Redbridge manager George Christou is sure Len Cordell would have been happy to see his former club bag the trophy in honour of his terrific work in non-league football.
The Motormen came from behind to beat Holland 2-1 on Saturday and in doing so become the inaugural winners of the Len Cordell Memorial Cup.
Holland opened the scoring against the run of play when a free kick was swung in by Kieran Michaels and headed away into the path of Willoughby who connected well and volleyed past the dive of George Martin.
But in the 89th minute substitute Jack Roult won his side a corner, which was knocked into the middle and the referee was alerted by his assistant on the far side and, after much discussion a penalty was awarded, to the delight of the Redbridge contingency.
Up stepped Jake Brocklebank who kept his nerve to find the back of the net and level the score.
Roult fired low and wide past the despairing dive of Avenell and into the far corner of the net to seal the win in the 109th minute.
“The boys have been fantastic to be honest. We added pressure on ourselves from the get go to give a good account of ourselves in this competition for Len and I’m sure he would of been a very happy man seeing us lift that trophy,” said Christou.
“The competition has been fantastic for us as a squad to gel and some of the youngsters have gained vital experience from it.
“Despite taking the job in September this was only our 12th game and to finish the season with silverware is always a nice feeling but even more so after this season's events.”
The boss thought it was even more pleasing personally as he has managed the majority of this squad from park football to now playing for Redbridge.
"It was a very special moment looking at the squad photo as I realised some of the boys have won titles with us in the park on a Sunday.
"Some had won the league with us at Thurrock Reserves and others won the double with us at Aveley, so I'm grateful to every one of them for believing in myself and Jack for so long and long may it continue.
"We want to breed a winning mentality at the club and this was a perfect way to give everyone the confidence going into next season."
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