York City 1-1 Dagenham & Redbridge: City rue missed chances as they settle for a point

Dozens of missed opportunities cost The Minstermen a chance to go fourth, as they had to come from behind to claim a point against The Daggers.

Dozens of missed opportunities cost The Minstermen a chance to go fourth, as they had to come from behind to claim a point against The Daggers.

An early goal line scramble left York fans, players, and manager John Askey bewildered at how they had not taken the lead through any of the many chances involved.

Dagenham were the ones to take an unlikely lead into the half time interval, with Mo Sagaf pouncing on a parried save to give The Daggers the advantage.

After another half of constant pressing and more missed opportunities, City finally found the deserved equalizer, as Sam Sanders thumped home brilliantly from just inside the box, six minutes from time.

John Askey provided an unchanged lineup following a narrow 1-0 win over Torquay, with Manny Duku also returning to the bench.

Dagenham played out a 1-1 draw with rivals Southend at the weekend, and just Junior Morias dropped down to the bench, as Josh Walker came in as replacement.

Early on, Alex Hurst's weaving run saw him try a shot which was deflected out for a York corner, before the resulting set piece was met by a Maziar Kouhyar bullet header, forcing Elliot Justham to tip over.

An unbelievable goalless spell in the Daggers box left City wondering how they had not broke the deadlock after ten minutes - Lenell John-Lewis' header was punched off the line by Justham, before another effort was brilliantly kept out by the 'keeper, then Gus Mafuta smashed it off the underside of the bar, with the scramble concluding with the shot stopper holding another John-Lewis header.

The game cooled down for a short period, before Dagenham found their first opportunity of the game 16 minutes later - Walker's initial shot was well-saved by a diving Ethan Ross, but Mo Sagaf was there to pounce for his first goal of the season, firing in to give the away side the lead.

A first half that had slowly toned down throughout, had a fairly monotonous conclusion, with the final chance occurring when Ryan Fallowfield latched onto Olly Dyson's ball, and from a tight angle, poked it across goal, however the offside flag meant that any outcome wouldn't have stood anyway.

A more intriguing start to the second forty-five followed, as York's Fallowfield was straight back into the action, firstly nodding so agonizingly wide from a Hurst cross, and then minutes later, he got his head to a perfect cross from Alex Whittle, again heading narrowly wide.

Experienced striker John-Lewis was still looking for his first home goal of the season for The Minstermen, and came ever so close to doing so, when after some silky footwork from Hurst on the left, he leaped to direct the incoming cross towards goal, with it floating just inches wide.

Matters were then switched to the opposite end, as in-form Dagger Josh Walker broke through the City defence, before striking at the 'keeper, who fantastically blocked the shot out of danger.

The hosts, nevertheless, were still without an equalizer, and came close, as Whittle's second touch thunderbolt from the edge of the 'D' settled on top of the net, rather than below it.

It was surely about time that Fallowfield found his first goal in maroon, but the wait continued as he watched his shot fly over the top, and then Kouhyar's long shot did hit the target, but all in all, it was an easy catch for the 'keeper.

Sandwiched in between came Myles Weston's effort, which was drilled wide of the York goal, keeping the game open to any outcome.

Six minutes before full time, Dagenham paid the price for failing to clear a loose ball in the area and following some great work by debut-maker Nathan Thomas, it fell to defender Sam Sanders, who made no mistake in perfectly thumping the ball home to level the game, going into the closing stages.

Desperate to get all three points, Kouhyar was back at it with another shot from distance, forcing Justham to tip over, however The Minstermen were made to settle for a point, as Sanders' late strike kept the Yorkshire side in a comfortable 7th place in the National League table.