League One: Charlton Athletic 2 Dagenham & Redbridge 2

It was appropriate that an emergency Nurse was the one to stop the bleeding for Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday.

John Still’s men had lost all five games away from home going into the weekend’s clash at The Valley.

So when Johnnie Jackson headed in to restore Charlton’s lead in the 91st minute, there was a sense of order being restored, however sickening and undeserved it felt given their second half showing.

Jon Nurse, who is developing the habit of scoring important goals, had other ideas.

As the home fans celebrated, substitute Damian Scannell sent an inviting ball down the corridor of uncertainty between goalkeeper and defenders, where the man who scored the decisive goal in May’s play-off win at Wembley was again on hand to poke home.

Daggers had initially found a way back into the game through a controversial penalty in their favour, which led to Phil Parkinson’s ejection from the touchline for his excessive complaints.

Had anyone else taken the lead of the Addicks boss and abandoned their seat at half time, then few would have believed the role reversal which took place in the second period, following the one-sided domination in the first.

Indeed, Charlton would not have been flattered by being three goals up within in the first ten minutes.

Former Manchester United youngster Lee Martin sent an early warning shot inside the first two minutes when he picked up the ball on the right and was given space and time to run past Damien McCrory and rifled a shot into the crossbar from 18 yards out.

As Daggers opted not to play an orthodox left-sided midfielder, with Peter Gain spending most of his time in the centre of the field, the Charlton winger was tormenter-in-chief and another of his bursts set up the opening goal on 10 minutes.

Although Mark Arber initially cut short his initial run into the penalty area, his interception forced a corner from Miguel Llera comfortably headed to open the scoring.

Goalkeeper Tony Roberts protested that Gary Doherty had fouled him, but it appeared moreso that the ex-Tottenham Hotspur defender merely made stood his ground while the Daggers defence watched the Spaniard jump to nod home.

The hosts continued to dominate the first half with former Daggers Paul Benson, Jackson and, specifically, Scott Wagstaff all going close to adding to the lead.

A through ball to Gavin Tomlin, which keeper Ross Worner comfortably gathered, was the sole threat on the Charlton goal, until a bizarre decision to award a penalty in the first minute of injury time at the end of the half.

A coming together between Bas Savage and Therry Racon in the area was so innocuous that it was a more natural reaction to look for an offside flag when the whistle was blown, but the referee braved the wrath of the crowd and handed Daggers a lifeline.

After a brief conference between Danny Green and Arber, the winger won the argument and justified his confidence by blasting into the bottom left corner of the net.

Savage should have put Daggers in front on 53 minutes, but slowed to a crawl when one-on-one with Worner, perhaps thinking the slightest of contact would earn him another spot kick, but it was enough to rattle the home defence.

Green was denied by a close-range header by Worner as Daggers’ growing confidence was built on the foundations of improved ball-winning from midfielders Stuart Lewis and Romain Vincelot.

Nurse nearly scored with his first touch, but Worner was again equal to the effort and the keeper continued to be a one-man wall when denying Tomlin from inside the six-yard box, following a cut-back from Gain.

Jackson and Nurse then took it turns to put their own fans through the full range of footballing emotion and the relentless, two-goal period of injury time, which dominated post-match discussions.

However, having hit new season highs after earlier looking completely lost, quietly, the lasting impression was one of Daggers possibly having turned a corner.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Roberts, McCrory, Doe, Arber, Green (Scannell, 89 mins), Tomlin, Ifil, Savage ((Nurse, 73 mins) Scott, 90+4 mins), Vincelot, Lewis, Gain.

Subs not used: Lewington, Currie, Bingham, Gwillim.

Charlton Athletic: Worner, Francis, Jackson, Llera, Semedo, Wagstaff ((Reid, 62 mins) Fry, 80 mins), Racon, Martin, Doherty, Benson, Anyinsah (Sodje, half time).

Subs not used: Daniels, Stavrinou, Fortune, Tuna.

Attendance: 14,806.