Brentwood Town 1 Sporting Bengal United 1

Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round

Saturday 25th August

Sporting Bengal will be ruing the chances they spawned while Brentwood Town will be relieved to have another bite of the cherry after spending spells of the game unable to work out how to handle their opponents – but then were dug out of trouble thanks to Harry Doyle’s 65^th minute strike, after the Blues had fallen behind to a Steven Carvell goal.

League form really couldn’t be looked into; Brentwood having lost their opening game by a solitary goal at Maldon & Tiptree, while Sporting Bengal had drawn their opening two games going into this one. With prize money at stake, plus moving on into the next round, meant that this looked on paper a very interesting FA Cup tie, pitting a Bostik North outfit against one from the Essex Senior League. It was who wanted it most on the day and it proved to be a very interesting and well fought out game of Cup football.

The hosts were able to create a chance as early as the 4^th minute when Jack Gardner fired a shot wide after he cut in from the right flank. Three minutes later and Steven Carvell was returning fire with a shot from outside the left-hand side of the box that was swerving towards the top left-hand corner but was saved by veteran Rob Budd who saved the shot with an excellent catch. It then became a tight affair  until the 19^th minute when a one-touch passing move involving Tony Stokes, Oluwatobi Joseph and Matt Hall looked promising for Brentwood but the Bengal defence quickly regrouped and were able to stifle the attack by blocking and then clearing the ball away.

A minute later and Sporting Bengal took the lead after Steven Carvell took control of a loose ball in midfield and then used his right foot like a wand to sweep the ball past Budd at his right-hand post. And Brentwood were soon to find themselves deeper in the mire when they were reduced to ten men, when exactly two minutes after conceding to Carvell, Ryan Mallett then went in on the Bengal talisman with a studs-up challenge that brought him an instant red card from the referee.

As it was Carvell had Bengal’s next chance with a free kick that was cut out by Budd. And at the other end the hosts finally managed to create some forward momentum that ended with Harry Doyle flashing a drive across Bengal’s goal.

But the rest of the half saw Bengal finding themselves creating enough chances to have extended their lead – but none of them were taken. It started in the 36^th minute when a Bengal corner bobbled dangerously around the Brentwood box before it was finally cleared. The hosts were certainly fortunate not to have gone further behind when a ball played out wide to David Vaughan split their defence but the Bengal forward miscued and placed his shot well wide. Then Bobby Redwood out sped the Brentwood defence but he too could only poke his shot the wrong side of the post. Brentwood had the last chance of the half when Gardner had another shot from outside the box that went straight towards Suleyman Mahmood, and the Bengal keeper easily gathered the ball up. The half time whistle couldn’t come soon enough for Brentwood though as Sporting Bengal has managed to have a lot of the ball and had managed to get themselves into good positions. The finishing though had let them down.

It was no surprise that the Blues elected to open the second half in attack mode and it was Sporting Bengal who were to have a let off when Mitchell Hunter just failed to connect with Jack Mitchell’s cross from the far side inside the opening minute.

But Bengal were nearly gifted an opportunity to extend their lead when a ball played out by Budd was chased down by Redwood, who on gaining possession of the ball then delivered an inch-perfect pass to Carvell that was snuffed out by Budd who reacted quickly to smoother the ball. Mahmood also had to be alert to a decent Joseph delivery which he had to cut out.

But as the half wore on Brentwood still weren’t firing, whereas Bengal were but being wasteful with the chances they did create. Carvell picked out Yair Rashid with a well-delivered cross which ultimately ended up being blasted horribly off-target. Ashaan Siddik went closer with long-range effort that only just cleared Budd’s cross bar.

In the 69^th minute the ghost of chances missed finally came to haunt Sporting Bengal as Brentwood Town drew themselves level, with what was up until then their first real clear-cut opportunity. Ayrton Coley knocked a ball onto Doyle, who swivelled and swung a leg and the ball flew past Mahmood and into the roof of the net.

Carvell and Haque both had shots blocked soon afterwards, as Bengal looked to keep the momentum going but the goal had undoubtedly lifted Brentwood’s spirits and Doyle started to become a thorn in Bengal’s side as looked to chase after every ball, which won the hosts a number of corners.

But Sporting Bengal closed the game on top but again failed to take their chances. Rashid fired a shot wide, then a deep cross by Chris Greensdale was headed by Vaughan straight into the arms of Budd. Carvell was twice denied by Budd and then Hall, who both deflected shots away, while Rashid cannoned an effort into the side-netting and then in the final seconds had a powerful free kick saved by Budd.

The two teams go again on Wednesday evening at Mile End Stadium, and by then both teams will have the added bonus of knowing who awaits in the next round.

Brentwood Town: Rob Budd, Jack Gardner, Michael Hunter, Matt Hall (Capt), Ryan Mallett, James Falaise (Ayrton Coley 57’), Luke Foster, Jack Mitchell, Oluwatobi Joseph, Alfie Hinton (Harry Doyle 29’), Tony Stokes (Albert Levett 46’).

Scorer – Harry Doyle (65’).

Sporting Bengal United: Suleyman Mahmood, Chris Greensdale, Jon Watson, Joshua Duncan, Anthony Bruce-Murray, Zakariya Haque (Yasir Rashid 56’), Ashaan Siddik (Capt), Bobby Redwood, Steven Carvell, David Vaughan (Codey Cameron 80’).

Scorer – Steven Carvell (20’).