Dagenham's victory at Notts County 10 days ago was greeted with delight in North East Wales, but now we have to take them on.
Wrexham retained top spot on Saturday with a 2-2 draw at Maidenhead, as The Magpies grabbed a 90th minute equaliser to cancel out Paul Mullin's two goals.
There didn't appear to be any new injuries picked up during the match, and Phil Parkinson will hope that Rob Lainton and Anthony Forde recover from the illness that ruled them out at York Road.
Dagenham, meanwhile, picked up a third consecutive home win. Their 2-1 win over York City kept them just 4 points off the play-offs, nestled in at 10th place.
First team coach Dave Jupp was delighted to see his team show character in coming from behind to claim victory. He told the Barking & Dagenham Post that Inih Effiong's equaliser just before the break was a crucial turning point:
"It just gave us that little bit of lift we needed going into half-time to give us a bit of belief coming out for the second half.
"It was [a case of] 'have a bit more belief'. We just looked a little bit unconfident on the ball, a bit hesitant, sloppy. [We said] if you get it right, that's what you can do to teams. Take that positivity and do it more in the second half.
"Fair play to them, they kept at it. We still could be better, but three points, can't argue with it really."
You certainly can't: two wins out of three has been a remarkable response to the loss of manager Daryl McMahon. His departure by mutual consent following a run of two wins and a draw in 9 games brought to an end a depressing start to the year, as star men Paul McCullum and Josh Walker departed. Amidst talk of the players becoming demoralised by his public criticism of them, the season was in danger of imploding, but the Daggers managed a remarkable response. Their 2-1 win at Notts County, with Effiong striking the winner to cap an astonishing defensive display in the second half, has given The Daggers renewed hope of reaching the play-offs.
"It was important we got the three points going into Tuesday, which is going to be a tough game,
"It will be a very tough game Tuesday, lets not beat around the bush. We've got Notts County and Wrexham within two weeks of each other, you probably couldn't have two harder games could you?
"We'll go and enjoy Tuesday, you have to go and enjoy it. There will be a great atmosphere around here with what they will bring down and hopefully ours will get out and give us a bit of support, it's vital they do.
"Extremely tough game. We got a lot of plaudits from them for spoiling Notts County. Let’s see if we can do the same and get back on even terms.”
-Dave Jupp, Dagenham & Redbridge First Team COach.
Effiong has proven to be an inspired signing from Aldershot, hitting 4 goals in his first 7 Daggers appearances despite two of them coming off the bench. Those strikes have taken his season's total to 21, and the massive target man is clearly a player Wrexham's centre backs will have to watch carefully.
HEAD TO HEAD
Wrexham's last couple of games at Dagenham were depressingly similar. Two seasons ago we missed out on the play-offs after a 1-1 draw on the last day of the season, which saw Jordan Ponticelli equalise in the 90th minute after Paul Rutherford's red card.
Last season was even worse: we went into the game with a chance of winning the title if Stockport failed to win, but things fell apart when news of The Hatters' success began filtering through, and we collapsed to a 3-0 defeat.
That's an alarmingly familiar scoreline for us at Victoria Road. We lost 3-0 in our first visit, a League Two game in 2007, and when we returned 9 years later we succumbed by the same amount. Our televised beating would have been even worse if it hadn't been for the heroics of Shwan Jalal, but he couldn't prevent Ollie Hawkins from netting the only hat trick in this fixture.
We have experienced success at Victoria Road, though. Our first win came through a 93rd minute own goal in 2017, after good work by Paul Rutherford.
The following season we won again: Luke Young's epic strike would earn him the Steve Edwards Goal of the Season Trophy, and although The Daggers pulled level through a Brad Walker own goal, Luke Sumemrfield scored a second half winner from the spot.
POTENTIAL MILESTONES
Callum McFadzean’s 50th Wrexham appearance.
Max Cleworth’s 50th league game for Wrexham.