Elliot Paul Benyon (born 29 August 1987) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for

Slough Town Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...

as a striker.

Career

Benyon began his career as a trainee at Bristol City after being spotted playing local football in High Wycombe. Despite making no first team appearances for the club, impressive loan spells to National Conference sides St Albans City and

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...

in the 2006–07 season caught the eye of Paul Buckle, who signed Benyon in June 2007 to play for

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

, who had themselves just been relegated from the Football League. Despite struggling to gain a regular starting place in his first season with the Gulls, Benyon still managed a total of 22 appearances, scoring five times in the 2007–08 season and also made a second-half substitute appearance at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in Torquay's 1–0 defeat to

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 fr ...

in the 2008 FA Trophy final. Benyon found more regular places in the starting line-up for Torquay in the 2008–09 season, making a total of 36 league appearances. The season culminated with a second Wembley appearance in two years for both Benyon and Torquay United when the Gulls beat

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

2–0 in the Conference National Play-off final in May 2009 to regain a place back in the Football League. Cambridge defender

Phil Bolland Philip Christopher Bolland (born 26 August 1976) is an English former footballer, who played as a centre back. Career Bolland enjoyed two spells at Chester City, having signed from Peterborough United in the summer of 2006 – just a few month ...

was sent off for a foul on Benyon. In July 2009, Benyon agreed a fresh one-year contract with the newly promoted Gulls and became an important first team player as his 15 goals in all competitions helped Torquay survive a difficult first season back in

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

. He scored 14 goals by the middle of the 2010–11 season and in January 2011 joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract after The Robins sold

Charlie Austin Charles Austin (born 5 July 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker. Released from his contract by Reading as a youth, Austin played non-league football up to May 2009, when he was signed by Swindon Town after a pro ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. He scored an injury time equaliser on his debut against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. At the end of that season, Swindon were relegated to

and on 20 June 2011, Benyon was signed on a season long loan by his home town club

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

, who had themselves just been promoted to

. He made his debut as a 66th minute replacement for

Gareth Ainsworth Gareth Ainsworth (born 10 May 1973) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Queens Park Rangers. A former youth player at Blackburn Rovers, the midfielder, who was known for his crossing ability ...

in a 1–1 away draw against

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, and scored his first goal in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Benyon signed for

club

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

in January 2012 for an undisclosed fee. He started his first game for Southend on 2 January, against Dagenham & Redbridge, before being substituted late on for Neil Harris. He found first team opportunities limited at Southend and in February 2013 rejoined former club

on a month's loan with an option to extend the deal to the end of the season. He was then released by Southend at the end of the season, before rejoining Torquay permanently in July 2013. In January 2015 Benyon joined Hayes & Yeading United on loan, signing permanently for the Conference South side at the end of the season. In the 2015–2016 season, Benyon was leading goalscorer and player of the year, despite his side suffering relegation. In May 2016 he joined

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates ...

, before signing for league rivals

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was original ...

in December 2017, following a short loan spell at Enfield Town. Benyon scored on his debut for The Hawks in a 4–1 victory at Eastbourne Borough on 1 January 2018.

Leatherhead

On Tuesday 23 May 2018, Benyon joined

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leathe ...

Hayes and Yeading

On 22 December 2018, Benyon re-joined Hayes & Yeading United

Oxford City

Benyon joined National League South side

Oxford City Oxford City Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Marston, Oxford. They currently compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and play their home matches at Marsh Lane. ...

in October 2019,scoring his first goals for the club against

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a l ...

in an FA Trophy replay.

Slough Town

In June 2022, Benyon joined

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benyon, Elliot 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from High Wycombe English footballers Association football forwards Bristol City F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Tiverton Town F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Leatherhead F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Hayes & Yeading United F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players Enfield Town F.C. players Whitehawk F.C. players Oxford City F.C. players Slough Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Footballers from Buckinghamshire