Whilst Shane Baptiste’s side weren’t at their best, they still came through strong to pick up all three points and leapfrog Stanway Rovers once again, ahead of their clash with Little Oakley on Saturday afternoon (15:30 GMT).

Things nearly got off to an awful start for Woodford Town, with Normand Kebi miscueing a header back to Manny Agboola, however, Ilford failed to capitalise on their one-on-one situation.

Although we failed to maintain a stronghold on the affair, we did start to grow into it a little bit more as time went on, with our best chance coming as our number one turned defence into attack in seconds. He claimed a corner before launching a long ball over the top to Marko Protic, who couldn’t quite find the finish as he attempted to lob Baran Cambaz in the Ilford goal.

Our striker was involved once again in the dying seconds of the first half, latching onto a loose ball in behind and poking it past Cambaz to Nathan Sollosi, who won’t get many easier opportunities this season, as all he had to do was prod the ball into the empty net!

Seconds after the interval, we could cunt ourselves lucky to still be leading the game. Ilford, with a way through The Woods defence, somehow blazed the ball well over Agboola’s goal from eight yards out and will have been kicking themselves after missing yet another big chance.

That feeling would only have got worse in the 55th minute, as Miles Mitchell-Nelson struck once again to double the lead! Josh Banfield’s corner was floated towards the far post, where the defender was waiting to loop a header back across goal and into the back of the net! 2-0.

With 20 minutes to go, the visitors finally managed to find the back of the net, Abdul Shobawale getting there in front of Agboola to fire home.

Any doubt that may have been looming as we entered added time was soon ended, with Banfield the creator once again. His free kick was perfect, finding the run of substitute Luke Steele who coolly side-footed into the corner, a finish a striker would be proud of!

The three points mean that Woodford continue to pile the pressure on Stanway Rovers, who are now two points behind The Woods, albeit with two games in hand.

Starting XI: E. Agboola (GK); Mitchell-Nelson, M. Agboola, Omope, Martins; Owusu (C), Kebi (Johnston - 46’), Banfield; Sollosi, Protic (Gomes - 66’), Gokou (Steele - 66’).

Unused substitutes: Nicolaou, Angelov