National League: Dagenham & Redbridge 1 Maidstone United 0

Dagenham & Redbridge banked the Boxing Day points against lowly National League rivals Maidstone at Victoria Road.

Myles Weston’s goal towards the end of the first half proved enough to secure victory for the hosts, leaving them just one point off the play-off places at the end of 2022.

And they will look to complete a quickfire double when the two sides meet again in their first outing of 2023 at Maidstone on Monday January 2.

Dominic Odusanya headed the first chance of the game over for Maidstone after just two minutes, but the hosts went close on 12 minutes when Junior Morias saw a curling effort parried by Norwich City loanee Daniel Barden.

Omar Mussa sent a speculative attempt well over midway through the half, but Daggers made the breakthrough eight minutes before the interval when Mussa found 34-year-old Weston on the right and he cut inside onto his favoured left foot and curled a shot into the net for his second goal of the season.

Elliot Justham made a strong save to his right to deny Jerome Binnon-Williams an equaliser just before the hour mark, with Daggers boss Daryl McMahon making a double change soon after, sending Paul McCallum and Mo Sagaf on for Joel Taylor and Mussa respectively.

And the hosts had a great chance to double their advantage on 70 minutes when Morias was found in space out wide and squared for McCallum, but he fired straight at Barden.

Maidstone’s Sha’mar Lawson was shown a yellow card soon after, with Morias having his name taken on 83 minutes.

And Josh Walker made way for Dutch-born forward Sydney Ibie to make his debut in the closing stages, following his recent arrival from Isthmian League side Northwood.

Daggers held onto their slender lead in the final minutes to move up to 10th in the table.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Justham, Weston, Hare, Longe-King, Johnson, Taylor (McCallum 65), Rance, Robinson, Mussa (Sagaf 65), Walker (Ibie 85), Morias. Unused subs: Zouma, Bird.

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