ON the face of it, a trip to Dagenham would appear to be the last thing Accrington Stanley need as they bid to revive their play-off hopes after three straight defeats.

Only three sides can claim to have won more home games than the Daggers, who have triumphed 11 times at Victoria Road so far this season.

The Londoners won 1-0 at the Crown Ground in November, too, but after moving to the top of League Two that day they have since slipped to ninth.

And Stanley can travel to the East End with some confidence after a rather quirky record against their fellow promotion chasers this season.

While they have lost at home to eight of the current top half, away games against the same opposition have brought an impressive six wins.

Add that to the fact that Stanley have never lost at Dagenham, and boss John Coleman is hopeful of the victory that could revive their promotion ambitions.

“It’s a big game for us and historically we do well there,” he said.

“Hopefully Saturday will be no exception.

“But Dagenham are a good side. I think with the run-in they’ve got they could be real contenders for the play-offs.”

Stanley remain 14th, seven points behind the top seven with a game in hand, after Tuesday’s home game against Barnet became the ninth to be postponed at the Crown Ground this term.

That meant key striker Michael Symes, who was due to return from suspension this weekend, still has to serve the final game of his three-match ban.

“I think he breathed a huge sigh of relief when the game was off because it means he doesn’t have to travel down to Dagenham!” joked Coleman.

“It’s one of those things and we just have to keep going.”

Some would regard Tuesday’s postponement as a bonus with the Reds now set for two games in three days, with Grimsby visiting the Crown Ground on Easter Monday, but Coleman does not concur.

“I’m possibly a throwback to the old days but I think players would sooner play than train,” he said.

“That’s what they were doing on Wednesday rather than having a day off.

“We would have had a great chance with a win on Tuesday, but we’re still in there fighting and whoever puts a run together from now until the end of the season will make those play-offs.

“The game being called off was one of those things. Obviously we’ve realised this season there’s a problem with the drains because every time it rains now the game is in danger of being off. That’s no-one’s fault.

“Until we can get the drains repaired it’s going to be an ongoing problem.

“There has been some work done but not enough and we’ve probably had more games called off this year than we had in the previous six.

“But I think if we’d kicked towards the shallow end in the first half on Tuesday it would have been okay!”