Redbridge made the short journey to Cricklefields for the “169 derby” against Ilford looking to build on the good point they got against Saffron Walden Town at the weekend.

It was the home side who came out the blocks quickest as Dmitri Christou and Yemi Adelani combined well with the latter seeing his shot well saved by James Pellin in goal before Christou blasted the follow up over from close range when he really should have scored.

It was all one way traffic in the early stages and no surprise to see Ilford take the lead after just six minutes, a corner was swung in and met by Christou at the far post who just passed the ball into the back of the net.

Christou was causing plenty of panic for the Redbridge back line and he made space for himself before seeing his effort well saved. Ilford came forward again winning a free kick , Juan Cardona-Cveller stepped up and curled a sublime effort up and over the wall leaving Pellin clasping at thin air to double their advantage.

Two minutes later and two became three , Cardona-Cveller raced though and tried to lob the goalkeeper who made the initial save before the ball fell back at the winger’s feet and he was able to shoot low into an unguarded net.

Many in the ground watching on were certainly shocked by what they were seeing as Redbridge struggled to put together any real rhythm and on many occasions failed to clear their lines.

Any attacks they could muster mainly came via the long throws of Charleston Browne , one of those fell into the box where defender Olamiji Ayoola connected but could only stab his effort wide.

Redbridge's night became even worse when midfielder Keke Orth went down injured and was forced to leave the field as he was replaced by striker Josh Sykes who had returned to the club.

He made his presence known as ran into the box looking to run onto James Barlow headed down but was pulled down, PENALTY was called. Tom Harvey had no hesitation in stepping up after Saturday’s penalty miss but this time made no mistake as he fired the ball past Joshua Blackburn to grab a goal back.

Sykes then had a chance of his own as he broke through and tried to lob Blackburn but his effort dropped the wrong side of the goal as this proved to be the last chance of the 1st half.

The 2nd period began with Adelani through on goal but Pellin did well to come quickly off his line and smother the ball, moments later Christou fired wide.

A great opportunity then followed for Redbridge , Sykes flicked on a header finding Barlow who ran through on goal but instead of deciding to take the shot himself he passed to Harvey who from close range had his shot well saved from close range by Blackburn who turned the ball out for a corner which found Ayoola who was unable to guide his header on target.

Another great chance followed for the away side , a Harvey cross found the head of Barlow who saw his header rebound back off a post into the path of Sykes who fired his shot goal bound only to see it well tipped over.

Those two good chances proved costly misses as Ilford scored a 4th goal of the evening, Harvey was on the attack for Redbridge before what appeared to be a foul on him which was not given. Ilford were able to break away at pace with the ball finding Cardona-Cveller who cut inside a defender before firing low past Pellin to grab his hat-trick.

In the blink of an eye it was FIVE , a ball over the top caught out the Pellin who raced out but was beaten to it by Adelani who waltzed past him and poked the ball over the line before the goalkeeper could get back in time.

If things were not bad enough already they got even worse as Sykes received his marching orders after the referee saw an Ilford defender hit the floor and a straight red card was produced for the Redbridge front man.

Ilford substitute Fred Agyemang then got himself in on the action as he broke down the left flank and cut inside before shooting into the corner of the net to make it SIX.

Redbridge did manage to grab the last goal of the evening which proved nothing more than a consolation as Harvey took a free kick which was knocked into the net by Ilford defender Bailey Hossack for an own goal but it failed to take the gloss of an emphatic victory for the Foxes and leaves the Motormen with plenty of questions to answer.

report by Adam Silver