DAGENHAM & Redbridge number two Terry Harris insists the secret behind the club’s superb start to the season is nothing more than hard graft.

The Daggers are sitting pretty in League Two, occupying the final automatic promotion place after 11 games, with an impressive haul of 21 points.

To say the team have exceeded expectations would be a gross understatement. After last season’s champions Brentford poached three of the side’s star players in Ben Strevens, Sam Saunders and Danny Foster, as well as the acrimonious departure of defender Magnus Okuonghae to Colchester United this summer, Dagenham were penned in as strong relegation candidates by many pundits in the game.

However, with an influx of new players from the lower leagues, Harris and manager John Still have successfully installed a winning mentality amongst a group of players who had only a matter of days to gel before the start of the campaign.

“It’s just been a case of a lot of hard work from all the players,” said Harris ahead of the team’s home clash against bottom side Darlington on Saturday. “If you’d have said at the beginning of the season that we would have 21 points at this stage you would take that.

“We lost four or five big players over the summer but the ones that have come in have really buckled down. It’s a credit to them. They’ve taken on board the way we play and they’ve listened.

“We knew they were all good players but sometimes it takes time to gel.”

They certainly didn’t take long, as the new-look Daggers opened up the season with three successive wins, racking up a total of 12 goals.

Amongst those scorers were winger Danny Green and striker Josh Scott; two players plucked from the depths of non-league and who have emerged as two of the signings of the season.

Scott has developed a good understanding with Paul Benson up front, with the pair combining for 12 goals in all competitions thus far.

However, it is Benson who has enjoyed the lion’s share of the goals, with eight to his name already. And Harris has been delighted with how things are working out with his new strikeforce.

“Paul is a top, top player. He benefited from playing with Ben Strevens last season and now he has adapted to play with Josh Scott. Josh is a real handful up front. They have both adapted to suit each other’s style and it’s working.”

Darlington are winless in the league this season, while Still’s men have won four of their five home games.

The smart money is on a home win. But Harris is wary of the threat their visitors will pose.

“Darlington are a good team and it will be a tough game for us, especially given the position they are in.”