Ipswich came through the 3rd round of the FA Cup unscathed against non-league opponents Dagenham and Redbridge. In the end it was a comfortable victory, as the Blues ran out 4-1 victors at Victoria Road.

Well that's a bit of a relief. This match was a real banana skin, just waiting for Ipswich to slip up and provide the nation with another fairytale' cup story. But fortunately Town hadn't read the script, and in the end cruised to victory and progress to the next round of the FA Cup. But that wasn't before we had to endure a shaky start, and were given an almighty scare when the spirited Essex team took the lead early on and held it for about quarter of an hour. At that point, it very much looked like we were going to be in all the Sunday papers, and the butt of football jokes up and down the country. But Ipswich fought back thanks to Peralta and Magilton strikes, to lead at half time, and then turned to screw as Peralta scored his second. Stewart marked his return with a goal. Ipswich started with a very different team to the one started at Charlton. Reuser, Bramble and Peralta were all back in, and Wayne Brown, back from his loan period at Wimbledon was given an opportunity to push his case for a first team place. As expected, Andy Marshall was also given his debut in a competitive match as Sereni was rested. But most heartening, was the return up front of Marcus Stewart, back from his two-month lay-off from injury. It was an all-Marcus forward line, as Marcus Bent won the other place ahead of Alun Armstrong. Ipswich were, for only the second time this season, Holland-less, and Jim Magilton was given the captaincy. As expected, Dagenham came out all guns blazing, but it was Herman Hreidarsson who nearly gifted the Daggers with an own goal, as he sliced an attempted clearance. A succession of corners followed and Marshall was called upon to make a good block save from Shipp. At this stage, Ipswich were just not at the races, and a shock looked plainly on the cards. On a pitch that was cutting up badly, Town couldn't pass the ball. Dagenham on the other hand, were doing their utmost to ensure Town's game didn't flow, and concentrated on pumping up long balls through the middle. After 17 minutes, Dagenham took the lead. Hayzeldon fired in a shot that Jermaine Wright tried to block. Unfortunately, the deflection turned in a defence splitting ball that Junior McDougald ran on to. With only Marshall to beat, he calmly slotted the ball home and sent the home crowd wild. Even after the goal, Ipswich didn't initially look like coming back. Dagenham were well worth their lead and only looked like increasing it. But after 28 minutes, a great move ended in the equalising goal. Martijn Reuser provided another assist, as he cut in from the left and swung in a pinpoint cross for Peralta to nod home. It was a huge relief, and admittedly it didn't look like it was coming- maybe we were not going to be the laughing stock after all. A now slightly deflated Dagenham continued to probe the Ipswich defence, and nearly regained the lead before half time. Marshall was lucky to get away with a hashed-up punch, and Mark Janney saw his shot deflected wide. But it was Town who grabbed a decisive and nerve-settling second goal just before half time. Marcus bent received the ball in the area with his back to goal, and set up Magilton. The Irishman, who is often criticised for not scoring enough, let fly with a peach of a volley to put his team in front. It meant we could relax at halftime, if not count ourselves a touch fortunate. Ipswich were much more composed in the second half, although with only one goal in it, the threat of a Dagenham comeback was always on the cards. Magilton wasted a good opportunity two minutes after the restart, and Lee Mathews headed inches over from a corner after 55 minutes for the Daggers. Former Town player Mark Brennan came on a sub, and received a good ovation from his former supporters, although I'm still not convinced younger Town fans had a clue who they were clapping. We were also given another look at the highly rated Tommy Miller, who came on for Peralta. In the 65th minute Town settled the match with our third goal. Another flowing move from midfield saw Reuser play the ball to Magilton, who in turn picked out Peralta. Advanced into a great position, the Argentinean finished with aplomb. I still don't think Burley knows what his best striker partnership is- we've had so many this season. He decided to give Richard Naylor a go up front with Stewie, and the two combined well for Town's fourth. Naylor showed his strength to flick the ball in the path of Stewart after a great pass from Tommy Miller. Heading goalwards, he made no mistake as he despatched the ball into the back of the net to make the score line look convincing against the tiring home team. Overall, you can't fault the performance. The Dagenham did provide us with some scares, but this was never going to be an easy game. They may be part-timers, but they would probably be capable of beating most 3rd division teams. With 6,000 crammed into the pokey little ground, and on a poor playing surface, the chances were that we would be in for a torrid time- we were given ample warnings that we would have to battle. Despite conceding the first goal, something that we all said would be our worse scenario, the players still managed to come back and make their class tell. All the players who came in did well, and it shows we do have some depth to our squad now. I actually like the midfield of Magilton, Wright, Peralta and Reuser. I wonder if Burley will be brave enough to leave out Holland in the Premier League? It was also a very welcome sight to see Stewie back on the goal trial. He had a quiet game overall, but will only get better. Congratulations to Dagenham, they did themselves proud and didn't look anything like being a team four divisions below us. Good luck to them, I fully expect them to go on and win the conference. As for us, our cup run continues. We've certainly been to some places this season in cup competitions; The San Siro is slightly different to Victoria Road. I wonder where we'll be off to next? From The Terrace