THE Leicester sporting public yesterday were more interested in hakas than huddles and with the Walkers Stadium only a quarter full, it was Dagenham & Redbridge who emerged from this tie with many of the plaudits, even if they did leave empty-handed.

Twice ahead in this game, the Daggers must have started imagining one of the biggest days in their short and modest history, but despite being the better team for much of this game they had nobody with the class of Matty Fryatt, who buried their dreams with a clinically taken hat-trick.

Still, it was the 839 away supporters who made all the noise in the end and they can have taken huge heart from this performance. This is only their second season in League football and their older fans still like to call themselves the “best pub team in Essex”, but here was a performance to indicate their fans may yet be watching League One football next season.

”I’m proud of the players,” the manager John Still said. “This is just a stop off on the journey they are on. We are what might be described by many people as a typical amateur club, But that performance has shown people how far we can go. Probably the most biased Leicester supporter would admit that there wasn’t quite the right result there.”

The Daggers’ left midfielder Matt Ritchie, a loan signing from Portsmouth, was particularly unlucky to be on the losing side.

He had opened the scoring on eight minutes, poking in Sam Saunders’ cross, but the Foxes were level within a minute when Fryatt blasted in from about 15 yards. It was the Daggers who were playing all the football and they scored again on 25 minutes when Ben Strevens punished more sloppy Leicester defending. However, the visiting fans had barely struck up the first chorus of “Que Sera Sera” when Fryatt equalised from the penalty spot after Magnus Okuonghae was penalised for a handball.

M a n a g e r S t i l l r i g h t l y described the penalty decision as harsh – the ball had been blasted at Okuonghae from close range – but he was more upset by the Leicester winner, when he felt that Fryatt was off-side. However, it was a sweetly taken goal; firstly Marc Edworthy floated the ball up the line, Fryatt controlled it beautifully and then coolly lobbed Tony Roberts, the Daggers keeper.

The Daggers still created chances right to the end, but in the end had to bow to Fryatt, who has now scored 17 goals this season. With negotiations over a new contract dragging on, Championship clubs are bound to come sniffing around in January.

”All credit to Dagenham,” the Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson said. “They had a real go at us. But Matty is just on one of those incredible scoring streaks at the moment.” For the Dagenham fans who made the journey home on the six organised coaches, there is much to reflect on. A group of their mature supporters gathered together before the game in The Counting Room, the pub that sits on the site of the old Leicester cattle market, reflected that their lives travelling round following the team hadn’t been quite the same since they joined the league.

“I prefered the Conference, to be honest,” said Mark Davis, who helps run the club shop. “You were allowed stand at the games and you could have a drink on the coach on the way to games. Now you can’t do that. Also you go to some grounds now and the stewards treat you with contempt.”

Still, for the town of Dagenham, which once relied so much on the Ford assembly plant for its survival, at least now is building a football team it can be proud of.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that the players and supporters join the fans for a drink after the game and yesterday it will have been well earned by all. Their Cup run has come to an end this season, but they should realise that their cup runneth over.

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