A COMBINATION of bad luck, debatable decisions and errant finishing left Bury boss David Flitcroft a frustrated man after struggling Dagenham completed the double over his promotion chasers.

The home side had picked up just a point from their four previous matches since beating Bury 2-0 at the JD Stadium at the end of November.

And they had played more than seven hours without scoring before Rhys Murphy volleyed home for the Daggers in the 51st minute.

There was a touch of fortune about what turned out to be the winner, as Billy Bingham’s deflected shot ballooned into Murphy’s path.

Luck was also against the Shakers at the other end as home stopper Mark Cousins foiled them time and again, while Ryan Lowe hit the woodwork and both Craig Jones and Andrew Tutte had late efforts blocked on the line.

Just to rub salt in the wounds, substitute Danny Rose picked up a yellow card for diving in the box when he looked to have been felled by a push in the back.

Flitcroft was understandably angry with the decision, but believed his players wasted enough chances to render the referee’s call an irrelevance.

“A lot is going to be made of the penalty decision, but we have got to win it before and after that,” he said.

“We played with a high level of quality but didn’t put them to the sword because we weren’t clinical in our work or our execution.

“Tutte’s had a fantastic chance, Jones has had a fantastic chance.

“It is a mistake when you don’t score from two or three yards out.

“If you want to be the best at anything then you have got to have that end quality and end execution, that ruthless edge.

“We have got to find that because we have to kill these teams off. At the minute we are giving them hope. You have got to take that hope away from them and a goal does that.”

Bury enjoyed the majority of the possession and chances in the opening half, but their play lacked the devilment manager Flitcroft demanded and got in their last two matches.

They went into the game on the back of victories against Northampton and Mansfield, and Hallam Hope, fresh from signing a permanent deal with the Shakers, had two early chances to continue that good run.

His first shot, from long range, was easily gathered by Cousins before the Daggers stopper did well to parry a close-range strike from a tight angle.

Cousins also made a stunning save to tip over a stinging volley from Nicky Adams.

But Dagenham, who started the day second bottom of the table, came back into it as Bury failed to make the most of their territorial advantage.

Jamie Cureton went close with a header from an Ashley Chambers’ free kick before strike partner Murphy had a shot deflected just wide of the post.

Murphy hit the target when given a second invitation to shoot six minutes after the break, although Bury keeper Rob Lainton very nearly turned his opener around the post after getting a hand to the ball.

Referee Iain Williamson rightly waved away calls for offside after Bingham’s shot found its way to Murphy via Bury midfielder Kelvin Etuhu.

Lowe came close to levelling 10 minutes later when his clean strike from Adams’ pullback rebounded off the woodwork, while Cousins stood up well to palm away Tutte’s point blank shot at his near post.

Bury charged forward in search of the equaliser but a succession of attacks broke down without a clean shot on goal before Rose went down in the box in the 82nd-minute under pressure from Ade Obileye to provide the game’s biggest talking point.

“As soon as Rosey gets the wrong side, the defender has got to do something to make up his bad body positioning and he has done that, he’s put an arm across him,” said Flitcroft.

“We have got clear footage of it. He has taken Rosey down.

“Why would a striker in that position go down? Is he looking for a penalty? He doesn’t need to, he doesn’t want to because he wants to score himself and Rosey doesn’t take penalties for me.

“It’s a real bad decision.

“There is physical contact there, Rosey has gone down because of that physical contact but we have not got the penalty.”

The apparent injustice only served to intensify Bury’s effort as youth team striker Anthony Dudley was thrown into the fray.

He laid on another clear scoring chance for Tutte that was again blocked by the home side before the Shakers launched a real barrage in stoppage time.

The ball fell to another substitute, Jones, just a few yards out but he was unable to thread his shot through the crowd of bodies on the line and Tutte’s effort from the rebound was also charged down.

Dagenham held out to claim their first win in five matches and move up out of the League Two relegation zone, while the Shakers remain in eighth, a point outside the play-off places.

DAGENHAM AND REDBRIDGE: Cousins; Partridge (Batt 73), Doe, Obileye, Connors; Chambers, Bingham, Labadie (Boucaud 73), Hemmings; Cureton, Murphy (Yusuff 83).

Not used: O'Brien, Saah, Hines, Howell.

BURY: Lainton 6; Soares 5, Cameron 7, El-Abd 8, Hussey 7; Adams 7 (Jones 6 65), Etuhu 6 (Dudley 6 83), Tutte 7, Mayor 6; Hope 6 (Rose 6 57), Lowe 6.

Not used: Ruddy, McNulty, Sedgwick, Burgess.

Goals: Dagenham and Redbridge 1 (Murphy 51) Bury 0.

Yellow cards: Dagenham and Redbridge – Labadie 45, Boucaud 84. Bury – Lowe 37, Rose 82.

Referee: Iain Williamson (Berkshire).

Attendance: 1,877 (245 visiting).

STAR MAN: Adam El-Abd – The Egyptian centre-back offers Bury a missing ingredient, according to manager David Flitcroft. And after putting in what was arguably his most assured display since arriving on loan from Bristol City it is becoming clearer exactly what qualities he brings to the melting pot. It is perhaps unfair to describe the former rock at the heart of Brighton’s back line a no-nonsense defender as he showed a willingness to come out with the ball at times on Saturday. But he certainly offers a presence and streak of steel to Bury’s rearguard . He may have stopped, like the rest of the Shakers defence, expecting a flag for Dagenham’s goal but El-Abd did not put another foot wrong.