A passing move in the opening 5 minutes very nearly gave Takeley an early lead as a Joe Ryan pass to Jack Haspinall opened up the Redbridge defence but the final shot didn’t unduly trouble Parker in the Redbridge goal. Takeley were a big team looking to play long balls over the top but eventually Redbridge stemmed the flow and started having a few chances themselves. Adam Hunt was played in but wasn’t able to lob the onrushing Takeley keeper. Joe Gent then charged past two players before picking out Ore Odutolas with a lovely cross and the resulting shot required Josh Knight to dive to his right to tip the ball away. Weemes also had a shot parried by the Takeley custodian.

Takeley however were causing problems with their long ball over the top and Haspinall, former Redbridge player Mitchell Das and Charlie Cole all managed to eke out chances that required Parker and his defence to deal with. However as the game reached half-time it could be said that Redbridge had more than held their own against one of the team tipped to be title challengers this season.

The second half could not have got off to a worse start from a Redbridge point of view. A ball over the top was easily picked up by Parker who then appeared to miscontrol the ball as it went straight to Takeley’s Cole who passed to Haspinall who had the easy task of slotting the ball past the stranded Parker. The time was 47 minutes and the goal acted as a stirrup for Takeley who went about looking to extend their lead. Cole and Jack Leachman both had efforts fly over the cross bar. Cole actually did put the ball into the net when he nodded Das deep cross from the left past Parker but the assistant referee had his flag up and the goal was chalked off. However Takeley were now denying Redbridge any space on the ball which stemmed our attacking flow, whilst at the same time allowed Takeley’s Das to make a nuisance of himself, putting over dangerous crosses that needed our defence to mop up, with one shot hitting the side netting. Our only real chance in the half fell to Hunt on 82 minutes who struck a fierce shot that was only narrowly wide.

Takeley had an appeal for a penalty turned down, saw a Reece Barratt header tipped away by Parker before securing all the points on 87 minutes when Joe Ryan passed to Joe Ricketts who sold Parker a dummy before slotting the ball to Cole who had the easy task of shooting past the stranded Parker.

It was a game that Redbridge at least acquitted themselves well in the first half but sadly the calamitous nature of the first goal took the wind out of our sails and buoyed up a Takeley side who never looked like losing once they were gifted the first goal.

Report by Scott Lanza