JOHN Still lauded his players after their battling performance in defeat against promotion-chasing Huddersfield Town, and insisted such a display will stand the team in excellent stead for the last two games of the season that will determine their fate.

It was an Easter period to forget for the Daggers, with a home loss against fellow strugglers Plymouth Argyle arriving on Good Friday, which was certainly bad for the Victoria Road side.

Huddersfield were matched at the Galpharm for large periods by Dagenham, who had two shouts for penalties waved away by the referee.

Jordan Rhodes slid the hosts ahead, but that strike was cancelled out on 28 minutes by a superb effort from Romain Vincelot, who has been in terrific goalscoring form all season.

However, with 15 minutes to play before the break, Rhodes nodded home from six yards, which proved to be enough to take the points.

“I was so pleased with how we played. We played with such intensity,” said a proud Still.

“It was a great performance and to play like that we’re going to give ourselves every chance (of staying up).

“To compete here is almost embarrassing, given the finances of the two teams.”

The Dagenham boss urged for a similar level of performance to be achieved in the next two games, with the side having slipped back into the League One drop zone.

A home clash against Carlisle United, who are safe in mid-table and have no chance of reaching the play-offs, is first up, while the curtain comes down at London Road against an impressive Peterborough outfit.

“We’ve got to put that performance in for the next couple of games,” added Still. “We try and move the ball quickly and get balls in behind them – that’s the right way for us to play. We’re really hard to contain.

“They’re tough games coming up in an unbelievably tough league. But we’ve shown we can play and we’re looking forward to the next game.”