Wealdstone v Dagenham & Redbridge - Match Preview
THE DETAILS
Wealdstone v Dagenham & Redbridge Vanarama National League Grosvenor Vale
Saturday 8 May, 3:00pm kick-off
This game will take place behind closed doors.
HOW TO WATCH
Due to current COVID-19 restrictions enforced on outdoor spectator sport, this game will currently take place behind closed doors. Stones commentator Tim Parks will be joined by our all-time leading scorer and Dagenham FC legend George Duck.
You can purchase a streaming pass for the fixture by clicking HERE.
THE CONTEXT Dagenham & Redbridge come to Grosvenor Vale as the National League's form side after five straight wins have propelled them from lower mid-table obscurity to harbouring an outside chance of sneaking into the play-offs. They picked up a Bank Holiday weekend double after beating London rivals Barnet 2-0 on Saturday and then struggling Woking 3-1 at home on the Monday. Wealdstone's form is quite the opposite to Saturday's visitors after weekend defeats to Yeovil Town and Stockport County now leave the Stones pointless in six. But football is a funny old game and the Stones will be out to upset the form table on Saturday afternoon.
TEAM NEWS
Riley Harbottle and Jack Cawley could both return to the side on the weekend, Harbottle has been missing with an arm injury whilst Cawley spent time out on loan at former club Concord Rangers to play for them in their FA Trophy final defeat to EFL League Two side Harrogate Town at Wembley on Monday. Danny Parish is doubtful as he recovers from illness and the injured duo of Dennon Lewis and Alex Dyer are fighting for fitness after coming off injured against Yeovil Town last week. George Shelvey, Nikola Tavares, George Langston and Josh Meekings all remain sidelined and Craig Fasanmade has returned to Hungerford Town following the completion of his loan spell.
FORM GUIDE Stones: Stockport County (A) 4-0 L
Yeovil Town (H) 0-2 L
Aldershot Town (A) 2-0 L Maidenhead United (H) 0-6 L
Hartlepool United (H) 2-7 L (Lo-Everton, Gondoh)
Dagenham & Redbridge: Woking (H) 3-1 W (McCallum 2, Balanta) Barnet (A) 0-2 W (McCallum, Robinson) King's Lynn Town (A) 0-3 W (McCallum, Balanta, Robinson) Solihull Moors (H) 3-2 W (Saunders, Balanta, Robinson)
Eastleigh (H) 2-0 W (Balanta, McCallum)
WHO TO WATCH FOR?
Paul McCallum: A seasoned striker at this level, McCallum joined the Daggers in the summer from fellow National League side Solihull Moors. After a series of loan spells out of parent club West Ham United, the striker finally ended up at Leyton Orient where despite 12 goals in 33 appearances, he couldn't help keep them in the EFL and he moved to Eastleigh. Life in the National League began well for the striker and his 36 goals in 73 appearances with the Spitfires earned him a big-money move to Solihull, but he couldn't replicate his form and was loaned to Barnet last season where his five goals in seven games helped guide them into the play-off places. He's had a slow start to life with the Daggers but is now in red-hot form with five goals in his last five matches.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Played - 8 Won - 2 Drawn - 1 Lost - 5 * as Dagenham & Redbridge
Played - 27 Won - 16 Drawn - 3 Lost - 8 * as Dagenham
Played - 1 Won - 0 Drawn - 0 Lost - 1 * as Redbridge Forest
LAST FIVE MEETINGS Oct 2020 - Dagenham & Redbridge 1-0 Stones Oct 2016 - Dagenham & Redbridge 3-1 Stones (Whichelow) Jul 2015 - Stones 3-1 Dagenham & Redbridge (Godfrey, Lucien, Hutchinson) Jul 2014 - Stones 2-1 Dagenham & Redbridge (Pigden, Malcolm) Jul 2010 - Stones 1-3 Dagenham & Redbridge (Ngoyi)
MATCH SPONSORS
We would like to thank People for Print and LGM Construction who are both sponsoring Saturday's National League game as match sponsors, and would also like to thank ball sponsor in memory of fans who are no longer with us.
Preview by Chris Woods