In football, sometimes it’s all about winning. Many will say it’s always about winning, but I’m an old romantic, as opposed to a New Romantic with frilly shirts, fluffy hair and Planet Earth on the CD player (kids, ask your parents!). I like a bit of football to enjoy with my victory, but every now and then, you just need to win, and this was one of them. Go to Benfleet on a vicious January Tuesday night and get a result and earn a cup semi-final place. All bobble hats, sleeping bag coats, thermal underwear and a penalty shoot-out in the freezing, pouring rain.

This was a scruffy, scrappy, bad-tempered, good old-fashioned cup win on a pitch not conducive to a fast-flowing passing game, and I loved every minute.

OK, this wasn’t a vintage Bridge performance, but we scrapped, we battled, and we won in the end. Winning ugly, sometimes you have to! Fair play to Benfleet, ten men from the 28th minute, and they were arguably the better side, but it’s The Bridge in the hat for the semi-final draw…yes!!!

Not a lot happened in the first ten minutes, barring a couple of Kelson McFarlane corners defended by the home side, and then, as the game progressed, Mason Shave had Benfleet’s first attempt, but Michael Bett saved. Shortly after, a through ball to Ellis Devereux was just too far, and goalkeeper Florent Gislette picked it up.

Benfleet then had a couple of opportunities when Billy Carter’s shot across goal was touched wide for a corner by Michael Bett, and Michael then pushed away the corner and then Aaron Russell’s lob shot came back off the crossbar.

The game was about to change, though, as a ball through was cleared by Ollie Jenkins, and Benfleet wanted a free kick, but none was given. Benfleet were not happy, particularly Billy Carter, who flew into a tackle with Troy Osei-Bobie and received a red card. Some thought it harsh, but to me, he was off the ground, and it was a fair decision. There was a long way to go in the game, and it would be hard going for the hosts with ten men on a difficult playing surface.

Thirty minutes into the game, a Darren Phillips free kick saw a shot from Jack Mochalski saved, and the ball was put wide for a corner. In fact, The Bridge had four successive corners, and from the last one Darren Phillips headed onto the crossbar, and Jack Mochalski followed up to tap home to give The Bridge the lead.

Everything now seemed to be going well for The Bridge, who then had a couple of chances from Oscar Jones and Shaun Mills deflected wide, whilst Benfleet’s long free kick by goalkeeper Florent Gislette was put away for a corner that Michael Bett punched away, and The Bridge finished the half one goal to the good.

If we thought it would be easy from here, we were wrong as Benfleet put in a good second-half performance that ultimately received its reward, although it was The Bridge who could have gone further ahead when a long ball out of defence found Ellis Devereux and his shot on target was saved by Florent Gislette with his feet. Benfleet then had a Billy Shulver header go wide from a Taylor Lawrence cross as Taylor began to influence the game more and more.

Soon, The Bridge had a chance to make it 2-0 as Shaun Mills’ cross came in and Oscar Jones left it for Kelson McFarlane, when he may have been the better option, and then it became the Taylor Lawrence show for a while as he put in free kicks and crosses, but Benfleet couldn’t convert them.

To be honest, Benfleet were now the better side, and it was a case of whether The Bridge could hold out and keep their lead. There were two opportunities in two minutes around the 78-minute mark when Toby Dickinson sliced a shot wide, and then Louis Bragg was hauled back by Matthew Stevens-Brown, who earned a yellow, when he looked to be clear and away on goal.

Benfleet continued to pepper The Bridge box with free kicks but to no avail, and then a Benfleet throw was headed clear but picked up by that man Lawrence, who volleyed an unstoppable shot from long range into the corner of The Bridge net, and it was 89 minutes and 1-1.

Benfleet could have then won it as Lawrence played a ball forward and Max Jobson got to it before Michael Bett. His shot was on target, but the covering Ollie Jenkins cleared it off the line, as shown in the excellent shot below by @ABridgeTooFar`16, and the game finished level and would be decided on penalties.

The penalty shoot-out
16 penalties were required to decide the outcome, and Jayden Oshitola hit the first one high, middle right to make it 1-0 to Benfleet. Rowan Dorling made it 1-1 with one that went in off the post.

Matthew Stevens-Brown went middle-ish left for 2-1 before Billy Willis hit an unstoppable high top right shot for 2-2

Next up was Taylor Lawrence, who went bottom right corner for 3-2 before George Briton-Watkins’ penalty bounced in off the underside of the crossbar for 3-3.

As the rain began to pour, Toby Dickinson made it 4-3 with a bottom right corner placement, and then Ellis Devereux scuffed his shot, and Florent Gislette saved, but the flag was immediately up for an infringement, and a retake was necessary. Ellis made no mistake from the retake, hammering it into the top right corner.

Two straightforward penalties followed to make it 5-5. First up was Cameron Harris, who went middle left and then Nathan Best, who went high middle right. Ben Foord rolled his pen into the bottom left for 6-5, and Louis Bragg went middle right for 6-6. As the pressure mounted, Max Jobson put penalty 13 middle right, and Jack Mochalski went bottom right for 7-7.

Nathan Saunders was next up, and he smashed it over the bar, and The Bridge had the advantage. It was left to Ollie Jenkins to strike the winning pen, and the ball rolled off the spot to heighten the tension before Ollie calmly finished middle left, and The Bridge were through to the semi-final.

A tough battle, an absorbing shoot-out and a scrappy win, but the end result was all that mattered as in the cup a win is all that’s required, no matter how you do it. There’s still one quarter-final match to be played between SOUL Tower Hamlets and Buckhurst Hill, but the draw has been made, and we face a trip to Barking... Bring it on because...

The Bridge back three of Phillips, Mochalski and Jenkins were all in the frame for this one, and it could have been any one of them or all three! A commanding performance, a goal-line clearance and a winning penalty just give the nod to Ollie, but it was close!