Both managers played down the relevance of the drubbing dished out by Daggers to Saturday's cup tie but both John Still and Mark Stimson know if Grays produce another lack-lustre display and show the same defensive frailty their grip on the Trophy will be over.
Daggers seized the initiative almost from the off, repeatedly catching Grays on the backfoot and it wasn't a surprise, if a little lucky, when the impressive Craig Mackail-Smith's 11th minute cut-back to Paul Bruce was despatched, looping fashion, over home keeper Ashley Bayes, albeit via a massive deflection. And to compound Grays' misery their defence stood flat-footed when another cross, on 18 minutes from Danny Foster, found Cliff Akurang who picked his way past two defenders to poke the ball home via the inside of a post.
Grays briefly threatened a comeback when Andy Sambrook's long ball caught the swirling wind and drifted over the visiting defence into the path of Tony Battersby but Tony Roberts reacted quickly to beat away his cross-shot. That proved to be Grays' only chance of note in the first half, which ended in further disappointment when Sam Saunders popped up in a crowded goalmouth the force the ball home to spark jubilant celebrations, which brought him a cussing from Still as the referee booked him for over-exuberance.
Grays made a better start to the second half and might well have got back into things had Michael Kightly's thundering volley hit the back of the net rather than an upright. John Martin was then foiled by a muddy pitch as he broke through and looked likely to score.
The home side were still ruing that missed chance when a long clearance found Akurang and he ran on around Bayes to net from an acute angle to make the final score 4-0.