ALDERSHOT TOWN 3, DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 1

ALDERSHOT offered the clearest evidence yet of their potential to win promotion through the National League play-offs with their first-half dismantling of Dagenham on Tuesday.

The result moved the Shots to within a point of Dagenham and the top five and it was the manner of their victory that must have convinced more than 2000 of their fans inside a buzzing EBB Stadium that their side are indeed capable of making a return to the Football League.

Gary Waddock’s side were poor in defeat to Guiseley, lucky to beat Sutton last Saturday, but were in scintillating form against John Still’s stuttering Dagenham who slumped to a third successive away defeat.

“You could say those were two very different performances,” said Waddock, comparing his side’s last two games. “Saturday, we somehow got the three points. Tonight, in the first half we were very, very good and we go in at half-time with a deserved lead. Obviously, they made a change at half-time and we had to deal with that change, and what a fantastic goal it was by Matt McClure. And a fantastic result tonight.”

The Daggers had no edge at all in the first 45 minutes and seemed to freeze against a Shots line-up that deployed all the pace at Waddock’s disposal.

Teenagers Idris Kanu and Kundai Benyu gave Dagenham’s somewhat pedestrian defenders a nightmare evening.

Bernard Mensah was no slouch either, as he showed with an electric burst in the opening minutes, followed by an inviting cross that Kanu knocked just wide of the near post.

With just six minutes gone, Nick Arnold’s whipped-in cross was helped on by Shamir Fenelon and Scott Rendell thumped the ball home, only to find the linesman’s flag up for offside.

But Aldershot’s explosive start was rewarded in the 17th minute. Mensah this time probed Dagenham’s defence with a dangerous cross and Fenelon darted ahead of his marker to score with a deft touch.

The Daggers were being torn apart by the speed and variety of the Aldershot attacks, the very deliberate emphasis being on early crosses with pace to expose backtracking defenders.

The tactics worked again in the 38th minute when the outstanding Arnold drove in another left-wing cross and Mensah slid in to convert at the far post. Two-nil.

Dagenham finally broke out to earn a corner and in a well-rehearsed move, Corey Whiteley’s quick kick picked out Scott Doe whose glancing header hit the side-netting. It was the first threat to Jake Cole’s goal.

Dagenham, having looked almost submissive in the first half, were doubtless blown up by Still and it was a re-shaped, fired-up side which emerged after the interval.

Now attack-minded, desperate to get a foothold on the game, they quickly won a free-kick in a central position and Frankie Raymond’s powerful shot was only kept out by Cole’s strong right hand.

Set-pieces looked Dagenham’s best source of a goal. Sure enough, in the 57th minute, Aldershot failed to clear Raymond’s corner and the ball pinged around the six-yard box, with Cole pulled in all directions, before Doe scored with a neat header.

It briefly looked a different game as the Londoners pushed for an equaliser, while Adrian Quelch’s decision not to award a penalty when Rendell seemed to be shoved over further convinced the baying home fans that the referee had something against their side.

Both sides made a flurry of substitutions and it was one of the replacements who finally settled the issue.

Matt McClure, a former Dagenham player, has a habit of popping up with goals that really matter.

With seven of the 90 minutes to go, nothing seemed to be on when the ball fell to McClure some 25 yards out, but turning sharply to earn a yard of space, he struck a low shot of astonishing power past a startled Elliot Justham and into the far corner of the net. As sweet a shot as seen at Aldershot all season.

There could have been a fourth. Arnold certainly deserved a goal, but his scorching free-kick was brilliantly turned away by Justham at full stretch.

Aldershot: Cole; Alexander (Straker 78), Reynolds, Evans, Arnold; Kanu (Giles 85), Benyu, Gallagher, Mensah (McClure 71); Rendell, Fenelon. Subs (not used): Buckley, Smith. Booked: Evans.

Dagenham: Justham; Sheppard, Donnellan, Doe, Widdowson; Raymond, Okenabirhe (Howell 70), Maguire-Drew (Romain 46), Robson; Whitely, Hawkins (Benson 70). Subs (not used): Cousins, Staunton. Booked: Widowson, Raymond, Benson, Doe.

Referee: Adrian Quelch.

Attendance: 2,130 (109 away).

* Aldershot’s next two games, both away from home and against middle and lower ranking sides, are likely to define their season. Macclesfield are their opponents this Saturday and then the Shots journey to Solihull Moors on April 1.

* Aldershot’s travelling fans have been allocated 400 seats in one section of the Moss Lane Stand at Macclesfield.