Dagenham & Redbridge pay penalty in Eastleigh defeat

The visitors took the lead on six minutes when Kairo Mitchell was brought down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot, with Danny Whitehall converting from 12 yards.

And after play was delayed due to a techincal issue among the officials, Daggers saw Mo Sagaf fire wide before having a great chance to draw level on 19 minutes.

Sam Ling did well on the right to cut the ball back for newcomer Inih Effiong, whose two goals had secured victory over Solihull Moors on Saturday, but the striker put his effort wide of an inviting target.

Elliot Justham saved from Jake Hesketh, while Junior Morias was denied by a timely block from Christian Maghoma at the other end.

But Eastleigh were awarded a second spot-kick on 38 minutes when Manny Onariase was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, only for Elliot Justham to guess right and produce a fine save to deny Mitchell.

Joe McDonnell tipped Omar Mussa’s free-kick over the crossbar and Daggers saw Harry Phipps head over from Mussa’s corner just before the break, as they remained in arrears.

Sagaf made way for Myles Weston during the interval in the first Daggers change of the night, with the hosts making an encouraging start to the second half.

Morias did well to beat his man on the left and call McDonnell into action, with Dean Rance firing the rebound over on 57 minutes, and Daryl McMahon made his second change with just over 20 minutes remaining, as Angelo Balanta replaced Mussa.

Jay Bird came off the bench for the final few minutes, as Sam Ling made way, in a final throw of the dice by Daggers, but they could not find an equaliser and dropped to 10th, two points off the play-off places ahead of Saturday’s trip to Scunthorpe United.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Justham, Johnson, Rance, Onariase, Mussa (Balanta 69), Effiong, Sagaf (Weston 46), Robinson, Phipps, Ling (Bird 84), Morias. Unused subs: Longe-King, Ibie.