The Oakside pitch passed an afternoon inspection after heavy rain during the past 24hours had put the game in doubt however the referee deemed the pitch playable as Redbridge looked to continue their recent good form as they hosted lowly Sporting Bengal United.

An early Robbie Norris free- kick almost caught Sporting keeper Kevin Rrushi napping as he raced across his goal to palm away the danger as Redbridge looked to start on the front foot.

Sporting having already suffered a series of heavy defeats this season would have wanted to avoid conceding early but were unable to do so as within just five minutes they found themselves a goal down.

Good work by Ibrahim Kehinde on the right saw the ball end up at the feet of Timothy Ogunrinde who netted from close range on the rebound after his initial effort was blocked.

The Motormen continued to attack and Kehinde curled an effort which looked to be heading in only to be denied by Rrushi who superbly rose to tip the ball over , the resulting corner was headed just over by Nathan Okoye.

Further chances went begging from Kehinde and Herman Mwanza which gave Sporting belief they were still in the game as they showed some signs of getting forward but without any real end product to trouble the home defence.

The closest they came was when former Redbridge man Tariq Alexander ran onto a through and shot first time which was easily collected by Josh Chebesi in goal standing in for the absent George Martin.

Sporting were lucky to escape going further behind ball a Dean Hall header was firstly cleared off the line before a melee of bodies in the box saw the ball end up with Kehinde whose effort was saved on the line by Rrushi.

They were however caught out soon after as Redbridge did finally double their lead, Ogunrinde did well down the left before putting a cross over into the middle and with the Sporting back line failing to clear the ball finally ended up with Norris who showed good composure to step past a defender before calmly slotting home.

The pace of Ogunrinde who had now switched flanks was causing the Bengal defence all sorts of problems and he was through once again only to be brought down by Rrushi who came flying out his goal, the referee produced a yellow card for the keeper who must have thought himself extremely fortunate to have stayed on the field.

Norris stood over the free-kick and from long range he curled the ball up over the wall and into the top corner leaving Rrushi no chance as he grabbed his second goal of the game and put the home side in control.

The second period began in the same vein with the Motormen coming forward , an early chance went begging from Kehinde whilst Rrushi once again was called upon making a good stop from Ogunrinde.

It was soon becoming a case of not if but when Redbridge would score as they racked up a series of further chances, Kehinde seemed to be having a personal duel with Rrushi who was equal to everything the striker put his way and even when he was beaten the crossbar came to his aid as the ball ended up in his arms.

A welcome attempt from the away side as Gianfranco Mici took a long range free-kick which failed to trouble Chebesi was all the away side could muster whilst at the other end Kehinde yet again found himself racing through one on one with Rrishi but this time shot straight at the keeper.

It took a while but the fourth goal eventually did come, substitute Abdishakur Farah showed nice skill to beat his man before finding Ogurinde who made himself some space before firing him into the roof of the net

Fellow substitute Jake Brocklebank then found himself brought down in the penalty area but any appeals were soon turned away by the referee before full back Bradley Bennett went on a mazy run from the half way line before eventually blasting over.

Rrishi was certainly the away side’s man of the match as he was called upon once again to make a stop from Farah before Kehinde finally thought he would register a goal taking the ball wide of the keeper but with the goal at his mercy he only succeeded in shooting wide.

The one way traffic continued as Ogunrinde saw an effort deflected just wide before another substitute in Josh Sykes got his head to a cross but put the ball too close to the keeper who made the save.

Full time was eventually called on a night where Redbridge could have hit double figures if not for the brilliance of Rrishi and some wayward shooting from the home side however George Christou will be pleased to see his side keep a clean sheet and move up to second in the table

report by Adam Silver