WE HAD SPIRIT, AND WE FEARED NO-ONE

TOY metal detectors, graphed chorecelebrations on They Think It's All Over, a hat-trick of epic runs to the third round and even beyond they don't make them quite like Dagenham & Redbridge's FA Cup kings of the early noughties.

- MATT BADCOCK

Daggers made it to round three in 2001, 2002 and 2003, when they also beat Plymouth Argyle to reach the fourth round.

Locked in Conference title battles at the same time, they were a group of uncompromising, and talented, players who just loved causing an upset.

"We were really closeknit, we always got on so well," defender Ashley Vickers says. "Garry and Terry (assistant Terry Harris) got together a set of lads who would run through brick walls not only for them and for Dagenham, but for each other. That was regardless of who was in the starting XI or who came on.

"We really had a strong will to win. Physically we were quite an imposing side.

We had a very fit midfield of Steve Heffer, Paul Terry, Danny Hill, Danny Shipp.

We were very strong and big at the back, then up front we could score goals and out wide we had creativity with Mark Janney, Matt Jones, Paul Bruce and the like.

"It was a strong side and we always felt if we could have got up we would have held our own.

"We enjoyed it.

In the FA Cup you play without any fear. We just felt, always, we would get something out of games. That knitted us together."

In 2000-01, Garry Hill's fearsome Daggers beat Lincoln City before going within minutes of stunning then-Premier League Charlton Athletic.

Junior McDougald's goal had the fans dreaming of a huge upset but John Salako levelled late and the Addicks won the replay 1-0.