Benfleet 8 Brimsdown 4

Thurlow Nunn Eastern Senior South, Wednesday 30th September 2020 

So, my fourth game in five days saw me back over at Park Lane to see Benfleet Vs Brimsdown in what turned out to be an extraordinary Thurlow Nunn Eastern Senior South contest in what was a very soggy evening on the Island of Canvey.

Of the four league games Benfleet have played this season, they have won two and drawn two, and their sole FA Cup tie against Thurlow Nunn Premier Division side Brantham Athletic ended in a draw too before they lost on penalties, so not a bad start for the South Essex outfit, and they sit sixth in the division as a result with a chance to go third with a win here.

Opponents and visitors Brimsdown, who are ground sharing at Tilbury’s Chadfield’s this season, started the season with a good win over Harwich & Parkeston but since then it’s gone a bit sour for them having lost three games straight conceding fifteen goals in the process, with their lowest point losing 8-0 at home to Little Oakley.

This was on paper looking quite a challenge for the visitors although Benfleet had only netted six goals in their four league games so far so they weren’t exactly banging them in for fun lets say, but they have a very solid defence who had only conceded an average a goal a game so far, so they are solid if not spectacular.

Still, as I said before, the home side would have started this one favourites for sure, but nobody could have predicted what was to play out.  It all started after just two minutes when Brimsdown took a shock lead when they ran down the left wing before ghosting into the area along the byline and firing inside the near post, it took everyone by surprise.

That lead only lasted six minutes though as Benfleet were awarded an eighth minute penalty after a cutback struck the hand of a sliding defender, and Harry Doyle stepped up to slam home the spot kick, and then four minutes after that Benfleet were in front after a deep cross to the back post found Rob Lacy totally unmarked and he sent a header back across goal and into the far corner.

However, Brimsdown levelled after just twenty minutes when a free kick pumped from way inside their own half into the hosts half from the right hand side took a huge skip off the wet surface, totally catching out the keeper who was out of goal, and end up in the net, and it was 2-2 and we hadn’t even had half of the first period!!!

Fourteen minutes then elapsed (I know scandalous!!!) before we had our next goal, and it saw the hosts retake the lead after they were awarded another penalty, this time for a foul on Doyle, and Jamie Brown stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way, but Brimsdown managed to level once again four minutes before the break when their nine picked up the ball and was allowed to run and run until he got to the edge of the box and fired a lovely effort into the corner of the net.

A crazy half of football that was with pretty much zero defending going on, and it saw the sides go into the break all square and gave everyone time to take their breath!!!

Half Time Benfleet 3 Brimsdown 3

So, what on earth were we going to get in this half?  Sometimes these games see defences tighten up second half and you rarely get the same kind of open scoring like you did first half, well that wasn’t the case here, as your about to find out!!!

Benfleet only needed five second half minutes to retake the lead when after seeing a cut back blocked by the keeper, the ball was retuned across goal for skipper Aaron Russell to apply a powerful low finish, and five minutes later it was 5-3 to the hosts and their biggest lead of the contest thus far as a lovely ball released Brown who in turn laid in substitute Ben Foord who applied a lovely finish to end a decent move.

And just before the hour it was three second half goals in fourteen minutes and a second for Foord as he cut inside and hit a shot at goal which the keeper made a total mess of and allowed the ball to slip through he grasp and see it trickle over the line despite his best attempts to recover.  The hosts now lead 6-3 and looked likely to score everytime they came forward.

It was fair to say the hosts defending, which had been pretty solid so far this season, wasn’t the best in this one, and five minutes after going 6-3 up, it was 6-4 as the visitors nine grabbed his second of the game, prodding home after a terrible defensive header from a free-kick had gone straight to him, and you wondered what was going to happen next!!!

Well, with just under twenty minutes to go Benfleet added a seventh (I was struggling to keep track of the score by this stage!!!) after Lacy was played in before rounding the keeper and slotting home, and then with eleven minutes remaining Brimsdown’s woes continued when their nineteen was sin binned after saying too much to the referee, so they would play pretty much the remainder of the contest a man light, just what they needed!!!

The final act of this crazy crazy contest came a minute from time when Benfleet added an eighth after a cross was volleyed home from closer range by skipper Russell, meaning he joined Lacy and Foord in netting braces in this contest.  And soon after the referee brought the contest to a close and we all needed a lie down after that!!!

It all means that Benfleet climb up to third and are just a point behind Frenford and Little Oakley who occupy the top two, whilst Brimsdown remain third bottom and already have a minus fifteen goal difference after just five games.  They are conceding an average of five goals a game so far, so it’s obvious where the work needs to be done there.

This was probably one of the most extraordinary games of football I have ever seen in my thirty years of watching, but it was thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable, so thank you to both sides for that!!!

Full Time Benfleet 8 Brimsdown 4