It was a slow start to the game without much in the way of goalmouth action and was not until around the 15th minute when the first chance came. That fell to Basildon's Jamie Brown who curled an effort wide of the post. Another chance for the away side when Lee Delf headed over direct from a corner.

The home side then started to get themselves back in the game and with their first real attack were awarded a penalty. Aron Gordon picked up a short pass from Brian Moses and was upended in the box leaving the referee no option but to point at the spot. Up stepped Adam Hunt but his penalty was poorly struck and bounced against a post and away to safety for Basildon.

Soon after Hunt was involved again as his deft touch put in Bryan Kyungu who was able to hold off two defenders whilst managing to get in a shot which was well saved by the feet of goalkeeper Adetokuno Oyenuga.

Basildon soon had strong appeals for a penalty of their own waved away when a poor clearance from Jake Mernagh fell to striker Ayoola Odedoyin and as he got himself into a shooting position he fell to the ground however the referee allowed play to continue much to the annoyance of the away bench.

The last chance of the first half fell to Hunt who turned and shot just wide of the post.

The game was short on quality and really needed a goal to liven things up and it never took long before that came by way of the home side. Half time substitute Jacob Dingli picked up a through pass from Hunt and rounded Oyenuga and although he lost his footing he was still able to poke the ball home to score.

It’s often said that you are most venerable to concede straight after scoring and that was almost the case as a quick free kick evaded everyone and grazed the top of the crossbar as Basildon looked for an immediate reply.

However it was Redbridge who doubled their lead just minutes later when good work down the left wing by Aron Gordon saw his cross turned in at the far post by a Hunt who slided in to slot home.

The rest of the half saw the home side in control as they looked to further extend their lead witout ever really further testing the Basildon keeper whilst although the away side tried their best to get back into the game Redbridge held out to keep a valuable clean sheet.

The two sides will meet again this coming Saturday in the reverse league fixture as no doubt Basildon will look to gain revenge for this defeat.

report by Adam Silver