The Men’s first XI had to settle for a 3-3 draw away to Ipswich, England Over 35s player, Vincent Pretorius getting on the scoresheet, yet again, with two of the Bedford goals.
This coming weekend, bottom of the table Letchworth will travel to Bedford. Whilst there’s no possibility of anyone in the Premier Division catching top of the table Peterborough, who are guaranteed promotion, third place Bedford are just two points behind Saffron Walden, in second. The final match of the season, on the 29th of March, will certainly be one not to miss, when Bedford host Peterborough at the Chester Road ground.
It was another tough day at the office for the Ladies’ First Team, suffering a hard-hitting 7-0 loss against the University of Birmingham. It’s the Cambridge University students that Bedford face next Saturday, in an away fixture.
The Men’s Seconds edged closer to top of the table Luton, after Bedford’s 8-1 victory, away to Bishop’s Stortford. Credit also goes to Bedford’s Third XI, in the same division, who frustrated Luton by restricting them to just three goals in their fixture, aided by some fantastic keeping from Phil Morris. The goal difference, which is all that stands between Bedford’s Twos and Luton, now reduces to just eight goals.
The Second XI have a home fixture this coming Saturday, when sixth place Welwyn Garden City travel. Luton, meanwhile, get to play third place St Albans. The Bedford home crowd will be backing their Twos to notch up a high goal tally.
A solitary goal in the closing minutes of the first half, after a second was disallowed, was still sufficient for the Ladies’ Twos to take the points from Letchworth, the match finishing 1-0 to Bedford. The Bedford squad head away to fifth place Old Loughtonians on Saturday.
With just three matches left in the season, there is no possibility of catching St Albans, who sit in top spot, nine points ahead of Bedford. A second-place finish is not beyond the realms of possibility, however, Bedford currently in third, just three points behind second place Chelmsford.
The previously mentioned Men’s Third Team, who may have lost 3-0, but had a moral victory over prolific goal scorers, top of the table, Luton, restricting them to just three, head away to take on St Albans Fours this weekend, Bedford being in fifth position and St Albans in tenth.
The Ladies’ Third XI have had a mixed season of results, this past Saturday returning from Harpenden after finishing the match 1-0 down. They will hope playing on home turf at the weekend will give them the edge over visiting Berkhamsted & Hemel. A mid-table finish to the season looks likely.
It was a disappointing 2-1 defeat for the Men’s Fourth XI against Rickmansworth, Rickmansworth grabbing both their goals in the final 10 minutes of the game.
This weekend, the Bedford team have a journey to Potters Bar in search of a win, Bedford presently just holding themselves outside the relegation zone.
It’s a different story for the Ladies’ Fours, who, barring a catastrophe, will see themselves heading up a division next season. They hold pole position after last weekend’s 6-1 victory over Rickmansworth, with the first goal coming just 4 minutes into the match. This weekend, they head away to fourth place Bishop’s Stortford.
The Men’s Fifth Team will be very happy to have returned home with a 3-all draw against third place Blueharts, thanks to a hat-trick by James Logan, Bedford currently sitting eleventh. It’s a home fixture for them this Saturday, against Welwyn Garden City.
The Ladies’ Fifths, meanwhile, bagged a 1-0 away win over Shefford & Sandy, a goal by Bea Burak on the 46th minute securing the victory, although with Shefford and Sandy facing relegation, Bedford might have hoped for a bigger tally. It’s a home fixture this coming weekend, against second place Berkhamsted & Hemel, so Bedford, in fifth, are going to have to bring their A game.
A 3-0 victory by the Men's Sixes, over Royston, has Bedford sitting top of the table, although with some other teams in the division having a game in hand. They travel away to ninth place Saffron Walden for their next fixture.
A tough game had been predicted for the Ladies’ Sixth XI, facing up to top of the table Letchworth. The prediction became reality, two Bedford players suffering injuries, requiring them to leave the field of play, and Bedford having to settle for a consolation goal, which, it has to be said, was an absolute stunner, by youngster and player of the match, Manpriya Sira. Letchworth, in response, netted four. The team travel away to Bishop’s Stortford this Saturday.
Luke Killen added to his season’s goal tally in the Men’s Seventh XI match, away to Hertford, his goal, as well as one from Jon Ratcliffe, helping the Bedford team to a 3-2 win. They are on home turf this weekend, hosting Saffron Walden, who sit one place behind third place Bedford.
It was a long journey back from Potters Bar for the Ladies’ Sevens, having suffered a 2-0 loss to their second-place opponents. Bedford, in fourth, meet ninth-place Welwyn Garden City this Saturday, at Bedford’s home ground.
Sunday saw a great representation from numerous Bedford youngsters, in the County Under 15 Boys and Under 17 Girls finals, representing Bedfordshire. Both squads were supplemented by youngsters stepping up above their age grouping to field teams for the tournaments, which saw the boys head to Cambridge and the girls to Redbridge.
Alongside the Bedford players, the boys’ team had talent from Luton and Leighton Buzzard, and they put on an excellent display of teamwork, taking two draws and a win, but having to settle for runners-up position after a loss to tournament winners, Essex.
The girls, a predominantly Bedford squad, also put in a great performance, winning two, drawing two, and narrowly missing out, 1-0, in matches against Hertfordshire and Essex, finishing fourth out of the seven counties represented. Bedford player, Tilly Sheldon, scored all Bedfordshire’s goals across the day.