Redbridge hosted St Margaretsbury in this rescheduled Peter Butcher Memorial Trophy after the initial tie last week was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

In a changed starting line-up Sonny Fish returned after 12 weeks away on trial with both Portsmouth and Leyton Orient whilst Flynn Monk made his debut in midfield.

An early free kick for St Margaretsbury saw Ethan Giwa-Mcneil fire his effort straight against the Redbridge wall.

At the other end and Fish broke free of the back line , his first touch took him slightly wide before he managed to get a shot in on target however it lacked any real power and was easily gathered by goalkeeper Christian North.

Moments later and almost a carbon copy as Fish again got ahead of his marker however this time he was crowded out by the Margaretsbury defence who blocked his attempt on goal.

The away side were almost gifted a chance when a misdirected headed by skipper Dean Hall fell invitingly into the path of Joe Abe who found himself in on goal, George Martin however was quickly off his line to deny him and concede the corner.

St Margaretsbury were looking lively on the attack especially via set pieces , an early free kick found Stefanos Georgiou who quickly turned and shot which flew just wide of the far post before a strong run down the right hand side by Abe ended with Martin cutting out the cross.

From another free kick Giwa-McNeil got to the ball first but was unable to keep his headed down as it lifted over the bar.

Redbridge turn to come forward now as an early cross from Tayo Josh Olukolo found Tony Martin who got up power his headed goal wards but North was down quickly to make the save.

Olukolo again who was causing problems down the left flank saw his powerful run come to an end when he was brought down just outside the box, from the resulting free kick the ball was only partially cleared and Hall was on hand to fire home from close range to open the scoring.

The goal certainly lifted the home side who were soon almost through again, Fish again in on goal looked certain to score but North not for the first time was equal to it.

Redbridge did soon double their lead and it was Fish who this time was not to be denied, a deep cross from the right by Darnell Bromfield found the striker all alone at the far post and he kept his composure to calmly volley into the back of the net.

Three minutes later and the two goal lead was reduced as a cross from the right went across the goal mouth finding Jake Hayden-Eley who had the simple task of just tapping the ball home.

St Margaretsbury buoyed by that goal believed they were back in the match so would have been disappointed to concede again just four minutes later, a lovely ball through the middle found Fish and he outmuscled the defender before taking the ball wide of North and slotting into an empty net.

With the next Redbridge attack they were awarded a penalty, Fish went to shot before a defender came across and took the player rather than the ball according to both the referee and official on the far side as his flag was raised and the penalty was given.

Up stepped Martin who smashed the ball hard and low into the bottom corner to make it FOUR.

Redbridge were playing some nice football winning the midfield battle in particular as the whistle blew on a good half’s work

2nd half

The second period began and it was no surprise that St Margaretsbury came out the blocks quickly; a free kick was headed over before a corner was headed straight into the arms of Martin.

It was a much better start to the half than how the first had ended however they failed to really test Martin, the best chance they had was when Georgiou tried his luck from range but the ball narrowly went over the top.

Redbridge with their lead were able to make all three substitutions early in the game and once of those in Josh Sykes headed just wide before fellow sub Loui Hazelwood showed good skill to hold off a couple of defenders before firing well over.

In truth the second half failed to live up to the excitement of the first as there was little of goalmouth action, Monk believed he had scored but was to be denied a goal on his debut by an offside flag

Olukolo made a strong run down the left getting in front of a defender but North who had played well raced off his line to make the save. From the resulting corner Martin flicked a header on almost finding Sykes who was stretching at the far just unable to connect.

The final effort of the match fell to Redbridge as Norris did well to hold off several challenges before his shot was touched just wide by North which looked to be headed in.

All in all a good way to end the final home match of the year and we will now travel to the winners of Walthamstow or Little Oakley in the 2nd Round.

report by Adam Silver