Waltham Forest 1 Redbridge 4
Essex Senior League
Saturday 27th January
Report by Scott Lanza / Photo by Philip Lindhurst
Redbridge upped the gears in the second half to leave the Matchday Stadium with all the spoils having had to battle hard in the first half against a useful Waltham Forest outfit.
Brian Moses stung Steven French’s hands as early as the second minute, with the Forest stopper also having to deny Calvin Poku whose run into the box culminated in his shot being tipped onto the post. But it wasn’t all one way traffic by any means, as the hosts saw a Bradley Harris free kick meet the head of Chid Onokwai, forcing Lewis Greene into a dive to tip over. A nice move involving Abdoulie Njai and Vincente Belho looked promising but was drilled into the side-netting by Belho.
In the 22nd minute Njai unleashed a powerful shot that was blocked by the Redbridge defence, who had been kept on their toes by some of Waltham Forest’s approach play. But the Motormen are also dangerous going forward and responded straight away when Moses had a shot charged down by French. Poku then had another shot that struck the post.
Greene and his defence had to cut out two successive Forest corners towards the end of the half, while Moses won a corner for Redbridge right on the stoke of half time which ended up being claimed by French. The even first half then came to an end with both teams cancelling each other out meaning there hadn’t been too many clear cut chances, although Redbridge had perhaps been the closest having seen two Poku efforts hit the upright.
Poku had a chance early in the second period when he found himself in a good position but his shot lacked power and was easily stopped by French. However the Motormen then took the lead in their next attack when, on 51 minutes, Moses waltzed through the Forest defence, rounded the keeper and then rolled the ball into the unguarded goal to give Redbridge the lead.
Having taken the lead, the Motormen then almost doubled it when a Worrell cross reached Reside Coxi-Sebastfao whose shot was blocked. However Waltham Forest then equalised in the 62nd minute after a fast-paced run by Asher Modeste saw him then strike a powerful shot that Greene was able to parry, but only as far as Njai, who made no mistake as he rammed the rebound home.
Redbridge however re-took the lead six minute later when Coxi-Sebastfao latched onto a through ball, appeared to lose his footing, before correcting himself and poking the ball past French. And having re-taken the lead Redbridge then went through the gears as they stunted Forest’s forward momentum, whilst starting to penetrate the Forest box a bit more often. Moses was fouled by Harris which earned him a yellow card with the resulting free kick by Vinny Murphy being cleared, but the ball was then reconstituted back into the danger zone where Moses was waiting, heading beyond French in the 81st minute to put the Motormen in a commanding position.
The leaders ended the game in style as another sweeping move almost set Moses free but Danny Laurent put in a solid tackle to prevent him causing any further damage. Remi Nelson missed the target by a whisker, then Jacob Dingli had a shot clip the cross bar. Further gloss was applied to the victory by Dingli in stoppage time though, when he exchanged passes with Moses before slotting the ball past French to finish off a great second half performance. The result means Redbridge extend their lead to six points. Waltham Forest certainly gave them a tough game though, but that is academic as they now sit 17th and once more have to be careful not to get drawn into the relegation battle.
Waltham Forest: Steven French, Boris Kipeya, Bradley Harris, Fahad Nazoor, Danny Laurent, Terry Foxe, Asher Modeste, Vincente Belho, Chid Onokwai (Abiola Tanimowo 67’), Chris Medina (Daniel Medina 57’), Abdoulie Njai.
Scorer – Abdoulie Njai (62’)
Redbridge: Lewis Greene, Courtney Homans, Eljay Worrell (Billy Golledge 76’), Shaun Harris, Vinny Murphy, Jonathon Mbamara, Tommie Turner (Thomas Gogo 67’), Remi Nelson, Calvin Poku (Jacob Dingli 67’), Brian Moses, Reside Coxi-Sebastfao.
Scorers – Brian Moses (51’, 81’), Reside Coxi-Sebastfao (68’), Jacob Dingli (90+2)
