The Motormen travelled to fellow ESL side Hadley as the two teams locked horns in the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup.

Blustery conditions meant the ball would spent a long time up in the air so both sides ideally would look to play on the ground. It was the away side who did just that taking an early lead when Daniel Gilchrist stole possession before playing in Taylor Tombides who kept his composure to fire past Austin Byfield in the Hadley goal.

There was almost an immediate reply from the home side when Liam Burgess short pass back was seized upon by Emmanuel Hammond and although he beat the onrushing Florent Gislette defender Dean Hall was able to get back and clear off the line.

Back came Redbridge as Gilchrist and Tombides combined well again with the latter flashing over a cross looking for James Barlow at the far post but he failed to get a strong connections and Byfield was able to gather.

On the 20 minute mark the home side were awarded a penalty after the referee saw a handball in the area and had no hesitation in pointing to the sport :no VAR required here ! Up stepped Alfie Batram who thumped home the equaliser.

Hadley now with the wind in their sails attacked again and a long ball over the top caught out Hall allowing Solomon Ofori in on goal however Gislette was quickly out of his goal and able to close him down and make the save.

Hadley were however not to be denied and shortly awarded a second penalty as Giseltte brought down a player in the area and up stepped Batram once again to smash home his second of the afternoon.

The match had now turned full circle and the home side continued to attack with their front two in particular causing Redbridge all sorts of problems

It was therefore somewhat against the run of play that Redbridge got back into the match, good work down the left flank by Barlow saw his cross turned home by Connor Okus to level the score.

Redbridge were now back on top and should have scored when Tombides squared a ball into the path of Gilchrist who fired over when seemed destined to hit the target.

That proved to be the final action of the first period however it never took long for the drama to continue in the second half as after just four minutes Hadley regained their lead.

A neat passing move began and then was ended with Ofori firing past a stranded Gislette.

Hadley then spurned further opportunities through Ofori and then Bradley Marriott before Luke Jupp fired over as they continued to dominate proceedings.

Their reward came as they grabbed a fourth goal on 62 minutes when Sam Lyon hit a sweet shot which flew past Gislette into the back of the net.

The crossbar saved Redbridge from conceding another before substitute Yemi Buraimoh lobbed effort fell just the wrong side of a post.

Time was eventually called and with it came a deserved victory for the home side who will now host another ESL side in Hoddesdon Town in the next round

report by Adam Silver