Motormen beaten in first two fixtures

Joint Redbridge boss Ricky Eaton insists there is no need to panic just yet after their Ryman One North campaign started with two defeats.

The Motormen were defeated 3-1 at Erith & Belvedere on Saturday before putting in an improved performance against early season league leaders Aveley at Oakside, finally losing out 2-1 to Ross Wall’s stoppage time goal.

And despite the defeats, Eaton has seen enough early on to suggest their first points are not too far away, as they host Soham Town Rangers tomorrow (Saturday).

“There is definitely no panic coming from any of the management, coaches or playing staff,” said Eaton.

“We know what we can do and it is just about grinding out results early doors and getting some points on the board.

“It’s very early doors. Our squad is a brand new squad. The boys are two games into their new club and we can see a lot of positives to build on already.

“The fixture list could have been a bit kinder early doors but we aren’t going to complain, we’ll take each game as it comes.”

Redbridge had taken the lead in both games, courtesy of Emiel Aiken after just three minutes on Saturday and through Leslie Thompson after 39 minutes in midweek.

And despite not coming away with anything to show for their efforts, Eaton was happier with the level of commitment from his squad on Tuesday.

“The turnaround from Saturday’s performance is good,” he added. “We were flat in the second half at Erith but compare that to today and the boys really put a lot of effort in.

“We couldn’t have asked for much more, we’ve gone out there and really worked our socks off.”

Both Redbridge and Aveley were reduced to 10 men in a fiery encounter with Bostry Bansende and Junior Appiah both receiving their marching orders in the second half for two bookable offences.

Bansende’s dismissal happened right in front of the Millers substitutes’ bench and Eaton believes that may have played a part in his dismissal.

“At the time we thought the sending off was a bit unfair,” he said. “It was his first tackle after he received his booking.

“He could have been given a warning but there was a lot of pressure on him from the sideline. He was right in front of the dugout of the away team and I think they just applied the pressure.

“There’s not much you can do, sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it goes against you.”

After Saturday’s encounter with Soham, the Motormen are on the road on Tuesday where they face another side tipped to do well in Needham Market.