Officials at Dagenham and Redbridge are investigating why an electrical failure caused their League Two derby with Brentford to be abandoned last night.

The Daggers' Victoria Road ground was plunged into darkness just 20 minutes ahead of kick-off.

Ground staff tried in vain to get the floodlights back to full power but after several failed attempts, referee Lee Probert decided to call the match off.

It was a huge blow to Dagenham, as the London derby was due to be shown live on Sky Sports. However, as the match was postponed, the club will not receive a penny of the lucrative television revenue - worth £30,000 - plus causing a wasted trip for angry supporters.

It's not the first time the club have been hit by a power failure.

Earlier this season, in the home match with Exeter, the lights again failed, this time at half-time. That incident, on 13 December, was due to a fault at a nearby substation and the club fear last night's blackout could have been a repeat of the problem.

They are now seeking an explanation from EDF Energy and insist the club are not at fault for the problem.

Managing director Steve Thompson told Standard Sport: "The electricity company say a main fuse had blown in a substation.

"They can't tell me if it is the same problem as before but they were trying to suggest it was caused by an overload from the club.

"We know that not to be the case because we are planning to have a new stand built and EDF tested the electricity load at a recent home game and we were below our limit.

"It was also nothing to do with the Sky cameras being here. They bring their own generators and do not take an ounce of power from us. The problem was out of our hands and as we could not guarantee when it would be fixed, the referee called the match off.

"It's frustrating because we will not receive any television money and I doubt Sky will reschedule it because they only show a certain amount of matches. It's cost us £30,000 from them, plus an extra £10,000 in lost gate receipts. That's £40,000 and that means a lot to this club.

"We will investigate why this has happened again, but there is probably a clause in the small print which will prevent us from claiming for compensation."

There was no comment from EDF last night while Brentford boss Andy Scott admitted he felt sorry for Dagenham, even though his top-of-the-table team would have netted around £20,000 from the screening deal.

"It's not Dagenham's fault," he said. "They did all they could to make the game happen - it's very unfortunate for both clubs.

"Football League rules state that games have to have kicked off by 8.30pm and the referee knew how long the players needed to warm up. But then news came back that there would not be enough time to have the generators up and running again."

Despite the hit to his budget, Dagenham manager John Still remains up-beat and said the club would triumph from their latest set-back.

He added: "The money would have had a knock on effect on how this club operates. Without pleading poverty, we probably have one of the smallest budgets in the division.

"But this club have grown in adversity. It's taken a few knocks over the years and it has continued to grow. I always say, disappointments make the weak weaker and the strong stronger. We have to make sure we come back stronger."