Football – England – League Two
Saturday 26th January 2013 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Mid-table Dagenham & Redbridge have the chance to turn the tables on tonight’s opponents Morecambe almost immediately following their 1-2 loss to them just a couple of weeks ago, when the two teams clash again at Dagenham Stadium this Saturday.
A quirk in the fixture scheduling has Dagenham and Morecambe doing battle for a second time in just seventeen days and if The Daggers do exact their revenge on Morecambe, this could lift them to within touching distance of the play-off pack. However, recent results haven’t all gone Dagenham’s way with defeats to high-flying Southend United, Port Vale, Northampton Town and lower half Wycombe, but they can now focus on reviving their season following this difficult run of fixtures.
Dagenham’s home record stands at 6-4-4 21/15 and they’ve lost just twice in their last ten at home which shows their strength on home ground when you drill down to their results. The two losses during this period were to the aforementioned Port Vale and Southend United so it’s no disgrace that they lost and they even gave Vale a run for their money in a 2-3 result. The Daggers bounced back with a 2-1 win over Rochdale in their next home match afterwards.
Visitors Morecambe have become somewhat draw specialists in recent weeks having racked up five stalemates in their last eight matches, two defeats against Fleetwood Town and Plymouth Argyle and the solitary win during this period against today’s hosts Dagenham in early January.
Away from home is even worse though having gone eight matches without a win, and just one win in their last twelve matches on the road which was at Rochdale back in mid-October. Eight straight defeats during this miserable twelve match run tells it’s own story and Morecambe have a below-par away record of 3-3-8 15/20 to match.
In fact, The Shrimps tend not to travel too well end of story as they’ve chalked up just three away wins from their last seventeen matches on their travels and their visit could be good timing for a Dagenham outfit looking to kick-start their season and start it off by taking all the points here.
After a difficult run of fixtures, the hosts Dagenham have a great chance to get back to winning ways against a historically bad away side like Morecambe and with the odds of over 1.80 offering the worst case scenario of losing just half the stake if they lose, I’ll back Dagenham for the points here today. 2-1 to Dagenham.
Pick: Dagenham & Redbridge AH-0.25 @ 1.81 Pinnacle
