Late goals from Dejan Tetek and Jack Barham only proved to be consolations as ten-man Aldershot Town lost 3-2 at Dagenham & Redbridge.

The Shots almost took an early lead as Josh Barrett rattled the inside of the post in the ninth minute. Ryan Jones skipped past his man and drove forward, then Barrett took over the ball and launched a low shot that had Elliot Justham beaten.

Dagenham’s first chances came from an unlikely source. Harry Phipps headed wide in the opening five minutes, then was played in behind the Shots defence only to fire wide as he looked to make a better angle past Marcus Dewhurst in the 12th minute.

A minute later Ryan Jones won the ball back by his own corner flag before playing a superbly weighted ball over the top of Dagenham’s defence that Barham raced on to, but the offside flag went up with Barrett to his right waiting for a tap-in.

In the 27th minute the Shots came close twice. First Barrett fired into the side netting following good work from Cameron Hargreaves and Tyler Frost, then Barham won the ball back from the resulting goal kick and saw his cross-cum-shot deflected on to the post.

Rollin Menayese fired a header over the bar just after the half-hour mark, but a series of injuries then broke up play. Aldershot’s Theo Widdrington received treatment, then Hargreaves and Phipps required a change of shirts and bandaging after a clash of heads. All were fit to continue.

Dagenham came out of the blocks as a different side for the second half after a rather lacklustre first 45 minutes, and Dion Perreira gave Dewhurst his first real action as he fired a shot straight into his arms from outside the box.

But in the 51st minute Dagenham were awarded a penalty. A deep cross beat everyone in the box but Josh Umerah went down after contact with Ashley Akpan and referee Sam Mulhall pointed to the spot. Perreira sent Dewhurst the wrong way to give the hosts the lead.

Having received a yellow card as the players lined up for kick-off, Widdrington was then shown a straight red card after an altercation a few minutes later.

Two minutes after that Dagenham doubled their lead. Luca Woodhouse scored a brilliant effort on the turn that was powered into the bottom corner.

Shots still looked to attack and try to salvage something from the game, but were unfortunate as Barrett’s cross was just in front of Barham in the centre. Frost saw an effort blocked and Barham missed the target from outside the area.

Dagenham scored a third in the 76th minute as Junior Morias raced on to Frank Vincent’s ball forward and saw his shot deflected past Dewhurst as Akpan raced back to get in a challenge.

The Shots perhaps should have had a penalty of their own in the 81st minute, as Akpan looked to have been tripped as he broke into the Dagenham box down the right, but nothing was given.

Aldershot had a glimmer of hope in the 83rd minute when clever play from Frost to take a free-kick quickly put Tetek through, and he scored his first goal for the Shots as Justham could not keep out his effort.

The Shots were rejuvenated and Frost forced Justham to dive across his goal to keep out a low effort from the edge of the area.

Things got even nervier for Dagenham in the second minute of stoppage time as Barham scored a second. Racing on to a through ball, he beat two Dagenham defenders and fired a brilliant strike into the bottom corner to inspire hope of an incredible comeback.

A minute later a golden opportunity fell again to Barham, but on his left foot he fired over the bar having found himself in behind the Dagenham defence once more.

Attendance 1,210 (152 away).

Aldershot: Dewhurst, Maghoma, Widdrington (C), Hargreaves (Tetek 72), Frost, Barrett (Mullins 72), R Jones (Corbett 85), Scott, Akpan, Barham, Menayese. Substitutes not used: van Stappershoef, Byrd, A Jones, Ghandour.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Justham (C), Vincent, Eastman (Woodhouse 19), Phipps, Perreira (Rees 90+4), Umerah, Hill, N’Guessan, Rendall, Morias, Kalambayi. Substitutes not used: Strizovic, Remy, Stephenson, Rutherford, Vigrass.