Charlery seals rout as Exeter crash out

Dagenham & Redbridge will be hosting Premier League opposition at their tight little Victoria Road ground for the second successive season, when Ipswich Town come visiting for a third-round tie on 5 January. The Conference side, all vigour and vim, scored three headed goals before half-time as Exeter City, who had kept five clean sheets in their previous six games, were utterly overpowered.

It was an astonishing capitulation by the Exeter defence, even if recent Cup history might have warned them what to expect. Last January, the Essex club were four minutes away from becoming the first non-League team to knock Premiership opposition out of the competition, John Salako's deflected shot at The Valley earning Charlton Athletic a fortunate replay, which they won 1-0 in extra time. Dagenham went on to finish third in their league and have done even better this season; they currently lie a point behind the leaders, Boston, with a game in hand, having been beaten only once in 22 games.

Signing two new strikers has added extra attacking potential; Mark Stein – who played for Chelsea in the 1994 final and now studies sports science at Brunel University – and Ken Charlery have a combined age of 72, but had run up 24 goals in 32 appearances between them before last night.

Stein had little chance to add to his 16, however, pulling a hamstring as he chased a pass from Paul Terry in only the fourth minute. It hardly mattered. Junior McDougald, Dagenham's scorer at Charlton in January, came on to make an equally stunning impact by making and then scoring a goal within quarter of an hour.

Two minutes after taking up position on the left wing, he crossed for Mark Janney to head in. That exposed the visitors' weakness in the air, which Charlery and then Steve Heffer should have punished in the next few minutes, both missing straightforward opportunities at the far post.

In the 22nd minute Terry – the older brother of Chelsea's John – swung over a free-kick and McDougald's marker was on the wrong side of him to prevent a second goal.

Danny Shipp was twice close and Charlery was denied by a fine stop from Arjan van Heusden before, in the 43rd minute, Charlery headed in another accurate cross by Janney.

Ipswich's manager, George Burley, said at half-time that there might still be life in the tie if the Third Division side could score early in the second half. They almost did, twice, Christian Roberts chipping against a post after demanding a first save of the night from Tony Roberts, the former Welsh international who became the first goalkeeper to score in FA Cup history when he went up field to equalise at Basingstoke in the fourth qualifying round earlier this season.

Having taken off their captain and centre-half, Chris Curran, at the interval, Exeter looked slightly more secure in defence, but Dagenham were relaxed enough to demonstrate that for all their direct play, they are more than a latter-day Wimbledon.

Dagenham & Redbridge (4-4-2): Roberts; Rooney, Heffer, Smith, Vickers; Janney, Terry, Shipp, Hayzelden: Charlery, Stein (McDougald, 4). Substitutes not used: Gothard (gk), McGavin, Hill, Brennan.

Exeter City (4-4-2): Van Heusden; McConnell, Watson, Curran (Campbell, h-t), Power; Roberts, Barlow (Cronin, 37), Ampadu, Roscoe; Tomlinson, Flack (Read, 63). Substitutes not used: Fraser (gk), Richardson.

Referee: P Alcock (Halstead).