Big wins for Bedford Hockey Club ahead of Christmas break

The Ladies’ Seventh team travelled to Letchworth and finished their pre-Christmas league run with a fantastic victory, the first goal, by Tilly Sheldon, coming within the first minute, followed by a second from Tilly on the 7-minute mark. There followed a flurry of goals throughout the match, culminating in Sadie da Silva finding the back of the net for goal number seven, as the final whistle approached. The 7-0 score-line takes the team’s goal tally, so far this season, to 34.

There was, also, a dominant performance, on home turf, for the Ladies’ Fourth XI. Goals by Cheryl Harding (7'), Bea Burak (18'), Emma Evans (35'), (63'), Alice Brady-White (43'), (69'), Isla Nicolson (50') and Molly Hawkins (60'), as well as a player-of-the-match performance by Bedford’s keeper, Sienna Chapman, secured the 8-1 domination over Royston’s 1st XI. The win holds Bedford at the top of the table, 4 points ahead of second place Luton.

Not to be outdone by their female clubmates, the Men’s Seventh team squad bagged the points in their match, with a 6-0 win over Stevenage, two early goals by Luke Killen opening the scoring.

It was a 6-0 score-line for the Men’s Third team, too, wrapping up the day’s action at Bedford’s Chester Road, with their game against Letchworth.

Stevenage had the home advantage, and took the victory, however, in the Ladies’ Third XI’s match, Bedford finishing 2-1 down, after Stevenage grabbed two late goals.

There was a Christmas bonus for the Men’s 4th team, stepping out on Sunday morning for their re-arranged fixture against Southgate Adelaide. Bedford were jubilant with their 4-2 victory, it being only their second win of the season so far, lifting them from bottom of the table.

Sunday also saw action for the Women’s Over 55s, in the England Hockey Tier 1 Championship. The team had moved on to the second-round play off after beating Harleston Magpies a few weeks previously, but knew this round would be a challenge, facing up to last season’s Tier 1 champions, Kettering.

Despite putting up an admirable fight, and Bedford scoring two very well worked goals, Kettering took the win, 4-2. The defeat for Bedford now sees them move into the plate competition, where they will be looking to better their silver medal finish of last season.

Following Bedford’s Men’s and Women’s indoor squads’ successes in the earlier rounds, reaching the semi-final stages of their East Area Indoor Championships, they were also back performing on Sunday, in Ipswich.

Whilst each lost out on the chance to fight it out for gold, after the men fell to Cambridge University and the women to St Albans, both Bedford squads headed into their respective bronze medal matches.

The men had a close-fought battle with Harleston Magpies, the 9-7 victory by Bedford clinching them the third-place spot.

The women had a thrilling match against Cambridge University, which saw Bedford pull back from 5-2 down, to draw level, 5-5, in the final minute. The stalemate took the match to a penalty shoot-out, Bedford grabbing the bronze medal via the excitement of penalty shuffles.

The club now take a break, returning for some post-festivity action, with the traditional Boxing Day run-around, when players from Shefford & Sandy link up for some mixed-hockey fun, alongside the annual, inclusive, all-comers match.