Reality finally bites Daggers

Words to strike a dagger in Daggers' hearts - for if a place in the fourth round of the Cup is so lowly a prize to some, why not grant it to those who would cherish it? But reality is the bottom line and it is not to be bargained with.

For when it came to penning the latest chapter of Cup glory, this weekend was simply someone else's story. The muse switched her gaze to a club just a few miles to the west of Dagenham and try as the Conference side might to keep hold of the strange forces which had taken them this far, the mystical power which visited them all too briefly was lost.

Charlton's victory over a club 94 league places their junior was inelegant but there were no prizes for the rights and wrongs of it. The history books will carry no footnote to speculate what price the Premiership side's chances of the Conference title on such form. Shaun Newton's extra-time winner will be the only detail on record.

In years to come, hearts and minds must be relied upon to flesh out the bones of the story, to recall the three weeks when Dagenham rode gloriously on the back of their third-round almost-victory against mighty Premiership opposition.

For 21 days they nobly refused to sell out and stage the replay at a ground bigger and more profitable than their own humble Victoria Road, even when the original replay date was postponed thanks to a frozen pitch.

For as long as they surfed the wave of Cup magic they supped with the gods, becoming the very stuff of mythology according to the banner in the back window of the 4x4 parked on Rainham Road on Saturday.

''Giant killers!'' it declared. Fans touched the window for luck as they passed on the way to the replay. You could see them pointing to the slogan and nodding in agreement, smiling in affirmation of their bewitching new powers. Scant hours later on the way home they chose not to look at it too much. In the real world giants don't exist, after all.

Now Dagenham are described in the familiar lexicon of Cup minnows who did more than expected - like Arthurian knights, they are brave, gallant and bold.

Soon enough neutrals will need reminding exactly which club came within four minutes of victory at The Valley, four minutes from rendering Charlton the first Premiership side to be dumped out of the Cup at home in the third round by non-League opposition. One day even the men who played may wonder if it all really happened.

But it did and it was wonderful. Even the day of defeat was a marvel of joy. First-time visitors to Victoria Road were welcomed almost literally with open arms, such was the readiness with which the club shared its happiness. Nothing was too much trouble. The scoreline signalled one kind of defeat but new friends were won over in lorryloads.

"I don't want it to end," admitted Dagenham manager Garry Hill after the match, looking about the deserted Victoria Road ground with eyes that still saw the packed stands. His eyes were bright in the frozen night air and he half-coughed, shuffling his feet.

''I don't want it to be over,'' he said. But it was.