Dagenham & Redbridge boss feels frustration is good sign

Daggers are set to visit National League new boys Oxford City on Saturday, before hosting Bromley at Victoria Road on Tuesday.

And they are looking to bounce back after seeing a three-match winning run come to an end in a 3-1 loss against the second-placed Spireites last weekend.

“We’re gutted, we’re disappointed and feel like we should’ve done better,” Strevens told the club website.

“I’m frustrated and gutted because I feel we could’ve got more from the game. That’s probably a good feeling for me to have.

“But I want them to do better, to try and win these type of matches.

“From three [successive] defeats to how the boys have performed the last two weeks, to feel the way we do now is probably understandable, we want to do better.”

Ryan Hill had a great chance to open the scoring, but was denied by a save from Harry Tyrer, before setting up Josh Rees to put Daggers ahead five minutes before the break.

However, Harry Phipps was given his marching orders for pulling back Will Grigg midway through the second half and Ryan Colclough levelled from a free-kick for the home side.

The 10-man Daggers held out until Grigg converted a last-minute penalty, with Ollie Banks adding a last-gasp third.

“Full credit to them, they’re a strong team, really good management team, fantastic players,” added Strevens.

“I think they’re going to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, but I don’t want that to take away from my frustrations now.”

Despite his obvious disappointment at coming away empty-handed, Strevens saw plenty of good things from his side, who now sit in 13th place with 10 points from eight matches, to give him encouragement for their upcoming fixtures.

“The shape without the ball, to try and be compact and not let them play through us and to break,” he said.

“If we had come here and tried to be really expansive and fight fire with fire we probably would’ve got opened up a few times.

“They’ve got threats all over the pitch, but we felt if we could stay compact and break we would get opportunities and we did.

“Reesy took his goal fantastically well but there was other moments in the first half, really big ones, other decisions have been key to it.

“Frustration and want to do better, that’s my overriding feeling.”

Oxford City sit three points and one point behind Daggers, having extended their unbeaten run to five matches with a 5-2 victory over promotion-chasing Hartlepool United on Saturday.

Trailing 2-1 at the break, they scored three times in seven minutes just past the hour mark to turn the game on its head before adding a late fifth on their artificial Marsh Lane surface.

And that second victory of the campaign came after Ross Jenkins’ side had held then leaders Solihull Moors to a 3-3 draw, following a 4-0 win over Boreham Wood on Bank Holiday Monday.