WILKINSON WINNER IS DIFFERENCE FOR TAYLOR
CONOR WILKINSON helped Dagenham & Redbridge ease their relegation worries with a second-half winner.
Before kick-off, Daggers sat just five points above the bottom four and could have seen that gap cut to two had results gone against them.
After weathering the early Sutton storm, the Essex club finished the second half brightly with Alex McQueen volleying over, while Jack Munns and Liam Gordon both hit the woodwork.
Though Gime Toure missed a good chance for the U’s at the start of the second half, Daggers hit the front in the 71st minute when a McQueen cross found Wilkinson, whose header looped over Ross Worner and into the net.
The Essex club were indebted to keeper Elliot Justham in the final minute of the match as he brilliantly denied Sutton substitute Dylan Kearney at close range.
And Daggers boss Peter Taylor told The NLP that his side were well worth their victory at home to the U’s.
“The way the game started, I thought Sutton were better than us, but after about 25 minutes, we started to improve,” he said.
“We definitely had a good end to the first half and given how we played in the second half, I think we just about deserved our win.
“I felt both teams had chances, but we created a couple of better ones. I think it’s a fair result, but I’m the manager of Dagenham and I might be slightly biased. “I want to give a lot of credit to Sutton because they’re always in and around the play-offs every year. “They’re very difficult to break down and very difficult to play against, which they deserve a lot of credit for. To beat them 1-0, I’m delighted with the players.” As for Sutton boss Paul Doswell, he was disappointed to see his side fail in their bid to move into the play-off places. “I thought it was an insipid performance and there was no real threat from either side particularly,” he said. “We need to win six or seven of our last 12 matches to be in and around the play-offs. We’re ninth at the moment and between ninth and 12th is where I think the team deserves to be at the moment. “We’ve kept battling and kept picking up wins which were unexpected, but if we’re not careful, we might fade out of the playoff places unless we can get some people back in.” For Dagenham, it certainly was a timely success, but Sutton may well end up feeling the game was theirs for the taking had they been more clinical in the final third.