Dagenham and Redbridge manager Lewis Young makes bold claim following Hartlepool United draw

In truth, Pools dominated the opening exchanges and could have been more than one goal up after the sprawling Jake Turned saved Mani Dieseruvwe's less than convincing penalty in the ninth minute.

However, Louis Stephenson's first career red card in the 25th minute changed the game and the hosts, who needed at least a point to keep themselves within touching distance of National League safety, grew in confidence as they looked to make the most of their man advantage.

Although the Daggers went close on a number of occasions, hitting the woodwork through Josh Umerah, who spent two seasons at the Prestige Group Stadium, and influential substitute Dion Pereira, the visitors continued to pose a threat of their own and Billy Sass-Davies forced another fine save from Turner on the stroke of half time.

While Dagenham did manage to salvage a point late on when defender Harry Phipps, rather fortuitously, skewed an effort off the side of his boot and into the bottom corner, the London side lost ground in the fight for survival and find themselves five points adrift of safety with four games to go.

The sense of ill-feeling aimed towards both Young, who made more than 200 appearances for Crawley as a player and is the brother of England international Ashley, as well as Dagenham's American owners, who took over the club last summer, was palpable. Fans unfurled banners and some even attempted to storm the pitch as they voiced their discontent at how events have unfolded this season.

A number of the banners and songs called for the return of former boss Ben Strevens, who was sacked in December with the club five points above the bottom four. Since then, Dagenham have won just three of their last 20 matches and will likely need at least nine points from the remaining 12 available to give themselves any sort of chance of beating the drop.

"There's a lot of encouragement in terms of the amount of chances we created, but then there's the gutting part that we still look a little bit soft with other points," Young told Dagenham's official club website.

"The reality is that we haven't been winning football matches. That's really gutting, especially for someone like myself who prides himself on trying to win football matches. I'm really disappointed for everyone, not just myself; the staff, the amount of work they're doing, the players, they gave everything and it was just the bounce of the ball that didn't fall for us.

"If we had come away 4, 5-1 winners, then you'd be looking at it differently because of the amount of chances we created. It comes down to that quality at the end - and that lays squarely at my feet."

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