The Men’s First XI, sitting third in the Premier Division, held second place Saffron Walden to a 1-all draw, after their trip to Essex. This coming Saturday they travel away again, heading to Old Southendian, who are down in tenth spot.
After a week off, the Ladies’ First Team will be back in action next weekend, over in Oxford, when they face Oxford Hawks. The Hawks are just three points ahead of Bedford, so a Bedford win would really boost spirits after a challenging season so far.
The Men’s and Ladies’ Second Team squads were both performing.
The Men continued their successful run, taking a 5-0 victory over Letchworth. The score line would have gone some way to closing the goal difference between Bedford and top place Luton Town, had it not been for Luton winning their fixture 6-0. Bedford journey to St Albans this coming Saturday, St Albans sitting in third place, immediately below Bedford.
After several prosperous weeks for the Ladies’ Seconds, they failed to make an impact on Chelmsford, a solitary goal from Andrea Mason being insufficient to match the three from the visiting opposition. Bedford, now in fifth place, will hope to return to a point-winning performance this Saturday, when they host eleventh place Sudbury.
It was a local derby for the Men’s Third Team, against Shefford & Sandy. An evenly matched game played out, the scoreline remaining 0-0, until a Bedford goal by Josh Dixon 45 minutes into the match. The lead didn’t last for long, however, the opposition levelling the scores at 50 minutes and going on to take the victory with their second goal ten minutes later. Bedford host Stevenage this coming Saturday.
There was a Sunday fixture for the Ladies’ Third XI, still playing catch-up from frost-effected postponements. The team travelled to top of the table Broxbourne, but 6th place Bedford failed to break their opponents, returning home following a 4-1 defeat. They are away to Bishop’s Stortford this Saturday.
The Men’s Fourth XI, 10th in the league, were stung with a 7-3 loss after 2nd place Hertford Men’s Twos travelled to Bedford. This week, Bedford head to Hertford to take on their Men’s Third XI.
The Ladies’ Fourth Team were 2-0 up over Luton Town by the half-time whistle. Whilst Luton pulled a goal back from a Penalty Corner, early in the second half, Bedford bagged two further goals. The win keeps Bedford comfortably in pole position, Luton, being second. Third place Hertford will be travelling to Chester Road on Saturday to face the Bedford squad.
Hertford’s Fifth Team opened the scoring, just 3 minutes into their match with Bedford’s Men’s Fifth XI, followed by two more before the half-time whistle. Whilst Bedford found the net in the second half of the match, so did Hertford, taking the final score to 4-1. Bedford head away to St Albans this Saturday.
The trip to West Herts for the Ladies’ Fifth Team had them return very happy after a 5-2 victory, which has Bedford third in the division. They travel away again next weekend, heading to top of the table Saffron Walden, Bedford just two points behind the top two teams.
The Men’s Sixth XI only had to travel down the road for their fixture, against Shefford & Sandy’s Fourth Team, who are sitting at the bottom of the table. Bedford’s 6-0 victory has them in second spot. Their journey takes them a little further afield this weekend, when they head to Bishop’s Stortford.
It seems to have been a particularly successful weekend for Hertford’s Men’s teams, Bedford’s Men’s Seventh XI suffered a 5-0 loss to Hertford’s Sixth team, thanks to a very impressive display from the youngsters in the Hertford squad. Bedford will welcome Bishop’s Stortford to Chester Road this weekend.
There was disappointment for both the club’s Masters teams who were in action, the Women’s Over 35s and Over 55s.
The Over 35s had travelled to Sutton Coldfield for their fixture. Sutton Coldfield opened the scoring with a goal just 6 minutes into the match. It wasn’t until the 66th minute that Bedford equalised. Being a knock-out competition, any match finishing in a draw goes on to a penalty shoot-out, 5 team members stepping up to take the flicks. Following that, when the scores remained level, it came down to sudden death, Sutton Coldfield taking the win, 6-5.
The Over 55s had a long trek to play their Canterbury opponents, a game which reached full time with the score at 3-all and so, like their younger club mates, the match went to a shoot-out, Canterbury triumphing, 5-4.
Next weekend, it will be over to the Men’s and Women’s Over 45s, the men hosting Khalsa at Chester Road and the women heading to Rugby, to face up to Rugby and East Warwickshire.
The youth teams will, also, be back in action, the Under 14’s Boys and Girls and Under 16’s Boys in friendly fixtures, and the Boy’s Under 18s head to Khalsa Leamington for a cup match.
