The Beavers were denied all three points when they conceded a late goal for the second time in a week following Junior Samuels' last minute goal that sealed the Ryman championship for Dagenham at the Beveree last Saturday.

Steve Cordery's men started the brighter and went ahead in first-half injury time when Leroy Griffiths knocked a wide ball to Craig Maskell and his left wing cross found Warren Williams, who hit the ball home from six yards.

Maskell had an effort cleared off the line by Richard Gell and Williams caused constination in the home defence, forcing Adrian Pape to scramble the ball away.

James Courtnage, who wasn't called into any real action until the 75th minute had to be at his best to smother a shot from Simon Ullathorne.

George Borg's men were down, but certainly not out as former Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Owen Coll pounced to head home a corner and deprive Hampton & Richmond two valuable points.

The draw gives the Beavers 46 points and opens up a four-point gap ahead of third-from-bottom Carshalton and with Harrow and Enfield Town to play Steve Cordery's men are almost home and dry.

Daggers strike sinks Beavers

hampton 2

dagenham 3

At the end of this tumultuous match Dagenham & Redbridge's supporters surrounded their players to celebrate an unlikely victory that brought them the Ryman League Championship and assured promotion to the Nationwide Conference

Hampton's players were left sitting disconsolately on the pitch, following Dagenham's late, late winner. And this was in spite the Dagenham's handicap of having had two players sent off during the game.

Dagenham came to Beveree Stadium knowing they still needed four points to win promotion and with Aldershot Town playing at home to Enfield had no real expectations of annexing the championship until at the earliest in their next match at home on Easter Monday. But all that was to change in a topsy turvy match.

Dagenham went into an early fifth minute lead when Jason Broom scored from close in after Beavers' 'keeper James Courtnage was baulked going for a cross, leaving Broom with an easy chance to score.

Dagenham looked impressive going forward and Hampton struggled to contain their attacks. Nick Burton at the back was superb as usual. Hampton needed a stroke of luck to help them gain a foothold and in the 40th minute it was Dagenham's keeper Paul Newell who provided it.

Leroy Griffiths for once got free of his markers and was goalbound when he was bodychecked by Newell just outside the Daggers penalty area.

Referee Mike Tingey had no alternative but to send Newell off. Dagenham were down to 10 men and with a replacement goalkeeper. Within a period of seven minutes Hampton had taken advantage scoring two goals either side of half time to take a surprising 2-1 lead.

Craig Maskell scored both goals. His first was an individual strike from the edge of the penalty area that gave Keen no chance.

Maskell's second was a header from close range, following good work by Martin Carter and Warren Williams. Hampton seemed to have Dagenham in trouble but then earned themselves a penalty in the 55th minute when Junior McDougald went down in a heap.

The Daggers player promptly leapt up to take the penalty himself. He placed the ball just beyond Courtnage's reach to put Dagenham on level terms.

Then, as if there hadn't been enough controversy for one afternoon, Dagenham appeared to hit the self-destruct button in the 70th minute when full-back Dominic Naylor was sent for foul and abusive language directed at one of Hampton's players.

Dagenham were now down to nine men and had also used all three of their substitutes. Incredibly, the Dagenham fans were started to celebrate. News had come through that Aldershot were on the wrong end of a 4-0 battering at home to Enfield which meant that the point that Dagenham were on their way to earning would be sufficient to give them the championship. Hampton with a two-man advantage failed to press home their advantage.

Keen looked nervous in goal but wasn't seriously troubled. Only Burton came close to scoring for Hampton with a low header that went just wide.

With numerous injuries to players and the second sending off in the second half referee Mike Tingey was always going to add on a substantial number of minutes at the end of the half. However both sets of fans were getting desperate for the match to end as the match went on and on: Dagenham fans wanted to celebrate promotion and Hampton supporters were relieved to be getting a vital point in their fight against relegation.

Ten minutes into added time Dagenham got the ball down into the right hand corner, Hampton failed to clear convincingly and Junior Samuels netted from a tight angle to send the Dagenham players and supporters into ecstasy. There was hardly time for the re-start before the final whistle was blown. Hundreds of delighted Daggers fans enveloped their team and hoisted manager Gary Hill around the ground.

Hampton players and fans could only watch in dismay, offer the Daggers congratulations, and then start to ponder how it all went disastrously wrong.

Met rue missed chances

horsham 5

MET POLICE 2

The scoreline does not do justice to a Blues side which certainly matched lowly Horsham in goalscoring opportunities.

In the end it was certainly a case of missed chances and perhaps a few unlucky refereeing decisions. It was nevertheless a rather promising start for the Blues.

A Mark Adams cross was met by Jason Prins who turned two defenders inside out and fired home an unstoppable shot from all of 17 yards inside the first 15 minutes.

Not for the first time during this game almost from the kick off Horsham stormed upfield and Matthew Fox in goal came out of his area only for Geddes to beat him to the ball and volley a 22-yard shot into the roof of the net.

Minutes later, another goal. from the home side after a long ball down the right and a run-of-the-mill cross, which Brake with a magnificent over-head scissors kick found the net to make it 2-1.

The second half should have seen a Blues turn around with the slope in their favour. Alas they created numerous chances but failed to put them away. Adams headed just wide, Adam Rose's point-blank shot was somehow deflected away by the keeper's outstretched arm.

The nail in the coffin came with 20 minutes remaining. An indirect kick to Horsham near the corner post left the defence flat-footed and Flain headed home. It was end- to-end excitement.

Tegid Jones was felled in the penalty area and Ian Batten made no mistake from the spot kick.

At 3-2, the Blues still had a chance. Once again direct from the kick off Horsham surged upfield and, with a two player overlap, it was that man Flain again who made no mistake.

The Blues, to their credit, kept on battling and substitute Jamie Derby had no less than four shots on target which somehow were saved by an agile keeper.

With what proved to be the last kick of the match Flain again, looking suspiciously yards offside, ran through with the ball and rounded Fox to collect his hat trick and a very flattering scoreline for his side.

Casuals kill off Croydon

CASUALS 1

croydon 0

Casuals turned in another good performance to kill off Athletic's outside chances of promotion.

It was an impressive display which saw Croydon limited to few chances, and they prevented from getting out of second gear.

Athletic's best chance came on two minutes when John Fowler waltzed through the Casuals defence, but he could only blast his shot across goal.

Croydon had to rely on their defence to keep them out of trouble and Desbrow and Gibson got vital touches as the Casuals threatened.

Casuals went in front deservedly on 40 minutes when Dave Roberts' long ball was headed firmly by Iain Waghorn and Vaughan palmed the ball into his own net.

Casuals had a couple of anxious moments at the end of the half but Athletic never really troubled them.

Croydon needing to win, applied more pressure in the second half as the Casuals defended deeply.

Casuals even at this point looked more dangerous on the counter attack. Croydon's best chance came on 80 minutes, but Paul Baines failed to even send the ball towards the goal when it was at his mercy. Casuals had chances late on as Jamie White hit a low drive which was saved and Chris Watney was fouled when going clear.

This lead to the dismissal of Tristan Wood. Bruce Martin also missed the target in injury time after Micky Owen had laid the ball off. Overall it was a good performance to cap off a great Easter as the Casuals have now lost just once in the last 11 games.

Five star Casuals

casuals 5

aveley 1

Casuals turned in a stunning second-half performance to record a league double over their Essex rivals.

It took Aveley just 12 minutes to go in front when Scott Ballard's freekick was headed home by John Doyle. They continued to press the Casuals and only bad luck prevented them from increasing their lead. Casuals failed to string two passes together and had little to offer. Iain Waghorn equalized on 57 minutes following a Bruce Martin corner.

This spurred the Casuals on and five minutes later Simon Shergold hit a blistering forty-yard shot into the top left hand corner to make it 2-1. Four minutes later Simon Shergold turned provider when his superb free kick was headed in by Mark Pope at the far post.

With ten minutes left Casuals made it four as Mark Freeborough kneed Bruce Martin's freekick into the roof of the net. The scoring was complete on 83 minutes when another great Simon Shergold free kick was met again by Mark Pope at the far post for his second goal.

Hampton's massive attack

Hampton & Richmond gave themselves a fighting chance of beating the drop to Ryman division one after two gutsy performances over the Easter weekend.

Having lost so valiantly to newly crowned champions Dagenham & Redbridge last Saturday, Hampton recovered to post a 3-1 success over Walton & Hersham on Monday and moved themselves three points clear of third bottom Carshalton.

Steve Cordery's men stormed into a 3-0 in the opening 25 minutes of the game.

First Craig Maskell pounced after just 13 minutes after Adrian Blake had spilled his initial effort. This was added to by Leroy Griffiths after good work from the former Southampton man and Warren Williams.

The Beavers grabbed a third, when Williams swivelled and placed the ball past the helpless Blake. Walton pulled one back on the half hour when Darren White timed his forward run to perfection and pounced on a free kick to send a shot past Rob Frankland.

Frankland made three superb saves and at the other end Griffiths lobbed over the bar after a lacklustre kick by Blake.

Football action this weekend

Premier Division

Gravesend v

Carshalton

Hampton v Harrow

Hitchin v Dulwich

All matches kick off at 3pm

Division One

Croydon v Staines

Whyteleafe v

Maidenhead

Wealdstone v

Leatherhead

All matches kick off at 3pm

Division Two

Hungerford v Banstead

Ford Utd v Met Police

Cheshunt v Molesey

Tooting v Harlow

All matches kick off at 3pm

Division Three

Corinthian Casuals v Tilbury

Epsom & Ewell v

Bracknell Town

All matches kick off at 3pm