A ‘GUTTED’ Lewis Young admitted that he thought the result would swing in Dagenham & Redbridge’s favour in a tight end to their 2-1 defeat at York City on Saturday.
After a dominant first-half had been aided by an opener from Tyrese Sinclair’s header, Dagenham responded admirably in the second-half as Josh Umerah bundled Ryan Hill’s corner kick over the line.
It would take a long time before there would be any follow up, with both sides enjoying chances, but it eventually falling in the favour of York.
A penalty was awarded after a foul on debutant Junior Luamba, with Alex Hunt stepping up and converting from the spot.
Young, who was taking charge of just his second National League match as the Daggers’ permanent manager, was gutted with the result, but credited the spirit shown by his squad to find a route back into the match during the second-half.
“I think that I’ve got to praise the players all the way through, in terms of their effort, their determination, their drive, their self belief to get back into the game,” Young told club media.
“It was really backs against the wall in that first-half and it was really tough going.
“I thought we really got into the ascendancy in the second-half and we were able to change a little bit of tactical stuff at half-time.
“I actually thought that we were the team that were going to go on and get one at the end there, so that’s really gutting to come out on the other side of that.
“Really disappointing, I’ve got to praise the players efforts but it’s disappointing to concede and to concede in the manner that we did.
“I’ve got to digest and get over this performance and result. I’m disappointed for them [fans] as well as all of the players, a gutting penalty at the end.”
Young would go on to individually praise a number of his players for their efforts, in particular Oscar Rutherford, who played at both right-back and left-back in the 90.
“He [Reece Grego-Cox] was a threat and I thought he was going to get a penalty for the one that came to his feet in the box. Those little things, I think I can help him with.
“All the way through the team, I was impressed with loads of different performances.
“Oscar was outstanding, right-back first-half, left-back second-half, he’s had a brilliant period and season and hopefully we can keep him at that level.
“Trent [Rendall] came on and was fantastic on the right, the two centre-halves were really good in their defending.
“It was just those two quality moments, Hilly’s ball for the corner and Josh’s desire to get on the end of it.
“It was disappointing to come away with a 2-1 loss.”
