ON A bitterly cold night, the Daggers progressed through to the fourth round of the Essex Senior Cup with a convincing 7-2 victory over Jewson Eastern Counties League Harwich & Parkeston.

The first goal came against the run of play and had more than a suspicion of offside about it. A long ball over the Daggers defence found Harwich's Peter Johnston and despite looking yards offside, he cooly slotted the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net past Gothard in the Daggers goal.

It took the home side only four minutes to get on level terms when McGavin delivered a corner from the left onto the head of Junior McDougald, who guided his header past Rob Tanner.

Twenty minutes into the game, a pass to Hayzelden from McGavin saw Matthew Stace bring him down in the penalty area and the referee, Mr Monk, had no hesitation in awarding a spot kick.

McGavin took it and blasted it straight at the centre of the goal, Tanner parried the kick but McGavin was on hand to follow up to tuck the ball home.

The home side went searching for a third but were again caught on the break when Johnston latched onto a long ball, beat John Easen for speed and placed his shot into the net for the equaliser for Harwich.

At the other end Tanner made two excellent saves to keep out McGavin and McDougald, but could do nothing in the 40th minute to keep out Hayzelden's bullet-like header from a McGavin cross.

It took the Daggers just five minutes into the second half to extend their lead when Junior McDougald went past four opponents before lifting the ball over the diving Tanner.

The home side piled on the pressure and the fifth goal came in the 71st minute when a chipped cross from Mark Brennan was headed home by an unmarked McDougald to complete his hat-trick.

McDougald became only the third player ever to score four goals in a game for the Daggers when he headed home McGavin's corner six minutes from time.

With three minutes to go, Danny Hill blasted a shot at goal which Tanner did well to save but McGavin followed up to score the Daggers' seventh.

The Daggers now face a home game against the winners of the Tiptree and Ford United game in the fourth round.

f=Helvetica s=6Dagenham & Redbridge: Paul Gothard, Mark Rooney, John Easen (Steve Vaughan 66 mins), Mark Brennan, Steve Heffer, Mark Kane, Mark Janney (Mick Dean 45 mins), Danny Hill, Steve McGavin, Junior McDougald, Danny Hayzelden.