Daggers need to sort home form

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It’s been a desperate past few months down at Victoria Road.

Despite the managerial change, Dagenham & Redbridge’s home form has been appalling. With just two home wins in 11, not even an enforced managerial change has turned around the Daggers’ home fortunes.

Away from Victoria Road in 2013, Dagenham have been largely superb. The Essex outfit have lost just five times on the road since the turn of the year, with three of those defeats coming in January.

The solid away form has played a vital role in helping the Daggers remain above the drop zone up until now.

But on home soil it’s been a different story. Defensive mistakes, sloppiness in possession and a general lack of threat going forward make the Daggers easy pickings in a tight league.

What makes it even more frustrating is our sterling home form earlier in the season. Following the victory over Barnet in mid-December, we had lost just two of 11 home matches. But since that we’ve won just two of 11, showing a stark contrast in form.

It’s been desperately disappointing. Home form should be the base for a team to build upon. It should be the core of where the points come from, supplemented by away performance. But since the turn of the year, for whatever reason, it simply hasn’t happened.

The players almost looked scared to play in front of their own supporters.

They’ve rarely shown that passion and drive to stir fans into roaring them on. Maybe that’s part of the problem. Maybe the lack of atmosphere detracts from the team’s performance. Supporters are so often referred to as the 12th man, so maybe we’re not doing our bit.

But surely those 11 on the field should be able to muster better than what we’ve been served up on so many occasions in 2013?

The main problem has been conceding early goals. Against Southend, Port Vale and Bristol Rovers, we’ve given away early two-goal leads. From that, there is little chance of recovery. It’s effectively surrendering the game before it’s even begun. With such a young side, we don’t have the character to come back from that sort of start – and it’s shown.

Unfortunately in this ever-tight league, especially down at the bottom, it could cost us.

Going into Saturday’s game we’re just three points clear of the drop zone, largely thanks to our impressive away form. From having one of the best home records, we’ve gone to having one of the worst. And that could well be our downfall.

In previous seasons Victoria Road has always been or rock, our fortress if you will. But this season it’s more of a sandcastle that’s been slowly eroded away over a succession of limp performances.

If we’re to remain in the league we need to make sure we pick up a final day win over York, regardless of what happens in Saturday’s trip to Aldershot. The team need to beat the home jitters and drive home the Victoria Road dominance we once knew.

No more lacklustre performances. No more giving away early goals. No more squandering valuable opportunities. No more fragile confidence for Daggers. We know we can do this, so let’s make sure it doesn’t slip from our grasp.

Follow Nick on Twitter at @NickMurphyDRFC – and don’t forget to follow @FanZone too!