It's not often you lose 4-0 and comment that you've played well but that was the prospect facing John Still after his team bowed out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at Gillingham. Still could be very pleased with how his side put together some terrific moves, however they were undone by a combination of some tremendous finishing from the home side along with a couple of refereeing decisions that went against them.

The Daggers made three changes from the side that battled their way to victory at Hampton and Richmond. Ben Strevens, Soloman Taiwo and Anwar Uddin were all back in the side meaning that Still deployed the same 4-3-3 formation that did so well at the end of the Hampton tie.

And the Daggers looked comfortable with their set up early on. Glen Southam fashioned the first effort; a right footed drive that veered away from goal. Paul Benson also looked lively early on with his presence causing a few problems in the home defence. The forward had a couple of decent efforts in the early stages.

That was until Gillingham scored the opener on the 15 minute mark. There didn't appear to be much danger when Craig Armstrong picked up the ball on the left touchline midway inside the visitors half. Nevertheless the full back ghosted into a shooting opportunity and then curled a right footed shot beyond Tony Roberts.

Dagenham could have equalised not long after Armstrong's strike. Southam's corner was heading in the direction of an onrushing Dave Rainford, who at full stretch couldn't quite direct his header on target. Shane Huke also volleyed wide from the edge of the area. It looked like Taiwo's effort was also heading for the bottom corner, only for the ball to hit Strevens and bounce clear.

There was no reward for all that effort, and the League Two side were punished with another good finish from the Gills. An attack formed on their left and as the Daggers failed to clear, the ball ended up at the feet of Aaron Brown. The midfielder hit a crisp volley from the edge of the area that ended up in the bottom corner of the net.

Despite the double setback, the Daggers still pressed, with most of the efforts in the first half still being fired at Derek Stillie's goal. A fine cross from Scott Griffiths reached Benson, who saw his glanced header fly a yard or so wide of the post.

Taiwo's wicked cross early in the second half was headed over his own bar, just, by Ian Cox while from the resulting corner Benson had another effort which he couldn't quite direct on target.

After an outrageous piece of skill by Chris Dickson, the referee, to the surprise of many at the Priestfield Stadium, awarded a penalty presumably deciding that Rainford had tugged Barry Cogan while challenging for Dickson's cross. To make matters worse not only did Dickson convert the penalty; the referee also showed a red card to the Daggers midfielder.

Sam Sloma and Jon Nurse, making a welcome return from injury, came on immediately after Dickson's penalty and Sloma crossed for Huke, whose header forced a save from Stillie.

It became four after the referee awarded another free-kick disputed by the Daggers. Twenty-five yards from goal, Cogan lined up a shot that Roberts pushed onto the post. However the ball came off the post, rolled off the line and Dennis Oli was hand to score the easiest of debut goals.

It was really only after the fourth did the Gills exert their authority on the field against the ten men. Roberts made a superb save to deny 15 year old Luke Freeman from getting his name on the score sheet. However the score line was harsh enough on the Daggers and the fact that centre-half Cox was named the home sponsors man of the match emphasised the point that the Daggers deserved more.