FC Halifax Town wanted to get back on track after a 2-1 away defeat to newly promoted side Salford City earlier this week.
The Shaymen suffering their first loss of the season and hoped to bounce back against slow starters Dagenham & Redbridge at the MBi Shay Stadium and did so, collecting another three points with a 2-1 win against the London outfit.
The Daggers languished in the relegation zone in 23rdposition, with one point in their opening four games, whereas Town sat surprisingly in 4thplace with nine points out of a possible twelve.
After dominating the opening minutes of play, Town looked to have shaken off any pressures of having to get back to winning ways as Dayle Southwell nearly opened the scoring within the opening minutes of the game.
Dagenham keeper Justham forced Southwells volley behind for a corner which resulted in Niall Maher finding himself in acres of space charging into the box with a rocketed header to only be denied again by Justham with a fantastic save to his lower left hand corner.
After a nervy opening quarter Dagenham finally got into their stride and nearly took the lead after Alex McQueen’s free kick from 20 yards out produced a world class save from Halifax keeper Sam Johnson, tipping the ball away from his top right hand corner.
After a brief spell of pressure the Shaymen began to regain control and created chances that built up to the pinnacle moment when Matty Kosylo found himself breaking the deadlock after a hoofed clearance by Ben Tomlinson fell into the path of Kosylo who cut inside from the left, onto his favoured right foot and with options in the box he decided to go alone and just beat Elliot Justham at his near post.
The goal sparked a fight within the visiting side who didn’t curl over once Town had taken the lead, finding themselves levelling the tie only five minutes later thanks to Tomi Adeloye.
Adeloye managed to beat two Halifax defenders to poke the ball into the net after they struggled to clear the ball from a Lamar Reynolds cross.
In the closing minutes of the first half the Daggers found themselves on the front foot nearly taking the lead with Ben Goodliffe’s audacious attempt of a scorpion kick that troubled Sam Johnson in the Shaymen goal.
The second half began unchanged to the first and both teams coming out and unable to asset their dominance within the opening 15 minutes.
Just after the hour mark, Halifax looked to have taken the lead with Matty Kosylo shot heading into the bottom corner but he was denied thanks to an unbelievable reflex save from the Daggers keeper yet again.
From the resulting corner Halifax’s lead was finally restored as Ben Tomlinson’s wiped cross-found Nathan Clarke fire the ball towards the goal where striker Jonathan Edwards managed to nick the last touch as the ball dropped into the corner of the net giving FC Halifax Town a 2-1 lead.
The London side applied the pressure as the game came into the closing ten minutes as they searched for the equaliser to ensure they didn’t have to suffer a long journey back down south empty handed.
Their best chance came from a dangerous free kick 25 yards out from goal, which seemed to be blocked by Town winger Tomlinson, and there was a huge shout for handball from the visitors but the referee waved on, no penalty.
FC Halifax Town managed to hang on to all three points, which takes them into 2ndposition only one point behind league leaders Wrexham, while Dagenham stay sat in 23rdposition only goal difference keeping them off the foot of the table.
After the game Dagenham & Redbridge manager Peter Taylor expressed his opinions on todays game and his sides performance.
Shaymen winger Ben Tomlinson also expressed his thoughts on todays game.
Both teams find themselves playing in the capital next week as FC Halifax Town face Boreham Wood away next Saturday while Dagenham & Redbridge come up against Hartlepool United at home.
FC Halifax Town: 1 Sam Johnson, 3 Ryan Sellers, 4 Nathan Clarke, 5 Matty Brown (c), 7 Matty Kosylo (Odelusi 89th), 9 Dayle Southwell (King 90th), 10 Jonathan Edwards (Preston 84th), 14 Ben Tomlinson, 16 Simon Lenighan, 31 Niall Maher, 40 Jacob Hanson
Subs: 21 Shaun Rowley, 8 Cameron King, 11 Sanmi Odelusi, 19 Jordan Preston, 22 Mekhi McLeod
Dagenham & Redbridge: 1 Elliott Justham, 3 Liam Gordon, 4 Matt Robinson (c), 5 Alex Davey, 6 Luke Pennell (Hoyte 75′), 7 Alex McQueen, 9 Chike Kandi (Romain 64′), 11 Lamar Reynolds (Leighton 84′), 15 Ben Goodliffe, 19 Tomi Adeloye, 20 Will Wright
Subs: 10 Elliott Romain, 12 Lewis Moore, 21 Noel Leighton, 25 Gavin Hoyte, Elliott Bonds
Goals: Kosylo (30th), Edwards (61st), Adeloye (34th)
Yellow Cards: Maher
Red Cards: None
Attendance: 1,364 (50 from Dagenham & Redbridge)
FC Halifax Town 2 Dagenham & Redbridge 1
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Chris Dow Journalist 