Alvechurch trip booked as Real Bedford beat Ashford to progress in FA Trophy
Real Bedford were handed an away trip to Southern League Premier rivals Alvechurch in the second round of the Isuzu FA Trophy on Saturday, 15th November in this week's draw.
That followed the Pirates' 3-2 victory against Ashford United at the Ledger Stadium last weekend.
A Conor Tee brace and a Malachi Soile header within the first 30 minutes were enough to see off their Step 4 opponents on Saturday and boss Rob Sinclair said: “The main thing was that we got through. In terms of our performance levels, it wasn’t where we have been.
“Sometimes you’ve got to grind out results and show that desire to defend your box in those closing moments, and we did that, so I’m delighted to progress.”
Ashford opened the scoring through Jeff Aibangbee after nine minutes.
However, eight minutes later, the Pirates were level through Tee.
Joey Evans cut the ball back to Jones, who found Tee in space to score his first goal for the club.
Sinclair’s side then took the lead on 21 minutes when Malachi Soile headed home a Ben Stevens cross.
Ashford equalised three minutes later as Louie Collins fired past King after a quick counter attack.
Tee then scored the best goal of the game to put the Pirates back in front in the 27th minute, curling into the top right corner.
After the interval, the tempo dropped, with the Pirates unable to find the target and Ashford missing two golden opportunities, especially in added time when Collins was sent through on goal with only King to beat, but he sent his right-footed effort wide of the target.