The Pitmen's recent unbeaten run was brought to a shuddering halt this afternoon at Victoria Road as they are ruthlessly hammered by fourth-placed Dagenham & Redbridge after Micky Norbury had been sent off just before half-time

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Last weekend's 3-2 win over Kingstonian had extended the Pitmen's encouraging run of unbeaten form to five games, picking up nine points along the way. Manager John Baldwin elected to stick with the same XI that had started against the Ks for today's long trip down to the south-east

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Hosts Dagenham had made an excellent start to the new season and sat just four points behind second-placed Yeovil Town at the start of play. Manager Garry Hill made two changes to his side from the one that had fought back from 3-0 down to draw 4-4 at Forest Green Rovers as Jason Broom came in for Ashley Vickers and new signing Drewe Broughton - signed this week on loan from Peterborough United - replaced Paul Terry

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On a beautifully bright and sunny afternoon in Essex, the Pitmen looked to continue their fine recent form and got themselves off a dream start with the game's opening goal inside the first two minutes; midfielder Mark Cooper picked the ball up on the left and spotted Neil Davis's early run, playing a superb through ball into the path of the striker as he made a run into the inside left position. Davis held off a challenge from Tim Cole and chipped a cross into the path of striker partner Norbury, who chested the ball down, turned and fired past former QPR goalkeeper Tony Roberts from ten yards out

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Back came the shell-shocked hosts, who pressed hard for an immediate leveller with a bout of pressure on the Hednesford defence. Daggers skipper Mark Brennan saw his long-range effort tipped over the crossbar by Mark Gayle for a corner kick to the hosts in the sixth minute

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From the resultant corner kick, Steve Heffer's deep cross to the far post was met by Mark Janney, only for his looping header to dip over the crossbar from an acute angle as Rusell Bradley did well to block his route to goal

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Cole thought that he had brought the hosts level once more in the ninth minute as he stole in to head a Junior McDougald free-kick home from close range but was ruled offside in the build-up to the cross

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A mistake from Bradley gifted McDougald a chance for the hosts in the eleventh minute as his attempted clearance dropped straight into the path of the former Brighton striker, whose first-time rising shot just cleared Gayle's crossbar from twenty-five yards out

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A run and cross from Heffer down the right saw the wing-back beat skipper Neil Pointon for pace and swing the ball into the six-yard box, where Broughton got the better of Lake but could not get enough purchase on the ball and nodded high over the crossbar

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Four successive Dagenham corner kicks in the seventeenth minute continued to ramp up the pressure on the overworked Hednesford defence, with Gayle guilty of fumbling the first Heffer cross and had to be reliant on Lake to hack the ball behind for another flag-kick. Gayle did make amends from the next corner, however, as he made a superb fingertip save to deny Broughton a debut goal as Janney's pinpoint cross was headed goalwards by the striker, prompting Gayle into a breathtaking reflex save to turn the ball over from close range

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The Pitmen had been under the cost for much of the opening quarter of the game but could have doubled their lead with a quick counter-attack on twenty minutes as Norbury's lobbed pass sent Bagshaw away down the left; his teasing run and subsequent through ball sent Davis clear with only Lee Matthews to beat, but a moment of indecision from the Pitmen's number nine saw Matthews recover well and clear the danger before Davis could shoot

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On twenty-four minutes, Broughton broke through the flimsy offside trap as the men in navy blue were caught square by a pass from Broom, only for the striker to get the ball caught underneath his legs and could only strike a weak low effort straight at Gayle from fifteen yards out

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Some unorthodox defending from Pointon three minutes later saw him somehow managed to hook the ball away from his own goal to deny Janney a tap-in inside the six-yard box after McDougald had got to the byeline on the left flank and crossed to the far post

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On thirty-two minutes, Davis and Norbury exchanged passes just outside the penalty area before Davis nipped in behind Goodwin to receive the ball back from his strike partner. However, referee Mr Woodward pulled play back after the offside flag was raised against the Pitmen's top scorer

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Cooper escaped any further punishment from the match officials three minutes later as he hauled down Janney just inside the Hednesford half and was given a stern telling-off but no more

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Gayle was doing all he could to keep his side in front, naming another superb save to deny Broughton once more on thirty-eight minutes as the on-loan striker brought down a cross from Heffer and drive a shot at goal that the Hednesford stopper brilliantly tipped over the crossbar for yet another Dagenham corner kick

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Dagenham had been knocking on the door since the second minute of the game and finally made the breakthrough on forty-two minutes with a well-deserved equaliser; Gayle was to blot his copybook with a crucial error of judgement as Brennan lined up a long-range free-kick, standing too far in front of his line that allowed the midfielder to execute a chipped ball over the goalkeeper's head and into the empty net from fully thirty-five yards out. A superb opportunistic strike it has to be said, but Gayle's questionable positioning had been a major factor

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With the Pitmen simply looking to hold on until the half-time whistle, they were handed a fatal blow as they were reduced to ten men just a minute before the break as the fiery Norbury clashed with Heffer off the ball, elbowing the midfielder in the face in plain sight of the assistant on the far side, who immediately flagged and informed Mr Woodward. Norbury was shown a straight red card for violent conduct and now faces a three-match ban for his actions

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Baldwin tweaked his ten-man team's formation at the break, dropping Lake a little deeper and playing Bagshaw infield just behind Davis as the Pitmen went narrow in their set-up for what was likely to be a challenging second half 

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Gayle made an early stop to deny Broom on forty-nine minutes, pushing the striker's low shot around the post for a corner kick to the hosts after Heffer's pass had played him in behind Mark Haran

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The Daggers took the lead on fifty-three minutes as McDougald netted his second goal of the season, although the Pitmen felt aggrieved at a decision that went against them in the build-up; Davis was incorrectly flagged offside by the official on the main stand side as he made a late run from behind Matthews to get on the end of a Cooper pass. Despite Davis's protests, Cole took the resultant free-kick and played Janney into space down the right, with the midfielder's low cross met by a diving header from McDougald, who powerfully headed past Gayle from close-range

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The Pitmen were still reeling from going a goal behind when Dagenham struck again just three minutes later to put the game beyond their ten-man visitors. Patient build-up play from the Daggers on the edge of the penalty area saw the ball worked to Janney, who took the ball into the box and struck a low shot at goal that Gayle did well to parry away. However, the ball ran kindly to the incoming Broughton, who had the simple task of turning the ball into the empty net from close range for a debut goal

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The hosts put the game beyond the Pitmen with a third goal in quick succession on the hour mark through Broughton once more; the visitors were once again their own worst enemies as Lake's slack pass out of defence went straight to Janney, who drove back into the Hednesford half and played Broughton in on goal, The young striker drew Gayle out of his goal before driving it beyond the reach for eh goalkeeper and into the far corner of the net

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The Pitmen were at sixes and sevens at the back, with the experienced trio of Gayle, Pointon and Bradley struggling to organise their defence against a free-running Dagenham side. Youngster Jake Sedgemore came on in place of Cooper midway through the half to give the floundering Pitmen legs down the flank as he came on at right wing-back and Ian Robinson moved into the centre of midfield

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A long kick forwards from Roberts on seventy minutes was flicked on by McDougald and into the path of substitute Paul Cobb, whose first touch saw him drift past Haran but toe-poke the ball wide of goal from fifteen yards out

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With sixteen minutes of the game remaining, Davis was taken off after getting no change out of the Dagenham defence in his lone role up front in the second half, with teenager Leon Brown coming on in his place

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Val Owen - a passenger in midfield for much of the game - sliced a good chance well wide of goal on seventy-nine minutes after Sedgemore's corner kick was partially cleared by Matt Jones to the former Northwich man

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Before play could restart, the Pitmen made their final substitution of a miserable afternoon as Bagshaw was replaced by former Eastwood Town forward Scott Bonsall

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The pace of the game dropped considerably in the final ten minutes as both sides toiled in the unseasonable heat and had accepted their relative fates in the game. However, Dagenham added some late gloss to their performance with two more goals to down their hapless hosts in the closing stages

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With four minutes remaining, more ball-watching from the Pitmen saw a long, raking ball from Janney sail over the heads of the away defence and into the path of Cobb, who controlled the ball well before having the time and space to take the ball around the dive of Gayle and slotted into the empty net from an angle

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The rout was completed a minute into added time as Cobb was once again given all the time in the world down the right flank, playing a low cross into the penalty area and into the path of the unmarked McDougald to turn the ball home for his second of the game and Dagenham's sixth

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The Pitmen trudged off to muted boos from a frustrated travelling contingent after being completely outclassed in the second half, bringing them back down to earth after an encouraging run of recent form. Results elsewhere sees the Pitmen drop back down to seventeenth place in the table, still two points above the drop zone and facing a tough trip to mid-table Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night looking for a response to this afternoon's hammering

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Dagenham & Redbridge: Roberts, Cole, Jones, Goodwin, Matthews, Janney, Heffer, Brennan © (Payne 68), Broom (Cobb 68), Broughton, McDougald      Subs Unused: Keen, Terry, Naylor

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Hednesford Town: Gayle, Bradley, Pointon ©, Robinson, Lake, Haran, Owen, Cooper (Sedgemore 65), Davis (Brown 74), Norbury ▆ (43), Bagshaw (Bonsall 79)      Subs Unused: Shakespeare, Carney

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