After losing two of their last three friendly's, Dave Ross and Kris Taylor's side bounced back with a professional performance that was too much for Southill Alexander. The win and performance is surely a welcome boost for the team ahead of the league opener at the weekend against Sudbury.

The Motormen were out of the traps quickly and could have scored after 20 seconds. A long ball from Sean Crossley was misjudged by Southill's keeper Dean Shipp. Julian Edwards was quick to pounce on his mistake and sped past the keeper. With only one defender near him, Edwards shot at goal only to see his shot clip the inside of the post and go out to safety.

Southill had a great chance to take the lead, but Lawrence Revell saw his header from a corner cleared of the line after hiting the underside of the bar.

Edwards made up for that by playing his part for in Redbridge's first goal of the night. Good play in midfield from Steve Good and Matty Gillingham saw Edwards lay the ball of to Alex Read who slotted the ball past Shipp for his tenth goal of pre-season.

The goal had been coming for the hosts as a minute beforehand Julian Ashby had a volley hit the inside of the post.

Six minutes after Read's opener, Ashby deservedly got on the scoresheet as Redbridge doubled their lead. Nice play in midfield from Greg Thompson and Good saw the ball fed to Ashby whose effort on the half volley flew into the bottom corner. The Motormen saw out the rest of the half to take a deserved 2-0 lead into half time.

With the Sudbury game days away, Dave Ross and Kris Taylor made expected changes in the second half. Probably the most notable of the five changes was the debut of Tony Winston who came on to replace Dave McCartney in goal. In truth aside from a couple of saves Winston did not have much to do but he did what was asked and could be one for the future.

Coming into the game, fans would have wanted to see goals and in the second half the Motormen delivered scoring three. Ashby scored his second of the game and third of pre-season on the hour with a lovely finish following good play from Edwards and Read. Skipping inside his marker the midfielder drove the ball into the top corner with much aplomb.

Barley a minute later Read got his second of the night and tenth of pre-season with a powerful low strike from the edge of the area that gave Shipp no chance in goal. Read has looked confident and should be a player to watch out for in the league season.

Sub Perry Christian was lively in the final 15 minutes and a good run from the winger found Edwards in space inside the area and the forward made no mistake with a cool finish to seal the win with seven minutes left.

Overall there should be a good sense of optimism at the Oakside this year as with things looking brighter off the pitch, a squad with a good mix of youth and experience could be worth watching this year.

Redbridge: Dave McCartney, Matthew Donovan, Simon Peddie, Sean Crossley, Lee Matson, Greg Thompson, Steve Good, Matty Gillingham, Julian Ashby, Alex Read, Julian Edwards

Subs: Sonny Adams, Perry Christian, Chris Lockwood, Mark Nougher,Tony Winston

To have a look at some pictures from the match go to the Pre-Season 2010 Album on our website and scroll towards the end of the album: https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/redbridge/?section=videos_photos_view&album_id=60536.