Stevenage had an early start today, travelling to Essex for this Southern Counties 2nd round cup tie away to Barking & Dagenham. The home side always produce good teams, such is the nature of the area, but we travelled with confidence after last week’s excellent performance in the ESFA National cup, defeating a strong Dacorum side by 3-0.

Because of the journey, we decided on a smaller squad of 11 players (we will rotate everybody through the season) so Nathaniel (hamstring injury) and Tommy would sit this one out.

We decided to start positively with a back three of Joshua, Kamau and Arthur in front of keeper Noah. Max and Conor would play centrally, Max being asked to support our attacks and Conor to provide a shield for the back three. Teddy and Albert were asked to provide us with some width, and we moved Joseph up into an attacking role (as he usually ends up there anyway, even if playing centre half ?). With Leo and Tobi as our subs, we had a strong attacking side.

The Barking & Dagenham side was packed with talent, the majority of which are at Cat 1 academies such as Tottenham, Crystal Palace and West Ham. But we gave as good as we got in the opening exchanges and, if anything, we created the better chances and could’ve been 2-0 up before we eventually took the lead. Our goal came from Albert McGregor once again, as he got into the box and finished with his weaker right foot again.

But we were having to work hard defensively as Barking & Dagenham kept breaking with speed, and despite a fantastic performance from Noah in the Stevenage goal, the hosts went 2-1 up before the break. But the game was still end-to-end and Stevenage levelled before half-time when Conor Howard stepped up and stroked a penalty kick into the net, despite the keeper getting a hand to it, for 2-2.

We were pretty much under the cosh for most of the second period, but again some great defending (especially from Kamau and Noah) kept the hosts at bay. I also thought Conor did very well for us, a good, disciplined display in central midfield. So, the game ended all square, and despite the superiority in the Barking & Dagenham squad, we were still in the game going into extra time.

Unfortunately we had a lapse in concentration and allowed, probably the best player on the pitch, to walk into our area unmarked and have a free header from a corner for 3-2. In the second period of extra-time Dagenham then took control of the game, and further goals saw them eventually come out as 6-2 winners – which was quite harsh after the first hour, but then if you allow good players the freedom of the pitch then they are going to hurt you. The same dangerous player was allowed to pick up the ball in his own half and travel unchecked or unchallenged as he went forward to the edge of our box and had a free shot at goal which ended up in the back of the net.

It was tough out there for the boys today, they were beaten by the better side and came up against some really good players, but that is district football for you. But I was really impressed with hard we battled in the first hour.