Abbey too sharp for Daggers

Norwich City 1 Dagenham & Redbridge

Reports this week that Delia is finally hanging up her apron may have been exaggerated, but suggestions that her Norwich team might find it too hot in the FA Cup kitchen in the face of the redoubtable Daggers proved not quite so inaccurate. The Canaries' principal shareholder, who, it was claimed this week, was directing all her energies into the club rather than her cooking enterprises – not strictly accurate, but what the hell – should have been contemplating last night what her players had done to merit her undiverted attention.

The performance of the First Division side against a team 74 places and three Leagues below them was only rarely worthy of their status, and the reaction from the Canaries' followers was principally one of relief when their team finally secured their fifth-round place in the 90th minute, with a replay at Victoria Road beckoning. Substitute Zema Abbey arrived unmarked at the far post and turned in Adam Drury's deflected left-wing cross. And that was it. The most cruel of finales for the non-League side.

The exuberant Daggers' faithful fell silent for the first time in the match as the visiting players slumped into gestures of anguish. You could understand the reaction. Not that they merited victory. Just that, with goalkeeper Tony Roberts in such defiant form, the Garry Hill mob certainly merited the lucrative reward of a replay.

At the final whistle, the visitors were given an ovation from the home support. A decent gesture, but scant consolation for manager Hill. "I feel very empty, just stunned at the moment," he said. "As we all know, football can be cruel, but this was a hard one to swallow. Nigel Worthington is very probably a relieved man tonight. Even Norwich fans wouldn't have denied us a replay because we earned it."

Norwich, who in the Fifties, as a Third Division club, eliminated Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United in this competition, must have experienced some trepidation that they would be on the receiving end yesterday. Their opponents are only 10th in the Conference this season, yet Hill's team, who yesterday included a customs and excise officer, special-needs teacher, water board official, city worker, actor and landscaper, have continued to flourish in the Cup.

Here, the class difference between the third-round conquerors of Plymouth Argyle was minimal in a first half in which the Daggers, galvanised in midfield by the buccaneering Danny Shipp, his fearsome physique enhanced by designer stubble, looked rehearsed and confident in their approach. But you felt they needed that breakthrough to unsettle their hosts, as they did against Argyle and at Charlton last season, where they drew 1-1.

The Canaries, rarely looking convincing, fashioned several half-chances, but each attempt found its way to Tony Roberts, whose weekday job is goalkeeping coach at Queen's Park Rangers. The former Welsh international and QPR man practised what he preached, with a fine diving save from David Nielsen in the opening two minutes. But a minute later Shipp, the landscaper, gave notice that his team were undaunted by their surroundings when he forced Norwich goalkeeper Robert Green to perform a similar feat.

With Mark Smith, the man who marked Alan Shearer so effectively when Newcastle played his former club Stevenage Borough, proving a formidable force at the heart of the Daggers rearguard, Norwich found their chances limited. When they did outmanoeuvre the visitors, Mark Rivers twice burnt Roberts' fingers and Nielsen burst clear but overran the ball.

The Daggers were looking relatively untroubled, but manager Hill would have been concerned that the actor Junior McDougald and handyman Steve West, who together had scored 23 goals before yesterday, had not looked more productive around goal.

Immediately after the interval John McGrath looped in a tantalising cross, but West's weak header was a poor return. Yet from Norwich, who had increased the pace, there was still little evidence that they could make their superior quality count.

It was not until the 66th minute that striker Iwan Roberts finally worked a clear scoring position and attacked the ball ferociously, but yet again his goalkeeping namesake barely had to move to save.

The Daggers weren't done yet. McDougald had the kind of moment when, for a glorious second, an upset beckons as he mesmerised the home defence, only for his approach work to end with a tame effort that trickled to Green. Shipp showed how it should be done, in terms of power at least, when he picked up a loose ball and curled it frustratingly just over the bar.

Then Abbey struck decisively and, in added time, Phil Mulryne burst through, but – guess what? – the shot was straight at Roberts yet again. For the Daggers, that would have been inflicting unnecessary torture. They had already suffered enough.