So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, but first Dagenham. And so, as we said right there, this is Christmas – and we hope you had fun. Now for the part that could be less fun – yep, it’s a Boro’ away day. Off to east London we go and the last game on the road of 2014. You don’t need us to tell you how our travels have panned out this year…
It’s been a while since we entertained the Daggers in a league fixture. March 2007 was the last time. And they know what it’s like to do the League One adventure and then fall back into League Two purgatory. After skulking around at the wrong end of the table for a couple of seasons, last season saw a marked improvement; a seventh place finish achieved in the final standings.
This season, the Daggers are eyeing up a tasty two-up two-down in the region of 20th with a view to buying. If you like a bit of irony sprinkled across your Christmas leftovers, it’s their away form to date that should be taking credit for keeping them out of the relegation zone, not their home form of three wins, no draws and seven defeats in 10 outings at their gaff.
Do we have, therefore, a realistic chance of winning on the road? Well, ’tis the season…
FIFA Verdict
We put this one to the PlayStation to see what the craic is, but FIFA 15 has us lining-up at Dagenham like we did at Newport. And we’re still trying to forget that one. In the end, we were twice behind but twice back on terms and Barney fluffed his lines for the big finale. Our highlight, though, was Bira’s demolition job on their forward as the play went by some distance away:
Betting
For a festive flutter, we’re in the unusual position of being the bookies‘ favourite for this one (8/5, BetVictor) – our hosts can be backed at 2s (Bet365) and the draw is 12/5 in a few places. Is the evens enough for you to take a punt on Over 2.5 Goals? Us to win by a single goal margin at 10/3 looks tasty; Patrick Agyemang is 3s (Bet365) as anytime scorer for them is less so…
Bethlehem is full at this time of year – go to Dagenham with the help of our club guide instead.
