Thurlow Nunn South side Frenford made the short journey to the Oakside to face Redbridge in the Preliminary Round of the BBC Essex Senior Cup.

A much-changed line up for the hosts saw Josh Chebesi in goal whilst recently signed Sergiu Maximov started in midfield and Josh Sykes led the line in attack

An early chance fell to Sykes as he found himself in front of goal, but his shot was pushed away by Jack Pyan in the Frenford goal.

With just four minutes on the clock the home side were in front, Herman Mwanza put over a decent looking cross from the right looking for Tony Martin , the ball was only partially cleared falling nicely to Maximov who had time to pick his spot and duly drilled the ball into the bottom right corner.

Frenford were finding it difficult to get up the pitch however did have an opportunity when Owen James disposed James Barlow and crossed into the middle , the ball was cleared straight back to him, and he managed to get a shot away needing Chebesi to be alert and palm away.

Darnell Bromfield then got forward for Redbridge, he put over a cross searching for Sykes, but a defender did enough to put the striker off and resulted in him failing to make any proper connection

Poor defending by Frenford almost allowed Sykes in but he only succeeded in poking the ball wide and he came together with the goalkeeper and defender , in doing so felt full force of the challenge and required treatment.

Martin then found himself in on goal, his shot hit against Pyan and looked to be heading in but was blocked by his own player Sykes who was on the ground , Mwanza followed up but saw his shot deflected just wide of the post.

From the resulting corner Redbridge doubled their lead, Bromfield took the kick which was powerfully headed home at the near post by skipper Barlow.

As half time approached Frenford almost got themselves back into the game, Deyonte Anthoney saw his shot heading for the far corner only to be denied by Nathan Okoye who was well positioned to head clear off the line.

Chebesi was then called upon to make the save as a looping effort almost beat him at the far post, but he was equal to it

The second half began with the home side putting together a nice passage of play moving the ball from one side of the pitch to another before Joe Elliott fizzed a shot well wide.

Martin once again showed a lovely touch to bring the ball under control before releasing Mwanza who saw his effort blocked and put out for a corner

It was however soon three , Sykes crossed into the middle and with the defence making a hash of clearing the danger the ball ended up at the feet of Martin who didn't need a second invite to shoot and he made no mistake from close range firing into the back of the Frenford net.

Frenford then came forward for the first time in the half as Ben Bridseman turned and saw his powerful drive turned away by Chebesi , the resulting corner was headed down and once again required a Redbridge defender to clear from the goal line.

There was little of note in the latter stages and although Frenford continued to push forward the Redbridge back line held firm and denied them the goal.

The full-time whistle signaled the Redbridge victory in what was a professional performance and one which now sees them progress into the first round and an away trip to fellow ESL side Stansted.

report by Adam Silver