The first 20 minutes saw few real chances on goal with the visitors showing more enthusiasm and maintaining a higher standard of possession.

Former Redbridge striker Jeff Hammond made his return to the Oakside and it proved to be a pleasing experience but only to the despair of the Redbridge faithful as he bagged four goals in the process.

His first came after 21 minutes; Hammond cut in from a wide position on the right and after beating two players and skipping into the box he poked the ball in from a tight angle. 1-0 Harlow Town.

The visitor weren't about to rest on their laurels and looked determined to rack up a good win. The Motormen struggled to contain the Harlow threat from wide positions and were made to pay just four minutes later.

A fine passing move down the left between 4-5 of the Harlow team saw the ball reach Tom Davie on the left wing, he cut onto his right foot and delivered an inch perfect cross onto Hammond's head. The striker converted the chance with a finely placed header to the left of Matthew Gill. 2-0 Harlow Town.

With five minutes of the first half remaining Harlow put the game to bed. This time Piers Wixon found himself in a wide position on the left wing and delivered another perfectly whipped in-swinging cross into the Redbridge area. Hammond lapped up the chance and finished with another fine header, this time into the bottom left corner to complete a first half hat-trick. 3-0 Harlow Town.

Half-Time – The Motormen had rarely been in the visitors final third and lacked any real attacking threat, the defence hadn't faired too well either having failed to contain Harlow’s wide-men supplying their strikers.

Skipper Nikki Beale received treatment during the interval and limped off raising questions about whether he would return for the second half. Jacob Cleaver, Lee Netwon and Daniel Jones had looked enthusiastic for Redbridge but had yet to produce anything for the home fans to get excited about.

The second half got underway and the Motormen looked to have stepped up their passing and were containing the visitors’ threat considerably better than the first half.

Steve Portway made a double substitution in the 56th minute, replacing Luke Moore and Lee Newton with Stuart Fergus and Ryan Reed. Harlow boss Danny Chapman responded with a substitution of his own, replacing Jake Cass with Mitchell Das.

Hammond capped a fine individual performance with 15 minutes remaining as he notched up his fourth goal on the night and his team’s fourth; the ball was squared into the box from the by-line towards the front-post, skipper Beale failed to deal with the cross as he miss-kicked his clearance.

The ball consequently rolled through to Hammond who from 7 yards out didn't look likely to miss and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom left corner. 4-0 Harlow Town.

Hammond was taken off a few minutes later and received a warm applause from both the home and away fans. He was the obvious choice for man of the match. Four goals and a fine performance securing a happy return the striker. He was replaced by Gary Bowes.

Steve Portway made a change just before Hammond departed; he replaced Beale with Billy Cahill. The game fizzled out in the remaining 10 minutes with no reportable occurrences, putting an end to a disappointing result for the Motormen and a well deserved 3-points for Harlow Town.

Full-Time – Redbridge had quite simply been outplayed all over the field, the away side showed real class in wide positions and upfront which Redbridge had no answer to.

Positives for the next fixture – Daniel Jones showed some potential upfront, he displayed a clear ability to hold the ball up and win aerial battles with a lot of strength. He and Jacob Cleaver could develop an important partnership in the Redbridge attack. Stephen Ikumelo put in a decent performance too, he made some impressive and important tackles.

By Lewis Edwards – @LCEdw

Click here for Del Robinson's post-match interview with Lewis Edwards.