Boro Beaten By Daggers

The result of Boro's latest friendly, a defeat at the hands of National League side Dagenham & Redbridge was neither a surprise nor a disgrace, and manager Dan Spinks will have learned a lot about his side from this game.

A bonus for Boro was the attendance, a bumper gate of 266: It's a good number of years since that many turned up for a pre-season friendly, even if the bulk of them were supporting the visitors.

Unsurprisingly, Boro had to defend for long periods of the match, but apart from a 12th minute penalty, held the visitors at bay quite comfortably in the first half, before conceding three after the break.

Dagenham had a 10th minute effort cleared off the line, but went ahead after 12 minutes with a penalty converted by Inih Effiong, awarded for a foul after a Boro defender was caught on the wrong side of his opponent.

Despite Daggers's dominance, Romford were not without chances in the first half; Hassan Nalbant had a sight of goal with a free-kick that flew over the bar on the half hour, and after 40 minutes, Dagenham keeper Elliott Justham tipped Finlay Dorrell's effort over the top and in the dying seconds of the half, Jayden Silcott-Brown's low shot was pushed away by the Daggers keeper.

Dagenham's Sydney Ibie put his side 2-0 ahead after 51 minutes with a powerful low drive, and the same player made it three after 72 minutes with a low shot into the corner of Jake Anderson's net. It was 4-0 after 77 minutes when Josh Rees chipped in from the corner of the penalty area after good pressing from the visitors had won back possession.

Boro are without a game this weekend; next up is the visit of East Thurrock United, who have a couple of familiar names in their line up and come to Mayesbrook Park next Wednesday.