Dagenham 3 Leigh RMI 1

Last updated : 17 August 2002 By Footymad Previewer

Dagenham confirmed their billing as one of the Conference's front runners this year for the Conference title as they completed a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Leigh RMI.

The win also saw Daggers achieve what they didn't do last season and that was beat Leigh.

Last season two defeats to the Railwaymen effectively cost Daggers the title once the final shakedown had taken place but there were no mistakes today.

Leigh arrived late for the match which kicked off one hour and fifteen minutes than it was originally supposed to.

They had set off at 7.30am and had been travelling eight hours and quite frankly it showed. Within four minutes they were in danger of being blasted off the pitch.

First the prolific Mark Stein brilliantly volleyed Daggers in front after Paul Terry's cross and two minutes later Danny Ship had lobbed the ball to Steve McGavin who coolly volleyed a left-foot shot into the far corner.

But gradually after a relaxed spell Daggers took their foot off the pedal and Leigh were now back into the game on 32 minutes when Neil Fitzhenry's free-kick was spilled by Tony Roberts and Tony Black smashed home a rebound.

This gave the visitors an unexpected lifeline and for a brief spell before half time Daggers' performance was insipid and Leigh were given good cause for optimism in the second period.

Almost immediately from the restart Dino Maamria saw his weak effort gathered by Roberts but it provided a brief scare but Daggers reasserted their dominance gradually and were rewarded in the 58th minute when substitute Junior McDougald chased a throughball and played the ball back to Terry who chipped the ball to the far post and once against Stein volleyed home.

Leigh did provide a couple of more scares. Both came from Maamria whose header was brilliantly saved by Roberts and then he clipped the crossbar with a screaming half volley after Dominc Ludden's left-wing cross.

This result was never in doubt following the third goal and the result was confirmed when Fitzhenry was sent off for hauling down McDougald as he sprinted goalwards.

Stein had a late effort blocked when he shot wide when in a good position and a Daggers side hit by injuries overcame a potentially difficult obstacle quite comfortably in the end.

Afterwards Daggers manager Garry Hill said: "It was frustrating when you wait for you first game of the season only for it to be delayed, but we knew that because they had been travelling so long that we had to hit them early and we scored two very very good goals early on."