Dagenham and Redbridge new boy Josh Rees aims to bring goals

New Dagenham & Redbridge signing Josh Rees says he hopes to bring goals from midfield after joining the National League club.

Rees has signed a two-year deal at Victoria Road, having spent the last two seasons at rivals Boreham Wood.

And fans will be hoping the 29-year-old can replicate the type of form he showed for Bromley in 2017-18, when he netted 20 times in 55 appearances.

“I’m delighted, it’s a club I know quite well, not playing here before but being in opposition dugouts or on the pitch and it’s a big club at this level,” Rees told the club website.

“I really enjoyed my time playing here before, always a competitive game, and can’t wait to get going.

“I was very familiar with the National League and Dagenham & Redbridge over the years, so I bring that experience of the league.

“[I’m a], box-to-box midfielder, high energy, like to get on the ball and play, but probably the main thing I offer from that position is goals.

“Over the years I’ve got my fair share of them, so hoping to bring that in a Dagenham shirt.”

Rees joined Arsenal as a schoolboy and spent several years in their academy before leaving in 2012 and joining Nottingham Forest.

Loan spells in non-league followed, before he signed for Chelmsford and went on to play for Bromley, League One side Gillingham, and Aldershot.

And he said he was impressed by meeting manager Ben Strevens and hearing about his project for Daggers.

“The manager played a massive part in getting me here,” he added. 

“I had very early conversations with him, my contract ended at Boreham Wood and the manager was one of the first to contact me.

“I met him and it was only meant to be a 20-minute chat and it ended up being maybe an hour, hour and a half just talking football, his ideas of what he wants to bring this season, where I fit into those ideas. 

“That really convinced me, when you feel wanted by a manager, it always convinces you ‘I want to be playing under him’. And the technical ideas he has got for me.

“What he wants to bring to the club and what he has got here already, I believe in the project he has set out for this season.”

Rees helped Boreham Wood into the play-offs last season, making 43 appearances and scoring five times before their last-gasp 3-2 extra-time loss at Notts County – where former Dagger Jodi Jones netted a 120th-minute winner – on May 7.

And he admitted he was relishing getting back on the training pitch and starting pre-season at Daggers.

“It gets to that point in football where you can’t wait to end the season, your body is on its last legs, and then you have a week break and you miss it all of a sudden and you can’t wait to get back,” he said.

“I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve played against a lot of the boys here so I have a good idea of the lads, I know how talented some of them are, so I’m really excited to see what they can bring to the table.

“For me, it’s a start at a new club and I’m really looking forward to it.”