Under-21s victorious at Dagenham

Our Under-21s continued their positive pre-season run of results with a 3-1 win at Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday afternoon.

Jude Soonsup-Bell's early strike was cancelled out from the penalty spot by Daggers' captain Junior Morias just before half-time but a bright second-half display saw us deservedly regain the lead with a wonderful strike from Leo Black, with substitute Jaden Williams rounding off the scoring shortly afterwards.

It made for a winning return to his old club for our Under-21s Coach Wayne Burnett, who was once again able to give plenty of players match minutes against senior opposition.

There was further good news in the latter stages, with attacker Oli Irow making his return to action off the bench after several months out with a knee injury, in doing so making his first appearance at Under-21 level.

Jahziah Linton sent in a couple of early crosses from the left which caused the National League hosts problems at the back, but the opener arrived in unusual circumstances on the 10-minute mark as Dagenham goalkeeper Josh Strizovic picked up a backpass, with Yago Santiago teeing up Soonsup-Bell to blast unstoppably into the top corner with the resulting indirect free-kick from inside the hosts' box.

One of several trialists in the Dagenham side sent a header onto the roof of the net, but on 42 minutes they equalised from the spot when defender Archie Baptiste was adjudged to have brought down Morias in our box as he latched onto a loose pass and the Dagenham skipper lashed high into the net from 12 yards.

We made a bright start to the second half, another Linton delivery from the left just a bit too heavy for the unmarked Williams to connect with in the middle of the box before a clever short free-kick routine saw Yusuf Akhamrich tee up substitute Rio Kyerematen who, with his first touch of the game, saw a rasping shot tipped onto the post by the keeper.

Seconds later, with 64 minutes on the clock, we were back in front and it was thanks to some wonderful control from Black, who pulled the ball down in the box, took it past his marker and guided a deft shot into the bottom corner.

Five minutes later, it was game over and Black was involved again, latching onto a pass into the box on the left side and drawing the keeper off his line, with a subsequent loose ball despatched via a fierce shot-on-the-turn by Williams. Dagenham couldn't mount a response after that, as we saw out a third win of the pre-season period.

Match data

Goals: Dagenham - Morias 42 (pen); Spurs - Soonsup-Bell 10, Black 64, Williams 69.

Yellow card: Spurs - Baptiste 14.

Referee: Morgan Conn.

Venue: Chigwell Construction Stadium, Victoria Road, Dagenham.

Weather: Sunny, gentle breeze, 23 degrees.

Attendance: 541.