A bright start soon seemed a distant memory as the Daggers were dumped out of the FA Cup With Budweiser at the 3rd round stage by a Millwall team intent on turning their own season around.
When the news filtered through about Brian Woodall's absence the 542 travelling fans in the sparse crowd would have feared the worse, Woodall along with Cristian Montano dropped out of Saturday's team with Richard Rose coming in to shore up the midfield and DJ Green deployed on the right flank tasked with supplying lone striker Jon Nurse.
But after a bright start Millwall took the lead after just seven minutes in slightly fortuitous fashion, fit again Darius Henderson latched on to an intended shot from Harry Kane and calmly curled past Lewington from 12 yards. It was a real body blow for John Still's side and that goal signalled a change of momentum in the game, for the rest of the half Nurse was an isolated figure up top as the two Greens were forced back to defend more often than not.
Feeney missed a great chance as he scuffed a shot wide from 6 yards before the impressive Kane twice tested Lewington with the young 'keeper coming out on top both times. As he revealed after the game to Daggers Player Still would have been relatively content with a 1-0 scoreline at half time but that was taken away from the visitors just five minutes before the break.
Dom Green lost the ball just inside his own half and Henderson drove towards the goal, after drawing the stretched defence towards him he slipped in Kane who finished well from 20 yards as he shot across Lewington into the far corner. Two late 1st half efforts from Rose were both dragged wide and the teams went into the dressing rooms with the Lions up 2-0.
Rob Edmans was brought on for his debut at the break, the very tall striker would be hoping to help the isolated Nurse and relieve some of the pressure on the Daggers backline. He came on for Ahmed Abdulla and made an instant impact as the Daggers had their best spell of the match just after the restart.
An Edmans flick on eventually fell to Nurse who shot over the bar under pressure and on the stretch, it looked like a corner but a goal kick was given. DJ then fired wide from 25 yards before a Billy Bingham cross deceived David Forde in goal for Millwall and struck the bar, the rebound came down into the field of play and with Edmans bearing down on him Millwall captain Paul Robinson produced an outstanding defensive header to clear the danger.
But as the Daggers were looking like the more likely next scorers Millwall made it 3. Kane played a lovely reverse pass to set Feeney in on goal on the left, Lewington rushed out to the winger but he unselfishly squared for Henderson to tap into an empty net. Still responded by getting Jake Reed ready for action but as he was waiting to come on Millwall made it 4.
Rose & Ilesanmi combined to bring down Kane in the box and Henderson stepped up to send Lewington the wrong way from the spot. Reed then came on for Dom who struggled to get into the game before Millwall made it five.
A cross came in from the left to the far post, Henderson climbed well to nod it into the middle where Kane was waiting to head home past the hapless Lewington. With the game now over as a contest both sides made further subs with Eoin Wearen coming on for Rose in the final Daggers change.
A few half chances came and went for both sides in the closing stages and the game ended 5-0. With injuries to Sam Williams, Josh Scott, Brian Woodall and Adam Cunnington being cup-tied the Daggers were lacking a physical presence up front and that proved costly as Millwall ran out worthy winners, the scoreline may have been harsh but Millwall certainly deserved their win and their place in the 4th round where they will host Southampton.
Attendance - 3651 (542 Away)
For post-match reaction from John Still click here
To read updates from the match as it happened click here.
