Local derbies often promise much and deliver little due to the fact that both teams want the result so much that they cancel each other. This was the case here and therefore the first 15 minutes saw little in the way of goalmouth action with only a long range effort from ex-Motorman George Winn being the only chance of note –even then the shot was easily dealt with by Callum Chafer. Redbridge’s Nathaniel Gordon made a nuisance of himself as he chased down any balls that came into the Barkingside half. A shot just inside the box was just a bit too high and then he was able to out-jump his marker at a corner but wasn’t able to direct his header on target. Sam Edwards then went down the other end and fired a shot high and wide of Chafer’s goal.

In fairness there was little quality as both teams tried to stamp their authority on each other, with both defences snuffing out any balls that came near their respective penalty boxes. Then on 28 minutes Laste Dombaxe decided to take on the Barkingside defence launching a run that started near the halfway line, took him past four opposition players but then Jack Francis rushed out and dived at his feet before he could unload. Dombaxe had another effort on 35 minutes, connecting with a volley that Francis pushed away for a corner.

Barkingside may have been passing the ball around nicely in the midfield area but hadn’t really threatened, a couple of shots were fired off by Jason Fontaine and Sam Konway but they were blocked by the Redbridge defence. With 40 minutes on the clock the homesters were then awarded a penalty after the referee judged that Konway had been tripped in the box. This was Barkingside’s first real chance and Fontaine’s well placed shot was superbly tipped away for a corner by Chafer. It was an outstanding save but was bettered in the next instant as the in-swinging corner was headed goal wards by Konway but found Chafer pulling off a top draw save, this time diving to his right to acrobatically push the ball away to safety. The Redbridge defence had to block yet another corner but Fontaine was able to turn and volley a shot from just outside the six yard box but yet again there was Chafer, who pulled off another top class save to prevent the home side from taking the lead.

Redbridge opened the second half with a fast passing move that saw Tommie Turner pacing down the right flank, sending over a cross that only just eluded the outstretched leg of Nathanial Gordon. Dombaxe also had luck against him he failed to connect with a long cross that came in from the left. It was certainly a bright start and it looked like luck was starting to go our way when Leon Smith went down from a Stephen Good challenge in the box, the referee however waved away the appeals and waved play on. It looked to be the right decision from where I was standing but the Barkingside bench were certainly calling for a penalty. However Redbridge soon conceded a soft free kick, which looked more like a Barkingside player backing into one of our players, however the referee this time award the free kick against us and the ball was whipped across our goalmouth and was headed home by Sam Edwards. The goal had come at a time when Redbridge had been in the ascendency and as is so often the case the goal made Barkingside up their game as they started to dominate the midfield but couldn’t penetrate our defence as Emmanuel Sackey and Good both took it in turns to mop up any balls that were sent over.

Jacob Dingli had a golden opportunity to level the scores on 70 minutes when he run into the box but took the ball too far and was dispossessed by the Barkingside keeper before he was able to shoot. Both Gordons, Nathanial and Aaron remained lively but it was Barkingside who came closest to scoring again when in the 80th minute a fierce strike from Kerkstan MacPherson was deflected away by Chafer, who took the full brunt of the ball to his head and resulted in him needing treatment. Once the treatment was over he then called upon to deal with a George Lutaaya shot, which he parried away.

Redbridge went looking for the equaliser and spent the remaining five minutes of the game camped in the Barkingside half. Nicholas Brown went closest when his effort was tipped onto the post by Francis. Dombaxe tried a shot outside the box that was blocked by Paul Wright, Jack Roult struck a shot that was only an inch too high and then in the final seconds Chafer tried his luck with a free kick that was well saved by Francis. The final whistle went soon after, ending a game that wasn’t a classic but showed a Redbridge side starting to gel, gain some resolve and on reflection deserved at least a share of the spoils.

Report by Scott Lanza