Hatters boss won’t enjoy return to Daggers

He emphasised he will be delighted to get a much-needed victory in Sunday’s League Two match against the struggling hosts who have yet to win on home soil in the league this season.

But Still played and managed the Daggers before arriving at Kenilworth Road and it’s a club that will always be close to his heart.

He said: “It’s not a game that I want. If I have to play them I would like it to be in the situation where it’s the last game of the season when everyone’s destiny is sorted out.

“I manage this club, the only thing I want to do on Sunday is win. That’s my job. But like lots of people your job can be different to your passion.

“I have grown up watching Dagenham, then playing for Dagenham, then managing Dagenham. I live ten minutes from the ground, my dad was a supporter. Of course it’s important to me what happens at Dagenham but my job is my job and I have to put that first.”

A return to Dagenham offers the chance to catch up with old friends off the field but Still said he had no plans for that.

He said: “I want to go there, play there and go home. I don’t even want to socialise, I know it sounds silly but I don’t. The manager’s a close friend of mine, he worked with me there, and when the game’s over I’ll say a few hellos and then I want to go home.

“If we win I will be absolutely delighted, and if we lose I will be absolutely gutted.”

Smith admitted Sunday presented a good opportunity to get back to winning ways: “Against Plymouth it was nip and tuck, against Orient it was a hard fought derby.”

“My teams always get stronger. I think we’ve got stronger but I don’t think we’re playing as well as we can do. We should be capitalising on situations, we are making more mistakes than I believe we should be making.”

He expressed surprise that Dagenham are bottom of the division, but said: “This is a game of small margins at times.”