close.

With chances now coming thick and fast at either end Broughton again headed wide for the Dragons before Rainford was also just off the mark at the other end.

And before the interval Strevens headed wide of the target from team-mate Scott Griffiths’ cross, while Broughton and team-mate Chris Llewellyn both saw efforts blocked in the Dagenham box.

The Dragons started the second half as they did the first – firmly on top, as Aiston went clean through only to see his shot saved by Roberts and Proctor just fail to convert the rebound.

With the Dagenham goal leading a charmed life Broughton’s header from point-blank range was blocked by Roberts’ foot and Proctor was again denied from the rebound – this time firing against the post.

Minutes later the two Dragons strikers again combined with Proctor’s cross glancing off Broughton’s leg and going agonisingly wide.

As the Dragons’ continued to search for the opening goal their dominance deserved Broughton fired and then headed wide, while Strevens failed to test Ward with a shot inside the box.

With Dagenham showing virtually no ambition substitute Stuart Nicholson headed high and handsome when found by defender Simon Spender in the box.

And then as the clock ticked down substitute Neil Roberts saw a diving header drift wide after Done broke clear and supplied the cross from the left.