Thanks Gary. Yes its a very decent stand although the 'segregation' is odd, with fans able to mingle in the bar underneath lol I guess a bit like the Fanzone behind the Stonegate Stand!

At least they sorted the leaving arrangements with fans exiting in different directions, to avoid the usual coming together.

@dorking-eagle Agree RE not scoring and about Enslin. I thought he looked lively down the right, definately would of kept him on.

The peak ferocity in our attack involved Patrick Casey and PMac up top.What a forward line that was. 

In the absence of those two being available, the only other option would be Charlie Carter up top. 

Very surprised to see the line up today, as if you do not have those 2 available, you have to play Charlie Carter up top. 

Goals win games, and you need individuals at the business end of the pitch to stick it in. 

Totally agree with that.

I think there is a fair bit of psychology at play here by Marc too. When we were 8pts clear there was no reference to it, indeed there is minimal reference to the league table at all, it's all just about one game at a time.

The elephant in the room (IMO) is the disparity between home and away form. Home form alone won't win us this league title - the remaining fixtures are 6 away and only 5 at home....so winning the league isn't mentioned, and top three is. Perhaps an attempt to take outside pressure off?

Yet the player spree when we went top did feel to me like a real attempt to capitalise on and solidify that top spot. And fair play creeping to top quickly became 8pts clear. Top spot IS there for the taking - all the others are STILL inconsistent, but the dropping of points can't go on much longer and there needs to be a real steely focus now. Perhaps there is at training behind closed doors? 

Just thought that having had the small advantage of no midweek game last week that we would have shown a bit more yesterday. Will be gutted if the season finishes like last season where there was just a fag paper between the top six clubs going into the last day when there is the chance to keep our noses in front.

Result aside, I think that’s the most fun I’ve had at an away game in ages. What a tremendous away following. I’ve no idea how they came up with the official away number either – unless I missed something. I bought on the gate and, in theory, with the most ridiculous segregation in the league (that or Meadowbank).

I’ve posted before about segregation at this level: it’s an unnecessary evil and an embarrassment to football and its fans. I can’t imagine Dagenham are thrilled about it either – they must be paying a fortune for that police presence. In reality, I think I could have sat anywhere in that stand. Anyway I digress!

When the squad came over and joined us in the stand, they clearly loved it, and it was brilliant from our end too. Possibly a separate thread, but I’d have three or four of those lads starting if available, and goodness knows how many midfielders we’ve got on the books now. Another thread again, but when everyone’s fit, what does our starting XI actually look like? And on Squad, what does it look like at the start of next season, how do we have a lack of cover in some areas yet a pile-up in others?

The half‑time changes didn’t make much sense to me, although Marc did acknowledge that in his post‑match interview. Kia had a good first half, but for me – and maybe it’s just me – he kept picking the ball up 5–10 yards too deep instead of attacking the space or the full‑back. Still not enough to justify taking him off. Sidewell was doing fine as well.

Anyway, to restate it: I absolutely loved yesterday. Great fun. Thanks to everyone who was there.

@hemelwanderer Need to hopefully get 4 or preferably 6 points from our 2 home games next week, as we then have 3 away games in a row. However, will be a big ask as Chelmsford and Ebbsfleet are both good sides and in form.

4 points minimum from the two home games, and surely must then beat Enfield too, then lets see what the table looks like.

The segregation is a must at some grounds sadly - too many clubs at this level are plagued with groups of unsupervised teenage lads who a PITA to opposition fans. It is a breath of fresh air at places like Hemel where segregation isn't needed, but too many places are like Worthing or Maidstone where it would be more unpleasant without it, and it would be quite a deterrent to ordinary, decent folk.

I see that for Tuesday's game against Chelmsford it has been made ticket only for visiting fans - presumably to make it easier to monitor and trace any potential nuisance fans? They have had some crowd trouble issues at bigger games this season, notably at home against Dagenham, and also had to bring in a rule about covered/masked faces not being allowed entry to their games.

@crawleysth 4 at a minimum but as you say both will be real tough games against 2 teams in form atm. We need to start getting wins from the upcoming away games aswell if we are to remain at the top of the tree

Thought we were actually pretty decent for the first 35 mins or so, but the story of the game was the lack of quality in high areas. Unfortunately it is somewhat understandable when missing the likes of Rutherford, Casey, McCallum, McShane and Muitt.

As others have said, the decision to start Lawrence up top instead of Carter was a bit of an odd one but the subs at half time were baffling as it just made us so much less dynamic in wide areas. I also though Sidwell was quietly having a good game in midfield, so was surprised to see him taken off as well.

At least there were some positives to take from the game with McManus and Carter coming through unscathed and Pybus getting some valuable minutes as well. Brennan Camp returns on Tuesday and Rutherford told me in the stands that he is back on Tuesday as well. I think we could see Moore return as well.

Stats:

Possession: Dagenham 42% - 58% Dorking

Shots (OT): Dagenham 9 (3) - 8 (3) Dorking - Our lowest amount since October

xG: Dagenham 1.11 - 0.86 Dorking

Long Balls: Dagenham 49 - 47 Dorking - Our lowest attempted amount since early November

Passes: Dagenham 268 - 447 Dorking

Top Performer (Dorking): Dennon Lewis [7.5]

‘One of our best performances this month to be frank’

‘So much to like about it’

‘Delighted to be quite frank with you’

'Clearly the better side, no negatives from me whatsoever at all'

🤔

Monday Marc:

It's okay I have watched the video back and we were so dominant we should have won it. No idea how we didn't really. Nothing to see here. Really not bothered about the opposition tomorrow having scored seven at the weekend either. 

@dorking-eagle 

I watched most of the game, wasn’t there mind, and we didn’t look like scoring at all. Had there been180 minutes we wouldn’t have scored. 

Yes the possession statistics are nice and we passed it loads, big deal. 

Unless you have hungry players at the high end of the pitch to stick it in, you won’t win games of football. We don’t have that right now. 

He needs Casey or Pmac back, or to roll the dice and bring another loan forward in. Or even easier stick Captain Carter up top. 

This is critical, he cannot allow us to slide out of the auto spot like this now. 

Absolutely should be Carter up top ahead of Lawrence if we only have one fit striker, that is absolutely nothing against Lawrence and it is brilliant to have seen youngsters break through this season, but this is the business end, and we must grasp this chance with both hands. If we let top spot slip having been 8pts clear then it the play offs will feel like a huge uphill battle.