Dagenham's first venture into the Carling Cup ended at the first round stage following a 2-1 defeat at home to League One Luton Town. Once again they competed well against a team expected to challenge at the top of their league, a positive that should be taken for the rest of the season, but fell just short in securing a result on the evening.

John Still's line-up showed one change from the defeat at Stockport, that being Chris Moore in the starting eleven with Paul Benson dropping out. It was the Hatters who started the game the brighter though; Dean Morgan had a low shot that skimmed wide while Sam Parkin was denied by typically brave defending by Anwar Uddin.

Glen Southam had Daggers first attempt but as the rain lashed down on the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Stadium, conditions that remained throughout the evening, the match entered into a bit of a lull. It was only really until ten minutes before the break did the game really burst into life.

During that spell, Daggers supporters wondered quite how their team didn't score, while Luton fans celebrated that their team did find the net. It all started from a Sam Sloma corner, met by Dave Rainford and partially saved by Dean Brill. Moore found himself in a goalmouth melee before Rainford was denied by a brilliant stop from the Luton keeper, who tipped the ball onto the woodwork before seeing it go out for another corner.

Rainford had his third attempt in barely a minute from the next set-piece; his volley was blocked by Parkin. The Daggers were denied again, and the visitors went on to make their first mark on the game.

After Morgan had failed to convert a swift counter-attack, the Hatters were awarded a penalty after a tussle between Jon Nurse and Parkin saw the Daggers striker punished. The referee waved away the protests, leaving Matthew Spring to slot home the penalty.

Dagenham started the second half well, continuing to battle against their higher level opponents. Uddin had a header deflected wide, while a crisp volley from Southam hit Chris Coyne. At the other end, Scott Griffiths was well placed to divert a Paul Furlong header away from his post.

As the home side pushed forward, Kevin Blackwell's team always looked capable of mounting a counter-attack. Their second goal, on 68 minutes, came after Daggers lost possession. Drew Talbot burst forward and drove a shot that took a deflection to wrong-foot Tony Roberts in front of the away support.

It looked a long way back from 2-0 down, yet the Daggers got themselves a chance after Moore skilfully turned into the Luton area. His shot was palmed by Brill, but only into the path of Ben Strevens, who found himself in the right place the halve the deficit.

Dagenham battled all the way to the final whistle, but arguably the best chance of the final few minutes fell to the visitors; Furlong not managing to get enough purchase to convert Lewis Emanuel's cross. The game ended with Roberts almost scoring from a Saunders corner but that was as close as they got and despite all their hard work John Still's men found themselves out of the competition.