Wealdstone boss Matt Taylor says his side can take ‘lots of positives’ from Saturday’s National League opener despite going down 2-1 to Dagenham & Redbridge.

Sam Ashford’s header looked to have secured a point for Taylor in his first competitive game in charge, but Dion Pereira’s brilliant late strike condemned Stones to an opening-day defeat.

“Lots of positives. I thought at times we moved the ball exceptionally well,” said Taylor.

“We were really crisp in the way we did that, and we played out of really pressured situations - especially in the first half - really well with confidence.

"When I look at Sam (Ashford) and the goal he scored, he made a real difference when he came on the pitch, but the reality is we weren’t ruthless when we had our big chances.

“We scored a really good goal, and the momentum shifted to us in the game. We had a great chance probably five to six minutes after we scored, and I think if that goes in, that gives the players a real boost.

"But in terms of that, there were more positives than there were negatives. I thought the boys worked extremely hard in pre-season. They were on their knees today because they’ve lost a game of football, but I firmly believe today, regardless of the result, will never define our season.”

After weeks of relentless preparation under Ben Strevens, Dagenham looked to play a possession-based game for the most part and Taylor didn’t see anything different from what he had expected from the opposition.

“There weren’t any real surprises. I thought we dealt with the aggressive press from them, and we moved the ball much better,” he added.

“I felt the players grew in confidence during the game. They’ve got really good attacking players. You can see that from who scored, but we probably should’ve maybe avoided them by making some different decisions.

"But we’re a new group and I look at the players I wasn’t able to select. Sean (Adarkwa) got injured on Thursday in training, we’ve lost Craig (Eastmond), who’s a big player for us, Munds (Mundle-Smith) is a big player for us.

"I look at Mason (Barrett), who played every minute of pre-season. He tore his hamstring last Saturday in the last pre-season game, so we haven’t been particularly lucky with injuries. That’s not making an excuse, that’s just the facts.

“The players that played gave everything they had and you see the supporters reaction to them at the end of the game. That probably tells you everything they’ve seen. Every player in a Wealdstone shirt has given everything for the badge.”

Up next for the Stones is Oldham Athletic on Saturday (3pm), before welcoming Sutton United to Grosvenor Vale on Tuesday (7.45pm).