Brentwood Town move up to third in the table as they secured a narrow 1-0 victory at home to Redbridge at the Brentwood Arena, to start 2015 with three points.
Robbie Rees’s first half strike was the only difference between the two sides despite Redbridge hitting the crossbar and threatening in the final stages.
In the early exchanges James Love had a strike just inside the box which was well held by Mark Parker.
Shortly after Rees nearly broke the deadlock as his shot was tipped over, from the end product of Beveney and Stanley’s link up play on the left hand side.
An over hit cross by Brentwood’s Ryan Mcfarlane almost caught Mark Parker out in goal as he had to tip the ball over for a corner.
Brentwood took the lead 20 minutes in as Jamie Love slotted a lovely through ball for Rees just inside the box and he slotted it past Parker.
Just before the break a corner from Rees was in the area for an unmarked Stanley but his header went just over.
A dangerous ball whipped in ball by Patrick Damali for the visitors evaded everyone and almost crept in at the far post.
Redbridge should have equalised as Chinedu Mckenzie far post cross fell to Damali who headed wide from three yards out.
On the next attack Brentwood should have doubled their lead as Rees cut inside and put his foot through the shot which was well saved by Parker.
A shot by Redbridge bending into the top corner got a deflection from a Brentwood defender and come back off the crossbar.
The referee went down injured but got back to his feet and continued after receiving treatment.
Sherwin could have sealed it as he was through on goal tried to shoot through the keeper’s legs but Parker just clipped it away for a corner.
Ollie Bowles nearly got caught out on a closed down clearance by the Redbridge forward but the rebound fortunately for Brentwood went out for a goal kick.
In the final seconds of the game Mckenzie had a shot from the right of the box which went just over as the whistle blows and Brentwood move up to third.
Brentwood Town Lineup: 1 Ollie Bowles, 2 Jack Gardner, 3 Andrew Freeman, 4 Martyn Stokes, 5 Ryan O’Rawe, 6 Robbie Rees (60), 7 Ryan Mcfarlane (81), 8 Jamie Love, 9 Sherwin Stanley (81), 10 Shaun Beveney, 11 Daryl Robson
Substitutes: 12 Christian Mbulu, 14 Shad Ngandu (81), 15 Sam Bantick (60), 16 Marcus Milner, 17 Danny Aldwinckle (81)
Redbridge Lineup: 1 Mark Parker, 2 Luke Edgar (34), 3 George Winn, 4 Aaron Tatham, 5 Liam Thomas, 6 Vinny Murphy, 7 Chinedu Mckenzie, 8 Ryan Carolan, 9 Jacob Cleaver, 10 Patrick Damali, 11 Bostry Bansende (87)
Substitutes: 12 Brian Moses (87), 14 Ronnie Winn (34), 15 Hulusi Mustafa, 16 Dapo Abitogun, 17 Jack Avery