Gravesend & N 1 Dagenham 2

GRAVESEND & Northfleet boss Andy Ford was bitterly disappointed after seeing his side go down to Nationwide Conference title favourites Dagenham at Stonebridge Road last night.

Fleet were denied a deserved equaliser three times by the woodwork in the second half as Danny Shipp’s goal immediately after the break proved to be decisive.

Ford said: “I am absolutely gutted for the players because they have worked their socks off again and we have got nothing from the game.” The Fleet boss admitted his side were on a learning curve when it came to playing in the Conference.

A bumper crowd of 2,036, watching the first Conference game at Stonebridge Road for 20 years, saw the teams go in level after the opening 45 minutes.

Liam Hatch’s header from a corner was Fleet’s best early effort, before the prolific Mark Stein put the visitors ahead when he was left unmarked at the far post to score in the 24th minute.

Fleet responded positively and had a blatant penalty turned down just after the half hour mark when Mark Bentley went down in the box under a clumsy challenge.

With Gravesend still venting their anger at the decision, justice was done soon after when Steve McGavin was adjudged to have fouled Paul Sturgess in the area.

Paul Booth stepped up to take the spot kick and calmly sent former Wales keeper Tony Roberts the wrong way for a 34th minute equaliser.

It looked as though the home side could build on the goal, but they were hit with a sucker punch after less than two minutes of the second half.

Shipp turned his marker on the edge of the box and fired the ball low into the corner of the net past keeper Paul Wilkerson.

Fleet continued to probe for an equaliser and hit the woodwork twice in a minute, as first substitute Tostao Kwashi’s shot cannoned off the inside of the post on 78 minutes, before a Jimmy Strouts header rebounded off the bar.

Again Gravesend’s luck was out when Kwashi raced down the right wing and whipped in a cross only for another Strouts header to rattle the bar five minutes later.

The Essex side were able to hang onto their lead and could have added a third in stoppage time as the Gravesend woodwork was all that kept out efforts by substitute Junior McDougald and Paul Bruce.

Gravesend: Wilkerson, Lee, Sturgess (Kwashi 56mins), Burton, Barnett, Jackson, Owen (Berkeley 75mins), Strouts, Bentley, Hatch, Booth (Stadhart 81mins). Subs not used: Turner, Smith.