DAGENHAM & Redbridge did not get what they wanted for Christmas, so they will be keen to stick by their New Year resolutions when they resume their promotion quest in 2010.

After coming through a sticky patch against several of League Two’s frontrunners relatively unscathed, the Daggers were rewarded by two fixtures that, on paper at least, would prove less arduous and more fruitful.

That was not to be the case, as they were first undone by a late goal at Northampton on Boxing Day, in a game that also saw captain Mark Arber blast a penalty over the bar.

The team also misfired against struggling Cheltenham at their Victoria Road home on Monday, goals from Justin Richards and Josh Lowe leaving them to ponder a third loss in five games.

Despite the two festive period setbacks, Dagenham remain in the thick of the promotion hunt, lying in fifth place on 37 points, just two points adrift of Rotherham in the third and final automatic promotion place.

The team will be grateful to have the luxury of a two-week break before their next game against another of the sides floundering at the wrong end of the table, Torquay United.

And now appears to be a good time for the players to take stock and prepare themselves for what promises to be a gruelling second half of the season, in which they will be hoping to go at least one better than last year, when they missed out on the play-off places on the final day of the season.