Sam Daniel Saunders (born 29 August 1983) is an English professional footballer, who currently plays for Hanwell Town and is assistant coach of Brentford B. He made over 290 appearances as a midfielder in the English Football League, most notably for Brentford and Dagenham & Redbridge. Saunders began his career in non-League football and in 2007 was part of the Dagenham & Redbridge team which was promoted to the Football League for the first time in the club's history. He later made over 200 appearances for Brentford and is a member of the club's Hall of Fame. Career Early years and non-League football Saunders began his career at Charlton Athletic and spent five years in the club's youth setup up to the age of 15. He spent a year in the academy at Fulham, but was unable to win a contract and dropped into non-League football when he signed for Southern League Premier Division club Welling United's youth team in 2000. While with Welling, Saunders returned to Fulham briefly to appear in a youth tournament in Marseille, but was unable to win a scholarship deal. Saunders played sparingly for Welling before moving to Southern League First Division East club Ashford Town (Kent) on 7 March 2002. He moved to the Isthmian League Premier Division to join Carshalton Athletic in February 2004 and after being allocated to the newly created Conference South for the 2004–05 season, the Robins narrowly avoided relegation during Saunders' solitary full season on the club's the books. Dagenham & Redbridge Saunders joined Conference Premier club Dagenham & Redbridge during the 2005 off-season. Injuries disrupted the start of Saunders' first season at Dagenham, but following a starting appearance in a 2–1 league win over Tamworth on 21 January 2006, he became a regular in the first team until the end of the season. He made 29 appearances during the 2005–06 season and scored three goals as Dagenham finished in mid-table. Saunders was a virtual ever-present during the 2006–07 season, making 43 appearances and scoring three goals as Dagenham won the Conference Premier title to secure promotion to the Football League for the first time in the club's history. Saunders started each of Dagenham's first 10 games in League Two and played in the club's first ever League Cup tie on 14 August 2007, which ended in a 2–1 defeat to Luton Town. A medial ligament problem in October