DAGENHAM & Redbridge boss Ben Strevens thought his side had enough chances to pick up more than a point against Southend United.

The Daggers were held to a 1-1 draw at Roots Hall on Saturday.

But Strevens felt the visitors could have made more of their first half pressure.

“In the end we’ll take a point and move on but we were excellent in the first half,” Strevens told the club’s YouTube account.

“We were really dominant and should have gone in more than 1-0 in front but their goalie pulled off some great saves.

“In fairness to them they were excellent second half and we’ve got massive respect for them as a management team and a football team.

“They put us on the back foot and we struggled to get out from it.

“There are reasons from our point of view we couldn’t do that but we’re respectful towards them and the changes they probably made at half-time to get them more dominant.”

But Dagenham were also hindered by having to make two enforced changes during the first half as both Elliott Johnson and Tom Eastman went off injured.

And Strevens felt Eastman’s departure was a big moment in the match.

“Jonno for Pagey (Lewis Page) is a straight swap,” said Eastman.

“They’re both left-backs and fantastic players.

“But the Eastman one meant Phippsy (Harry Phipps) had to go into the backline.

“It was a massive moment for us because we lost his presence up front.

“It changed the game because Phippsy was getting all the first contacts and were getting the second balls to attack them.

“It’s no-one’s fault but Phippsy up front and Eastman at the back for longer I don’t think the game would’ve changed as much as it did but credit to them as well.”