QPR & Dagenham's Tony Roberts Talks to the BBC about Dagenham

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BBC - Roberts tips Daggers to come good
By Pete Oliver

Long-serving Dagenham and Redbridge goalkeeper Tony Roberts is hoping it will be third time lucky following the his side's superb start to the season.
Roberts has twice before suffered promotion heartache during his stay at Victoria Road.
And while the Conference season is only a quarter of a way through, to many it would appear poetic justice if Dagenham could sustain their promotion push and reach the Football League for the first time.
Roberts told BBC Sport: "I have been here for five years and this club deserves league football.
"We have lost in the play-offs and missed out to Boston.
"This team is good enough. We have some good players who could play at a higher level and they deserve to be professionals in the League."
While losing in the inaugural play-off final to Doncaster in 2003 was hard to take, being denied promotion 12 months earlier on goal difference to Boston United left a bitter taste.
Boston clinched the Conference title on goal difference but were then docked four points at the start of the following season for breaching financial regulations during their championship year.
The fall-out from that episode is still being dealt with in the courts, while Roberts and a new-look Daggers team are focusing on their bid to stay in the promotion frame.
"Some of our fans are saying we are only eight or 10 points away from not going down but we want to be up there at the end of the season," said Roberts.
"Last year we could have finished a lot higher, and the aim is to finish as high as we can this time.
"But I have got it into my head that we can be there or thereabouts round the play-offs, and if we can keep on the tail of Oxford who knows."
With just two defeats so far, Dagenham are in second place behind unbeaten leaders Oxford.
They are also one place ahead of a Weymouth side managed by ex-Daggers boss Garry Hill.
After taking Dagenham so close to promotion and to a number of FA Cup heroics, Hill left Victoria Road in February 2004.
Most of his team followed him as the Daggers squad broke up to be re-built by new manager John Still, who returned to the club for a third spell in charge.
Working on a reduced budget, Still worked from the roots up as he brought in a new batch of young players to mould around a handful of senior professionals like Roberts.
The results have been impressive, with Still¿s squad the leading scorers in the Conference and eager to stay the pace.
"Paul Benson has come up from three leagues below and he's in there scoring goals," added Roberts. "It's credit to John for finding them and turning them into good players.
"It's John's third season now and the majority of the squad have settled down.
"They are a bit more experienced than they were two years ago. They have got to grips with the Conference and know what John wants from them.
"It's going well for us. Last year we were losing games late on but at the moment things are going for us and we are clocking up the wins.
"We have just got to keep doing what we are doing and hopefully get the rewards. We have had a couple of bad games and still won, which is a bonus.
"But the majority of the time we have been playing well, and it's a matter of keeping ours heads down and just worrying about ourselves."
With two full international caps and more than 100 League appearances with QPR to his name, Welshman Roberts is very much the senior professional in Still¿s set-up.
The experience of 232 Conference games will also be invaluable if the Daggers do remain in the promotion shake-up come next spring.
Roberts, who combines his playing duties with coaching the goalkeepers at Loftus Road, enjoys his role and is keen to keep performing for himself and his team-mates in what could be a memorable season.
"I am 37 now and I've seen most of it before," he said. "I just sit calmly in the dressing-room and concentrate on what I am doing.
"But if anyone needs calming down or geeing up and I spot it I am there to do it.
"I'm doing my job. The ball is hitting me and I'm doing all right. I still love what I¿m doing and I will go on for as long as I can and as long as John keeps picking me."
BBC