Injury woes for Daggers

Thursday, 19/01/2012

by Ricky Butler, Shoot's Dagenham blogger

So, just as it appeared we had turned the corner and were moving away from the drop zone, the old problems look to have returned.

A great six-match unbeaten run, which included back-to-back home wins over Christmas, briefly had us climbing the table, but another horrendous run of injuries in 2012 has brought us back down to earth with a bump.

Having finally got a settled, and winning, side, we then lost Kevin Maher, Peter Gain and Josh Scott to injury, while Abu Ogogo was out due to suspension, and we have now scored just once in our last four matches.

Saturday's home defeat to fellow-strugglers Hereford means we are are now only off the bottom on goal difference, while our FA Cup dreams were shattered at Millwall in Tuesday night's replay.

We made it into the draw for the fourth round despite failing to win a tie in 90 minutes, but a weakened side was out-played at the New Den and are now free to concentrate on league survival.

Our good run over Christmas and New Year was, in part, due to the blossoming forward partnership of Brian Woodall and West Ham loanee Cristian Montano. Woodall, in particular, has really settled in to life in League Two and appears to be the answer to our long-term goalscoring problems.

The fact neither played at Millwall meant goals were always going to be hard to come by, even if we were finally able to give a debut to Rob Edmans, five injury-hit months since his arrival from Chelmsford City.

We have also welcomed club captain Mark Arber back into the squad after injury, although he has yet to actually get on the pitch.

The form of Scott Doe and Mickey Spillane, who we tied up on a permanent deal last week, has meant Arber has had to be content with a place on the bench, although I have no doubt he will back in the side soon as we have missed his calmness and presence at the back.

With the distraction of the cup out of the way, we can now focus all our energies on picking up some much needed league points. We travel to Crewe on Saturday desperately in need of a result, but the injury problems show no sign of easing and we will once again have a very inexperienced midfield.

Young Billy Bingham has done very well in recent games, but he needs the cool head of Gain or Maher alongside him. Instead we have been forced to play right backs Ogogo and Richard Rose out of position, so it is no wonder we have lacked creativity since the 1-1 at Southend on January 2.

On the plus side though, has been the form of Dominic Green and Femi Illesanmi. Green was sold to Peterborough in 2009, but his career never really took off there so it has been good to see him getting back towards his best. Left back Femi, who famously travels to home games on the Tube, has quickly become one of the best prospects at the club over recent weeks and has been attracting interest from clubs as high up the ladder as Millwall.

The transfer window has, of course, caused us problems in the past, so the good thing about our current plight is that most of our players will hopefully fall under the radar.

While it would be great to add one or two, especially in the problem midfield area, I am confident this group have enough to keep us up, just as long as we can get everyone back fit as soon as possible.

It seems as though the injury problems are not just restricted to the players either. I was hoping to make the trip to Crewe on Saturday with Emerson, but unfortunately I suffered a broken foot playing football this week so I am unable to travel.

Just hobbling around my flat has proved difficult enough, let alone a trip all the way to Cheshire, so I will, therefore, be glued to the radio instead hoping we can get the result we need.

With Woodall and Montano likely to be back in attack I will boldly predict a 2-1 away win, although I will be gutted to miss what would be our first away league victory since August.

Come on you Daggers!

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