2010/05/30 - Dagenham & Redbridge 3 Rotherham United 2 - League 2 Play-Off Final

Today I'm going back 12 years to 2010 and the League 2 Play-Off Final between "the Daggers" of Dagenham & Redbridge and "the Millers" of Rotherham United at Wembley played in front of 32,054 spectators. 

Rotherham had finished the regular season in fifth spot behind Champions Notts County, automatically promoted AFC Bournemouth and Rochdale and fourth placed Play-Off rivals Morecambe. Dagenham & Redbridge finished two places further back in seventh place, a single point behind Rotherham and in the last of the Play-Off places. Sixth placed Aldershot Town made up the fourth of the Play-Off competitors. In the Play-Off Semi-Finals Dagenham destroyed Morecambe 6-0 in the First Leg of their tie, eventually going through 7-2 on aggregate. Meanwhile, Rotherham United won both legs of their own Play-Off Semi-Final against Aldershot Town, going through to Wembley 3-0 on aggregate.

According to the commentator (see the video attached to my blog), Rotherham started this match as favourites following victory over Dagenham both home and away during the regular season albeit that, going into the game, Dagenham were the team in form (six victories out of their last seven compared to Rotherham's stuttering four wins in eleven). We had to wait until the 38th minute for the first goal of the afternoon which was scored by Dagenham's top scorer Paul Benson, his 22nd goal of the season, steered past former Rotherham's York City goalkeeper Andy Warrington for 1-0. Within a minute however, Rotherham were level. A quick throw to Kevin Ellison was looped into the box for Ryan Taylor to head home making it 1-1 going into the halftime break. 

In the 56th minute, Dagenham midfielder Danny Green restored Dagenham's advantage with a sweet strike from the edge of the penalty area but again Rotherham would not lie down. Back they came within five minutes and it was that man Ryan Taylor who once again restored parity by rifling the ball past Tony Roberts in the Dagenham goal. Taylor proceeded to whip off his shirt revealing a vest which he then also decided to remove. Well if you're going to get a booking for removing your shirt then you may as well make it a slow reveal I suppose. Perhaps it should have been two yellow cards? Then, with 20 minutes remaining, Dagenham had a corner and, when Rotherham failed to clear their lines, there was Barbados international striker Jon Nurse to finish untidily thanks to a deflection off of Kevin Ellison. It was 3-2 to Dagenham and the goal proved to be the match winner. Dagenham were going up to League 1 and the highest level at which they have ever played.

Post match, Daggers Manager John Still acknowledged that his team would be the biggest ever favourites for relegation the following season and goal keeper Tony Roberts admitted that his side were "a pub team from Essex". Certainly Dagenham's Wembley success was the high point in their existence because, sure enough, the following season Dagenham finished 21st in League 1 and were indeed relegated back to the fourth tier. This signalled the start of a period of struggle for the Essex club and they were eventually relegated back into Non-League in 2016 following a nine year stay in the Football League. They have remained in the National League ever since. 

CRB Match No. 1753