National League: Maidenhead Utd 1 Dagenham & Redbridge 0

Dagenham & Redbridge suffered a third successive National League defeat as their tough start to the 2023-24 season continued.

After the home side forced an early corner, Daggers enjoyed a good spell of possession, controlling the play.

Another Magpies corner was defended well by the visitors on 17 minutes, befoer the hosts had a half chance from a deep free-kick.

Play was held up while Maidenhead’s Jayden Mitchell-Lawson received treatment, with Alan Devonshire’s side awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position just past the half-hour mark.

But Charlee Adams blazed the set-piece over Elliot Justham’s crossbar, with Casey Pettit also shooting too high from 20 yards five minutes before the break as the scoreline remained blank.

Adams needed attention from the Maidenhead physio, before Daggers had their best opening on the stroke of half-time and saw Sam Ling fire over.

The first chance of the second half saw Inih Effiong get too much on his curling effort on 50 minutes, but Reece Smith put the Magpies ahead just before the hour mark, firing a right-footed strike into the top corner of the net.

Justham produced a fingertip save to turn a long-range effort from Adams over for a corner on 70 minutes, with Frank Vincent making way for Sydney Ibie in the first Daggers change of the day soon after.

Elliott Johnson was replaced by Omar Mussa six minutes from time, with Josh Rees making way for Aaron Blair in the final change as normal time drew to a close and seven minutes of stoppage time were signalled.

But Daggers could not get back on terms and finished empty-handed once again.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Justham, Johnson (Mussa 84), Tavares, Hessenthaler, Vincent (Ibie 73), Rees (Blair 90), Effiong, Weston, Phipps, Kendall, Ling. Unused subs: Strizovic, Terry.

Attendance: 1,132.