Daniel Charge was the star man as ten men Redbridge won a 7 goal thriller at the Oakside.

Redbridge went into the match having just lost once in their previous nine matches whilst Romford had lost their previous 3 games. It was however the away side that started the stronger of the two teams with the lively Tom Richardson in particular looking dangerous.

They certainly could have been in front within the opening 10 minutes but it was the Motormen who scored the opening goal after 11 minutes.
A Daniel Charge corner was not cleared allowing Stephen Good to head back across the area where Leon Thomas was on hand to head home his first goal for the club. Romford came straight back on the attack and within 5 minutes were level when Richardson weaved his way into the area and his shot squirmed through the arms of David McCartney allowing Robbie Norris to stab home the equalizer.

Moments later and the away side could have taken the lead when a through ball eventually beat the offside trap but Richardson could only shoot straight at McCartney who saved well. The miss was to prove costly as Redbridge went up the other end and scored when a good ball from Bostry Bansende released Abs Thompson who crossed to the unmarked Ben Bradbury who simply headed home.

Soon after Bradbury almost scored again when Charge lofted a lovely ball over the top but the winger’s volley went just over the bar. As the half time whistle approached it was 3-1 when a Romford corner was cleared and with the away side leaving themselves wide open a Charge through ball was picked up by Thompson and he had all the time in the world to pick his spot low into the bottom corner.

Just two minutes into the 2nd period and Redbridge were reduced to ten men when Tyron Thomas pulled back his man and as the last defender the referee had no choice but to produce a red card. The match started to turn physical with some tasty challenges being thrown around and with the extra man Romford finally gave themselves a glimmer of hope on 73 minutes when a defensive mix up between Bansende and Good allowed substitute Nick Reynolds to fire home past McCartney.

Moments later Romford then spurned a glorious chance to pull themselves level which they missed and taking advantage of the space Redbridge went right up the other end and scored through top scorer Daniel Charge who reacted superbly to head home after his initial deflected effort had been saved.

Deep into injury time it was Charge yet again who sealed the victory this time with a sublime lob from out wide leaving Omond clasping at air and gave the striker his 12th strike of the season so far.

Report by Adam Silver