On a freezing cold afternoon Redbridge hosted FC Romania who were making their first ever visit to the Oakside.

Returning to Redbridge was the imposing figure of Brian Moses who had previously played for the club during the 2014/15 season.

The home side would have been in confident mood after shutting out Clapton in their previous match which had been only their fourth clean sheet of the season however it took only 5 mins for FC Romania to breach the home defence and open the scoring.

Good work out wide by Ilie Vasile saw him square to Marius Teleoaca who had time to control the ball before turning and shooting past Jake Mernagh into the corner of the goal.

Redbridge immediately responded and a dangerous flick by Moses found Joe Gent in space but he could only shoot straight into the arms of Adrian Darabant in the Romania goal.

A good spell of pressure followed from the home side most of which was coming down the right flank through the lively Gent who was finding space.

However it was Romania who extended their lead on 18 mins when a ball came in over the top finding the dangerous Vasile who outmuscled his marker and struck a sweet shot past a despairing Mernagh.

Again Redbridge tried to get back into the match firstly when a corner found the unmarked Charlie Parish but his header was saved down low by Darabant.

The home side's best chance then came through their leading scorer Jacob Dingli as he ran onto a loose ball taking it past Darabant and with the open goal in front of him his shot seemed destined to cross the line but a defender managed to race back in time to clear off the line.

Another chance went begging for the home side as this time Terrell Miller was unable to keep his effort on target as it went wide of the post.

Romania were playing some nice stuff keeping the ball well and got in behind Redbridge once again but fortunately on this occasion the home side were able to clear the danger.

Right on half time the away side scored again and it was a poor goal to concede from Redbridge point of view as Vasile picked the ball up and danced into the area beating three players before coolly slotting home.

Into the 2nd half and a couple of early chances fell to the home side firstly through Gent who could not keep his effort down before a shot from Moses trickled wide.

Just as in the first half Romania scored with their first effort on target when good work out wide by Florin Pop saw him cut inside before unleashing an effort beating Mernagh.

They almost scored a 5th when substitute Andrei Pavel went through on goal but this time Mernagh was equal to the effort managing to save well with his feet.

The home side tried their best to respond as a curling effort by Dingli just missed the bar by a matter of inches before a snap shot from Moses floated wide.

A long effort just wide by Adam Hunt then had Darabant flinging himself across goal before from the resulting corner the ball was twice cleared off the line.

There was a consolation goal for Redbridge on 81 minutes when a Romanian defender could only see his cleared effort hit a post and bounce in over the line.

The last chance fell to the away side when Mernagh had to tip the ball over the bar after his initial save almost bounced over the line.

Report by Adam Silver