Wingate & Finchley climbed to the top of Ryman one north with a narrow win at Redbridge, writes Paul Lerman.

It is the first time in over a decade that Wingate & Finchley FC have topped the table.

But the hosts started the rescheduled match as very much the better of the two sides, last night (Tuesday).

Ellis Skidmore was put clean through down the middle, but as he looked to shoot past Gavin King a poor touch let him down, giving the Blues keeper time to smother the shot.

The lively Redbridge playmaker Hyun Lee showed great trickery in the middle of the pitch to make space to shoot from distance, but his effort from outside the area was well anticipated by King who saved low to his right.

At the other end Leon Smith latched on to an error by the centre-back and tried to round goalkeeper James Redwood who somehow got a hand to the ball to steal it away from the striker.

Wingate began to find their rhythm midway through the half and started playing sensible short passing football to force their way back into the game..

Smith went on a mazy run inside the area and hit a toe-poked shot that was saved instinctively by Redwood.

The breakthrough came shortly before half time, when Smith was needlessly fouled by a reckless challenge just inside the area and the referee was given no option but to point to the spot.

Dave Laird slotted the ball confidently into the bottom corner sending Redwood the wrong way for his second spot-kick goal in successive matches, giving Wingate a crucial lead.

In the opening stages of the second half, Joe O'Brien timed a lofted through ball perfectly for Smith's run and he angled in towards goal, but his shot across goal saw the keeper tip it wide.

From the resulting corner the ball was flicked out to Josh Cooper on the edge of the area.

With one touch to control the ball, he struck a perfect dipping shot between the desperate lunge of Redwood and the top left corner to double his side's lead in spectacular style.

Wingate sat deeper inviting pressure as the half wore on, and Redbridge grew in confidence.

Shortly after the hour mark a whipped cross from Redbridge's right wing was redirected in to the far corner of the net by Skidmore to cut the deficit back to just one goal.

Some last-ditch defending by the outstanding Ahmet Rifat and Dan Nielsen, coupled with plenty of alert goalkeeping from King, kept Wingate ahead as Redbridge piled on the pressure.

But after seeing out a hectic 20 minute spell, Wingate once again regained their composure and started to keep the ball well.

Smith, now being deployed as a lone front man, worked tirelessly to relieve the pressure and support his advancing midfielders.

Substitute Lewis Jones shot from 18 yards, and as the ball took a slight deflection off a defender Redwood pulled off a world class save to tip the ball over the bar.

Another Jones shot was tipped away by the keeper's fingertips as he staked his claim on the man-of-the-match award.

Lineup: King, Shehu, Wright, O'Brien, Nielsen, Rifat, Cooper, Henry, Smith, Laird (Jones 55), Burrell (Sloma 69). Subs: Norman, Bent, Fowler.