Argyle 3 Dagenham 0: Match report

Whatever Dagenham & Redbridge decide to do to wile away their long journey east after a 3-0 defeat at Home Park, it is safe to say the answer will probably not be 'read'.

They will be utterly sick of the sound of that syllable, after a double from Reuben Reid, either side of a strike from namesake Bobby, saw off the struggling Daggers.

The two Reids, along with the terrific Lewis Alessandra, showed no Christmas spirit whatsoever as they tortured Dagenham and extended an unbeaten run at Home Park which dates back to September.

A late injury to Peter Hartley meant that teenage defender Aaron Bentley made his league debut, and took Hartley's intended spot on the left of three central defenders, with Carl McHugh in the middle, and Anthony O'Connor on the right.

Ollie Norburn started the game in the centre of Argyle's midfield, stepping into the place vacated by Dominic Blizzard, who was injured at Northampton the week before.

Curtis Nelson had also been injured in that game, and so captaincy duties were earmarked for his deputy, Hartley. In both of their absences, Reuben Reid took over as skipper for the day.

Perhaps the late change unsettled the Pilgrims; A high ball in the box in the opening thirty seconds seemed easy pickings to O'Connor, but his attempt to chest the ball back to Luke McCormick was misjudged, and a rapid game of penalty box pinball had hearts fluttering all over Home Park. Within a minute, Joss Labadie advanced to the edge of the box and toed one not far from McCormick's right hand post.

Shaking off the early scare, Argyle settled, and some excellent work by Lewis Alessandra in the left channel teed up Lee Cox, who shot just wide. Alessandra, Norburn and Andy Kellett then combined neatly for the latter to fire a low cross in, but it was excellently defender by Scott Doe.

Ayo Abileye, playing as the furthest right of three defenders, as Dagenham matched Argyle's 3-5-2 system, floated a gorgeous ball towards veteran striker Jamie Cureton, who still appeared to have a lot to do. Using the benefit of 20+ years of experience, the former Exeter forward improvised, flicking the ball over McCormick, and only just wide of the post.

The game had began at a fair lick, and was extremely wide open. Alessandra demonstrated this, running at the Daggers' defence and firing in a shot that made Mark Cousins work, and it was pure fortune on the goalkeeper's part that the parry fell between Reuben and Bobby Reid, who could not follow up.

Obileye went into the book for a lunging challenge on Alessandra, which was about the closest he had got to Lewi at that point. The Argyle number seven was causing no end of problems for Dagenham's back-line.

Sadly, the intensity and openness of the opening exchanges dried up. The latter part of the half was a turgid, stop-start affair in which the positional similarities of the teams, coupled with some fussy bouts of officiating, stopped anything from flowing.

Until the 41st minute. Little appeared on when Bobby Reid picked up the ball in his own half, but a glorious ball to release Alessandra down the left suddenly tore Dagenham every which way. Alessandra pushed on to the bye-line, with strike partner Reuben Reid advancing in the centre. With every game the duo's understanding seems to improve, and it was perfectly tuned on this occasion. Alessandra waited for the perfect moment that Reuben would peel away from the retreating defenders, and picked him out so that he could push the ball into the unguarded goal.