Town's new boss Paul Simpson was happy with the point gained by his side at wind-swept Dagenham. Despite once again surrendering a lead, Andy Cooke's opener could prove vital as the home side failed to close the gap on their Shropshire counterparts.

"It's a good point because this is a tricky place to come," said Simpson. "The conditions weren't great, it was a horrible, cold, windy day and the pitch was a bit bobbly so it was difficult to play on it.

"I was delighted with the attitude and the spirit we showed but having been in front it's disappointing to have conceded the way we did. It's pleasing to get a point because one or two of the teams at the bottom have lost again so that gives us a little bit more of a cushion and inches us that little bit closer to safety.

"This was the first of three very important matches for us. We've got another tough game on Monday against Notts County where we want to win and put on a good performance in front of our own fans, and hopefully give them something to shout about and set us up nicely for the next one against Bury.

"I was pleased with the way we defended for 99% of the game. I was pleased with Steve Leslie's performance out on the left and thought the two midfielders had good games. Cookey took his goal really well and held the ball up and won his headers so was generally a nuisance. There are a lot of positives but the main one is we didn't lose the game, we've taken a point and now can move on to the next one."

With less than two months of the season remaining, Simpson is obviously keen to look at as many players as he can to gauge who will be on the retained list at the season's end.

"There's nobody first choice. I've started twice with Cookey up front but Dave Hibbert's done well both times he's come on for him. I've had a chance to have a look at Leslie as well. Steve deserved his opportunity. He got in the side because of an injury to Hunt but that's football. He's a good athlete and likes to put his foot in. He's took his opportunity well and we'll have to see whether he keeps his place for Monday or how many more opportunities he'll get before the end of the season. It's up to me in the next eight games to make my assessments from the players I've got, and hopefully I can make a reasonable judgement before the end of the season to find out who can come forward with us."

On loan centre-back Graeme Lee made his first start after joining from Doncaster in midweek. What was the manager's assessment of the new boy?

"I was really pleased with his debut, but I thought the other three lads at the back were solid too. This is a very difficult place to come to. You're going to have to defend when you come here with the number of balls they put in on top of you and like I said for 99% of the game we defended really well. We just lost concentration for a brief moment and conceded by not defending the second ball well enough."

The team enjoyed an overnight stay in the South ahead of the game and the manager accepted that it gave him the opportunity of seeing a different side to his new charges.

"You don't see too much of them because they tend to spend a lot of time in their rooms just relaxing and preparing for the game. I don't want to make a big deal of coming overnight but I thought it was the right preparation for the game. We accept we can't do it for every game but the players have looked after themselves properly and I think the level of performance today justified the decision to stay over."

Simpson can now look forward to sending a side out in a home game with another Bank Holiday fixture in 48 hours.

"I tend to just take one game at a time and now this one's over I'll start looking forward to Monday's game against Notts County. It won't be easy; they've beaten Rochdale 1-0 today. It will be a tough game but I hope we can attract a few people out to support us. We want some wins so that league table looks a little bit more respectable and to give everybody a lift gong into next season."

Martin Wild