Defensive master-class nullified RC UK, says Hambling

Hambling told his players "to keep up their work-rate and be strong in the challenges" in order to maintain their advantage. RJC produced some "osome fantastic old-school defending," coupled with keeping the intensity on and off the ball made it impossible for RC to get behind them.

A delighted Hambling told JC Sport: "I thought everyone was brilliant today. We had a big squad of 16 including myself available (although I didn't get on) so making changes in such a tight game was very tricky.

"We know of Avi Markiewicz and RC have some good attacking wingers, but defensively again our entire back-line coupled with Craig Phillips in holding midfield we were just immense and just didn't look like conceding.

"We should have scored a couple more in truth but a win with a clean sheet against a top team in the league I couldn't ask for more."

Disappointed RC UK player-manager Avi Markiewicz told JC Sport: "Today we simply weren't good enough. Redbridge did have the advantage of being able to call upon a couple of higher team players but that's no excuse on our part.

"I'm not sure we strung three passes together over the entire course of the game and we had very few if any clear-cut chances. Certainly none inside the box.

"Rebridge themselves, apart from the penalty, had one other chance which was a magnificent point-blank save by our stand in keeper Josh Corin. We played ourselves into trouble with poor and sloppy passing which led to the penalty with our defender having no choice but to bring the man down.

"Credit to Redbridge for a good team performance - no individual player stood out, they were just cohesive and worked together in neutralising our threats."