Manager Francis Vines insists it is only a matter of time before Crawley start scoring goals.

Reds drew a second consecutive blank in a goalless draw against Dagenham in their first home game of the season last night.

Vines signed three strikers last week - Danny Ekoku, Jamie Cade and Stuart Douglas - and is confident his side can starting hitting the net soon.

He said: "We just need to take one chance. Once we get up and running I think there will be plenty of goals in this team.

"We created enough chances and our performance was much better than against York on Saturday, which was encouraging."

Reds began training full time on Monday and Vines believes it will take at least another two weeks before Crawley start feeling the benefit.

He said: "We only trained for one day before the game and it will be a while until we will be able to see any improvement. I'm happy how things are progressing at the moment."

Vines had called for more effort from his players before the game following Saturday's disappointing draw at York and he got it in the first half as Reds dominated.

They caused problems through wingers Lee Elam on the right and Richard Hodgson on the left, who were both making their home league debut.

Midfielder Simon Wormull also became more influential as the game wore on and it was from his ball that led to Reds' best chance of the first half on 31 minutes.

He found Steve Burton with his back to goal on the edge of the box and the big striker turned his man superbly before firing just wide with his weaker left foot.

Dagenham's threat came from quick counter-attacks by strikers Craig Mackail-Smith and Chris Moore.

Their pace was, at times, too much for centre backs Ian Simpemba and David Woozley and they combined to almost give the visitors an undeserved lead just before the interval.

Mackail-Smith latched on to a flick from his strike partner, cut inside right-back Ben Judge and forced Phil Smith into a low save, which he needed two attempts to gather.

Smith did well again two minutes into the second half to block a low angled drive by Moore, who had beaten Simpemba and Judge to a loose ball.

The chance came during Dagenham's best spell of the game, which also saw Judge make a crucial last ditch clearance away from Lee Goodwin in the six-yard box.

The visitors' positive start after the break caused Vines to make a change, with the more direct Ekoku replacing Cade, who had struggled to get into the game. The substitution had its intended desire as Reds regained control of the game with Ekoku heavily involved.

He blasted high over from 20 yards after showing good strength to muscle Shane Blackett off the ball. The 19-year-old then provided a good cross for Lee Blackburn, whose angled strike was pushed over by keeper Tony Roberts.

Captain Ian Simpemba went closest to breaking the deadlock from the resulting corner with a header which bounced back off the bar. Judge was first to react to the rebound and had a looping header cleared off the line by Glen Southam.

Hodgson then had a 25-yard curling effort palmed away at full length by Roberts and Simpemba blasted inches wide from close range moments later to cap a frustrating night for the Reds.

Crawley Town: Smith, Judge, Simpemba, Woozley, Jenkins, Elam, Wormull, Blackburn, Hodgson, Cade (sub Ekoku 57), S. Burton. Subs not used: Ward, Opinel, Armstrong, Douglas.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Roberts, Goodwin, Griffiths, Leberl, Southam, Uddin, Blackett (sub Vickers 65), Foster, Bruce, Moore (sub Benson 80), Mackail-Smith. Subs not used: Overland, Fowler, Kandol.

Referee: G. Scott (England).

Attendance: 1,734.

Man-of-the-match: Lee Elam (Crawley).