Benfield were the hosts for visitors Longridge Town, who had travelled up from Lancashire. Two minutes silence was observed impeccably by both teams and supporters before the match kicked off.
It didn’t take long to see that Longridge were up for the game, as in the second minute the first yellow card of the game went to Paul Turner for a foul on Nick Green. Six minutes had passed with a decent move involving Benfield’s Sam Read and Dennis Knight, ending with a strong shot by Aiden Haley, which was well saved for a corner by Longridge goalkeeper James Aspinall.
Thirteen minutes had passed when Benfield came close to the opening goal, after a one two between Dennis Knight and Sam Read saw the ball cleared off the Longridge line away to safety.
Longridge had made a better start possession wise but were not causing any great concern to the Benfield defence or goalkeeper Andrew Grainger.
On the half hour mark it took a good save by Longridge goalkeeper James Aspinall to save a twenty yard drive from Benfield’s Dennis Knight. Five minutes later a pass by Dibb-Fuller found Knight, who saw his shot just fly over the crossbar. The game was moving on with no real danger to either team’s goalkeeper or defence, until the 43rd minute when a good run down the wing by Archie Leonard saw his well struck shot deflected for a corner, but good defending by the Longridge defence cleared the ball for another corner, which came to nothing.
The whistle then soon went for halftime with no goals scored in the first half.
Three minutes had passed in the second half when another corner to Longridge came, which was cleared away for a second corner which was cleared away with no difficulty. In the 53rd minute, a through ball by Dibb-Fuller saw Archie Leonard bring out a good save from the visitors goalkeeper James Aspinall. A minute later and it was the turn of Longridge to come close to scoring, when a through ball by Dean Ing found teammate Jack Arrowsmith, who saw his effort on goal scrambled away with his feet by Benfield goalkeeper Andrew Grainger. Longridge were starting to look dangerous and in the 62ndminute a strong run down the wing by Longridge fullback Mitch Marshall saw a good save by Benfield keeper Andrew Grainger deny him the opening goal. Only three more minutes had elapsed when a strong shot by Benfield’s Dennis Knight crashed off the post, with the ball rebounding to Layton Watts who shot on target, leading to the ball being cleared away off the line and Benfield appealing for a goal which was not given.
The 77th minute should have brought Benfield a goal when a brilliant pass from Nick Green to Ben Dibb-Fuller saw him pull the ball back to find Layton Watts who had a scoring chance, but he struck it over the bar. Extra time was beckoning with only five minutes left in the game, when Benfield opened the scoring, a pass from Dennis Knight played in team mate LAYTON WATTS, who confidently shot past Longridge goalkeeper James Aspinall to make the score 1-0 to Benfield.
Full time was closing in with four minutes being added on, but in the 1st extra minute came an equalising goal for Longridge, when a free kick was headed out by a Benfield defender to find SCOTT HARRIES, who hit a good strong drive past Benfield keeper Andrew Grainger for the equalising goal.
From the penalty shootout the hero of the game unfortunately for Benfield was the Longridge goalkeeper
JAMES ASPINALL saved three out of the five penalties with Longridge scoring three out of their four meaning they progress to the next round of the F.A. VASE.
