The Motormen made the midweek trip up the M11 to face Stansted in the 1st Round of the BBC Essex Senior Cup.

The early stages saw Redbridge with the lion share of possession as they looked comfortable passing the ball around , an early penalty appeal was waved away by the referee as Ibrahim Kehinde took a tumble in the box.

Stansted were struggling to get any real foothold in the match as the away side continued to dominate with much of the play coming down the right flank through full back Jack Roult. Herman Mwanza saw a shot go wide before Stansted had their first attempt through Brad Russell who tried to curl a free kick around the wall but failed to get his angles right as the ball went well wide.

A poor defensive clearance by a Stansted defender almost allowed Timothy Ogunrinde in on goal before Jack Chawner saw a shot fall wide of the upright.

Stansted finally woke up as they came forward , their striker got a shot in which Josh Chebesi in the Redbridge goal turned away but only into the path of Luke Hornsley who looked to pass the ball into the far corner but chose the wrong option and shot the wrong side of the post.

A big chance then followed for the home side, they were quick to react as Redbridge lost possession and Michael Mignot found himself running in on goal but with just Chebesi to beat he lacked composure and fired his effort wide.

Moments later and it was Redbridge with a good chance, a poor clearance out from the back was quickly seized upon by Jake Brocklebank before the ball was spread wide into the path of Ogunrinde but he only managed to shoot straight into the welcome arms of Jarvis Monk which proved to be the final chance of the half.

Stansted could only improve in the second half and so it proved as within just four minutes they found themselves ahead, the ball was only partially cleared finding its way at feet of Dan Okah who tried his luck from range seeing it beat Chebesi in goal who appeared unsighted.

Things soon went from bad to worse for the away side as they found themselves reduced down to 10 men after a moment of madness from Ogunrinde saw him stamp out on an opponent in close range of the referee who was left with little choice but to send the player off.

With time up against them Redbridge turned to the bench for inspiration making three substitutions including youngster Gibson Yadi coming on for his debut.

Stansted tried to make the most of their numerical advantage as Bryn Thorpe came forward down the left before putting over a teasing cross which deserved an attacker to be on the end of.

With the game now heading into its 90thn minute Redbridge finally drew themselves level, Kehinde collected the ball inside the area before showing good skill to turn inside a defender and fire home.

They almost had time to score again as good work by substitute Josh Olukolo saw him cross looking for Yadi who just failed to get a touch for a certain goal.

The full time whistle was then blown and with no extra time being played in this competition the game went straight into a penalty shoot out, both sides missed their opening efforts before all remaining kicks were scored with the first five takers. Stansted then missed their next kick leaving Roult to step up and fire past Monk to win the contest 5-4 and see his side through to a 2nd Round fixture away at Saffron Walden Town.

report by Adam Silver