Despite an early pitch inspection, the referee gave the game the go ahead, as the two sides were separated by a point in Ryman League Division One North.

Thurrock started the brighter of the two teams with Charlie Stimson at the heart of the action for the away side, but the momentum was soon decreased when skipper Robert Gilman was forced off with a suspected hamstring injury just 15 minutes in.

The absent centre-back was clearly a big miss for the Fleet, who allowed Emiel Aiken to get behind the back four, heading the ball over Jake Knight in the Thurrock goal but Aiken missed the open target.

As the game went on, the Motormen were coming into the game more with some good link up play between Aiken and Daniel Tenkerang.

But it was an unforced error that nearly gifted Redbridge the lead, Thurrock’s Loui Hazelwood somehow looped the ball over his own keeper but fortunately for the defender, he also looped the goal. The resulting corner was swung in by Eljay Worrell and bundled in by Daniel Smith to give the home side the lead just a minute before half time.

As Redbridge were still celebrating, Thurrock were immediately down the other end with Bradley Warner taking the ball around David McCartney in and slotting the ball in the empty net for the equaliser on the brink of half time.

The second-half was like a different spectacle, with very little opportunities at either end, and with both sides defending like promotion hopefuls, it was clear to see why these two East London outfits were in and around the top of the league.

The game looked set to finish stalemate until Connor Martin came off injured without a replacement due to all three substitutions already been made.

With chances few and far between, the Motormen felt more so aggrieved when the referee denied them a penalty 15 minutes before full-time as Tenkerang was brought down in the area.

An extraordinary seven minutes were added on at the end of the match, but both sides held on to a point as Redbridge extend their impressive run to just one loss in nine matches in the league.

Report by Josh Harris

Click here to listen to the views of Dave Ross in his post-match interview with Josh Harris on Youtube.