Dagenham & Redbridge set for playoffs, Southend United will miss out

Dagenham & Redbridge’s playoff schedule is now set. The National League promotion playoffs are all set, with Dagenham & Redbridge playing Forest Green Rovers in one semi-final and Tranmere Rovers playing Aldershot Town in the other semi-finals. Each of semi-finals are two-legged ties, with teams playing both home and away to determine the winners. The Daggers take on last year’s playoff finalists Forest Green on on Thursday May 4th and Sunday May 7th, with Tranmere Rovers playing The Shots on Wednesday May 3rd and Saturday May 6th. The winners will then take each on other other in the finals on May 14th at Wembley Stadium.

While Dagenham & Redbridge hope to make a quick return to League Two after last year’s relegation, Forest Green hope to make it to the Football League for the first time. In addition, Tranmere Rovers hope to make it back into the League after spending every year from 1921 until 2015 in the top four divisions of the English League pyramid. Aldershot Town hopes to also make it back to the League after its relegation in 2013. The Shots are a “phoenix” club, having been reborn after Aldershot FC collapsed and went out of business during the season in 1992. The was promoted in the 2007-08 season, but ran into a financial crisis (again) during the 2012-13 season, was relegated and went into administration at the end of the year.

Each of these clubs has a compelling story as they head towards the promotion playoffs, but with Leyton Orient going down it would be nice to see a good story come from one of East London’s lower league teams.

Essex club Southend United missed out on the League One playoffs by one point to West Ham’s hated rivals Millwall. Despite winning 1-0 against Bury on the weekend, Southend still fell one point short, 72 points to Millwall’s 73 points on the season. Southend even had a superior goal difference, 17 to Millwall’s 9. Hammer fans will be disappointed to note that ex-Hammer Anton Ferdinand plays for Southend, and was unable to keep Millwall out of the playoffs. Millwall face Scunthorpe United in the first semi-final, while Fleetwood Town face off against Bradford City and West Ham United loanee Josh Cullen in the other semi-final. Here’s hoping that Cullen scores a hat-trick against Millwall at Wembley on May 20th to seal the Yorkshire club’s promotion to the Championship.