Manager Martin Ling has told his Torquay United players to expect their impressive surge up the npower League Two table to turn them from hunters into the hunted as they prepare to take on Dagenham & Redbridge at Plainmoor tonight (7.45pm).

The Gulls have stormed up to sixth place on the back of 29 points out of 36 and they finally come home, after a gap of nearly a month, for two Plainmoor games this week against the one-from-bottom Daggers and bottom club Northampton Town on Saturday.

"I know we've got the bottom two in the League, and they are games we are expected to win all of a sudden," said Ling. "But they are just as dangerous as a match against a top-two side.

"Dagenham and Northampton are in danger of losing their League status, and everyone at this club knows what that can mean.

"It's a different type of pressure for us now. This is the first time that we've been above that top-seven line.

"Now we are a target, where we've been targeting other clubs before."

Ling added: "We are very lucky with no injuries or suspensions at the moment, so it will be the same 18-man squad that travelled to Morecambe last weekend."

For United's 2-1 win at the Globe Arena, Ling went for Taiwo Atieno as his lone striker, waiting until the last 20 minutes before sending on his leading scorer Rene Howe, who was avaialable after a four-match suspension.

Atieno worked hard and only a brilliant save by home goalkeeper Barry Roche kept out a fierce volley from the former Walsall, Luton Town and Stevenage forward in the second half.

Howe also did well when he went on, and now Ling has decide between his two main strikers again. He was giving no hints away during his pre-match briefing.

Ling expects that Torquay may have to be patient against John Still's Dagenham side.

"Away from home, teams have come at us and we have been able to pick them off successfully," he said.

"In our last two home games, against Swindon and Oxford, we were against ambitious teams with their eyes on promotion. But I expect Dagenham to try and make things as difficult as possible for us, and we'll have to work hard to break them down."

United cannot move up a place even if they win tonight, but they could cut the gap to the top three to five points.

Dagenham, where United drew 1-1 in August, come to Plainmoor in the wake of two heavy defeats – they lost 5-0 in an FA Cup replay at Millwall and then 4-1 at Crewe Alexandra last Saturday.

It was a costly kicking mistake by Dagenham goalkeeper Chris Lewington which helped to turn the Crewe game, which stood at 1-1 with less than 20 minutes to go.

One of their recent successes has been the loan signing of Colombian-born striker Christian Montano from West Ham.

Montano, 20, has scored three times in eight games, after previous spells at Notts County and Swindon Town this season.

Torquay United (from): Olejnik, Rice; Oastler, Robertson, Ellis, Nicholson, Lathrope, Morris, O'Kane, Mansell, Stevens, Atieno, Howe, Rowe-Turner, Saah, McPhee, Macklin, Leadbitter.