Dagenham & Redbridge started the season with a 3-1 win over the promotion favorites Stockport County.
Goals from Will Wright, Josh Walker and Matt Robinson sealed the three points for the Daggers despite losing 1-0 early on.
The game began when the hosts controlled most of the possession, with Paddy Madden blocking an early attempt after four minutes.
The Daggers began putting together some nice passing moves, but the fast-starting county was able to expropriate Matt Robinson, among others, to continue their strong start.
The hatters took the lead after 10 minutes through John Rooney. Madden managed to make room on the right before shoving a ball across the box to Rooney, who converted confidently.
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McMahon’s men grew into the game after the goal, but could not get together until the 16th.
The Daggers stayed on their forefoot with Matt Robinson shooting from 22 yards after Balanta and Vilhete carved out some space on the left.
We earned corner by corner to get back into the game, but we couldn’t make one out of one.
At 35 minutes it looked like Vilhete Robinson had played in, but the subsequent ball, which McCallum was looking for, was touched for another corner before the No. 9 could hit it.
After 39 minutes, Balanta attempted to toss a ball around the corner to pursue a chaser, but Stockport captain Liam Hogan handled the ball and received a yellow card and free kick for the Daggers.
In the 40th minute, Will Wright rose and rolled his shot beautifully over the wall and over the outstretched Hinchliffe to level the score five minutes before the end of the game at half time.
Neither team was able to dominate the game in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but it was the Daggers who got into the net first, with Josh Walker – for the injured Angelo Balanta – getting past Hinchliffe within a minute of the Entering the field of play.
Three minutes later, Matt Robinson made it to three and lunged with an excellent Will Wright performance to give McMahon’s team a two-goal cushion.
Josh Walker beat his man on pace in the 63rd minute before playing Mo Sagaf behind, but his shot was parried well by Hinchliffe’s near post.
Walker was back on the ball in the 67th minute, knocking out the county goalkeeper, but the ball was only deflected over the crossbar.
The Daggers continued their dominance for the next 10 minutes, with Ling coming close and Robinson and Vilhete particularly enjoying some nice pass changes.
Walker was close again in the 86th minute, but Hinchliffe parried again to keep his team in the game.
The rest of the game was survived well by the Daggers who dealt with some dangerous crosses towards the end of the game, but McMahon’s men took all three points at Edgeley Park.
Dagenham & Redbridge: Justham, Wright, Reynolds, Johnson, Ling, Sagaf, Jones, Robinson, Vilhete (Weston 90+), Balanta © (Walker 54 ‘), McCallum
Subs: Walker, Weston, Saunders, Phipps, Blair
