Michael Cheek treble fires Dagenham to thrilling victory over Guiseley

Posted Friday, April 20, 2018 by PA

Michael Cheek scored his first hat-trick for Dagenham as they edged an eight-goal thriller at already-relegated Guiseley.

The 26-year-old broke the deadlock after 16 minutes when he tapped into an empty net after great work from Fejiri Okenabirhie before Liam Gordon doubled Dagenham’s advantage with a neat finish through the legs of goalkeeper Luke Coddington.

Alex Purver pulled one back for the hosts and they drew level through Ellis Hudson, who slammed in the rebound from James Roberts’ saved penalty in the 34th minute.

Cheek capitalised on a slip from former Republic of Ireland international Sean St Ledger to regain the lead for the Daggers in the 37th minute but Guiseley were level two minutes later through Simon Lenighan.

However, the Lions found themselves behind at the break after Okenabirhie coolly slotted home a penalty on the stroke of half-time to put Dagenham 4-3 up.

The goals dried up in the second period but Cheek was on hand to secure his treble after 69 minutes when he was the quickest to react to his own shot, which Coddington saved, to seal an entertaining 5-3 win.