Disappointed Dragons end with a whimper

THIS result just about sums up Wrexham’s season.

The Dragons were narrowly beaten by promotion hopefuls Dagenham & Redbridge in a tightly-contested affair in their final home of the season – with Paul Benson’s first-half strike earning the visitors all three points at the Racecourse as well as cementing them a play-off spot.

“Disappointing is probably the word you can use,” said Wrexham boss Dean Keates following the game. “It’s probably the word you can use to summarise our season.

“There was a lot of huff and puff but we were lacking that final ball.

“A bit of quality was lacking, it was there last weekend [at York] and we gave the 900 fans who made the trip something to smile about and be proud of, but this just wasn’t up to that standard.”

The Daggers bossed the opening exchanges with Benson having their best effort, but he sliced his effort over the bar.

John Still’s side got their goal on 23 minutes when Benson latched on to Jordan Maguire-Drew’s cross to head past Shwan Jalal.

Ntumba Massanka almost hit back straight away but the ball got caught between the forward’s feet, allowing the defence to clear.

Keates swapped Martin Riley for Ollie Shenton at half time as he

WREXHAM ........................ 0 DAG & RED ........................ 1

tried to get his side back in the game and Jordan White should have done better when he fired a shot across the face of the goal.

The Dragons looked more dangerous in the second half but struggled to really test Mark Cousins in the Daggers goal, while the visitors improved as the half went on with goalscorer Benson combining with Luke Howell and Corey Whitely but Jalal managed to clear the danger.

Benson went close to a second when he was picked out well by defender Curtley Williams but, again, Jalal did well to keep him out.

Substitute Iffy Allen and White both went close to an equaliser for the Dragons but the Daggers kept hold of their narrow one-goal lead.

Keates’ last roll of the dice saw him replace Cheltenham Town loanee James Jennings for attacker Izale McLeod just after the hour mark, but Dagenham continued to look dangerous with Whitely showing great skill to beat his man and fire a shot towards goal but Jalal palmed his effort away.

McLeod almost salvaged a draw in the final minutes but his header was off target.