There is still plenty of hard work to do but Chester FC can breathe a little easier.

Rewind a month and the shell-shocked Blues fan base was coming to terms with the revelation that their club needed to find £50,000 to survive.

But fast forward four weeks and Chester's financial outlook is looking a lot healthier thanks to a fantastic fundraising effort.

More than £80,000 has been raised already and that means fears over the club folding before the season is out have been allayed.

But while the Blues may be out of the woods, for now at least, the same cannot be said of their opponents this weekend.

When Dagenham & Redbridge cantered to a 4-0 win at the Swansway Chester Stadium on November 25 they looked all the world a team capable of sustaining a promotion push.

James Akintunde on the ball during Chester FC's defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge in November

But since then the wheels have fallen off and the Daggers will go into Saturday's reverse encounter at Victoria Road on the back of a run of seven defeats in their last 12 matches.

It is a run that has seen the East London outfit slide out of the play-off places and into mid-table.

But of bigger concern is the club's plight off the pitch.

At the start of the month major benefactor Glyn Hopkin resigned as a director and stated he would no longer be funding the club.

That has led Dagenham to selling a number of key players, including Corey Whitely, Sam Ling and Morgan Ferrier.

Their sales have raised around £70,000 but the club say it may need to find four times that amount - and then some - to cover running costs between now and the summer.

Dagenham & Redbridge striker Morgan Ferrier has been sold back to Boreham Wood to help the club's financial plight

The Daggers' coffers will be boosted by a friendly against neighbours West Ham United during next month's international break while Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony said on Twitter this week he could be interested in investing in the club.

But, speaking to BBC Radio London, managing director Stephen Thompson spelled out just how precarious Dagenham's position remains.

He said: "Our major benefactor has decided he is unable to fund the club going forward.

"We have a deficit of £250,000 to £300,000 which we need to plug between now and the end of June.

"We are doing everything we can and a number of players have been released or sold on to other National League clubs and we have reduced the wage bill.

"At the moment we can't guarantee we can pay the staff until June, when contracts are finished. We are looking for a new major investor."

Hartlepool United boss Craig Harrison has been sacked

Chester and Dagenham are not the only National League clubs to become embroiled in financial turmoil this season.

Hartlepool United, who sacked Chester-based boss Craig Harrison earlier this week, staved off a winding up petition after supporters settled a £48,000 tax bill.

Leaders Macclesfield Town, meanwhile, failed to pay their players' January wages on time.