Dagenham & Redbridge midfielder Luke Howell was frustrated as it proved to be “one of those days” in the 1-0 home defeat to Torquay United on Saturday.

Plenty of chances came their way at Victoria Road, but Aaron Downes’ 50th minute header proved their undoing in the end.

The Gulls were helped by a top performance from goalkeeper Michael Poke, while the defence cleared, blocked and deflected almost everything away from danger.

And Howell felt on another day the Daggers could have two or three goals clear by the time Downes netted the eventual winner.

“It seemed like it was just going to be one of those of days,” said Howell.

Throughout the game we had the most of the possession; we had a lot of chances in and around their area. We even had a few clear chances, but we just couldn’t the goal. “We have to give them credit. They came here and put men behind the ball and set up shop to score from set pieces and they did just that.

“The fans were clapping at the end, they knew we were on top and had some chances so it was disappointing in that regard but we’ll learn from it.”

And while frustrated at the Daggers in attack, Howell had praise for Torquay, despite their approach.

“There was numerous times where we went close and I just thought ‘well this is it, we’ve got to keep working but it wasn’t going to go for us’,” he added.

“We had balls across the box, we hit the post, they cleared it off the line but we have to give them credit. We’ll have to try and work harder to break teams down if they come and put men behind the ball.”