Dagenham and Redbridge 0-0 FC Halifax Town: We did enough to win, says Heath

The two sides will meet again on November 15 at The Shay following the result, with Town matching their higher-league opponents on the day.

Heath was delighted with the commitment from his team.

“I thought, to a man, they did fantastic,” he said.

“We thoroughly deserve to be in the hat. I thought we gave as good as we got.

“I think we had the best chances of the game.

“Possession-wise they probably had a bit more than us but the way we played, the effort we gave, especially in the last 15 minutes, were tremendous.”

Liam King had the best chance of the game when he fired over from inside the six-yard box out after Tom Denton’s knock-down.

“It gets knocked down to him, five yards out, and you think to yourself ‘go tap it in’,” Heath reflected..

“But he’s just got it wrong. That was the best chance of the game. There were half chances for both sides and things not dropping in the box.

“Both teams defended the second ball really well, when the ball dropped in our box we defended the second ball really well and they did as well.

“We’re disappointed in a way - I thought we did enough.

“Maybe that’s looking through blue-coloured glasses but it wouldn’t have been undeserved if we’d won the game.”

Halifax also had a penalty claim waved away by referee Paul Hair for an alleged foul on Josh Macdonald by Dagenham’s Frankie Raymond.

“I thought it was a nailed-on penalty,” Heath said. “I asked the referee and I said ‘why would he go down?’

“He’s clean through, he can go on and shoot, so why go down?

“He said there was contact but not enough to give a penalty.

“It’s very difficult. I’m a long way away but the players all said they couldn’t believe that he didn’t give it.

“But that’s the way it is.”

At the other end, keeper Steve Drench drew praise from Heath for two excellent saves from Dagenham’s Corey Whitely.

“The first one from the header was a magnificent save,” Heath added. “He’s moved his feet really quickly and showed how agile he is.

“The second was just before half-time. The ball was slipped just inside Kevin (Roberts) and the lad’s gone through, but he (Drench) read the lad really well.

“Apart from that he’s not had a massive amount to do.

“They’re a good side but I thought we were excellent.”