Bedford Town boss: 'When are you going to watch Eagles?'

Connor Tomlinson celebrates scoring the first of his two goals after just 37 seconds in Bedford Town’s 5-1 win against FC Romania to lead the division by five points Picture courtesy of www.bedfordeagles.net

If you’re not going to come down and watch Bedford Town play now, then when are you going to?

That’s the question posed by Eagles’ manager Gary Setchell after the league leaders’ crowd of over 1,200 for their top-of-the-table victory over Berkhamsted last week fell to 532 to see them beat FC Romania 5-1 at the Eyrie on Saturday.

“I was a bit disappointed with the crowd being probably 400 or 500 down on last week,” he said in the club’s post-match interview.

“I think these lads deserve the people of Bedford to get behind them.

“When are you going to watch if you’re not going to watch now?

“I’m not grumbling, today’s is still a great crowd and that will probably push our average up to 500 for the season now, which is unbelievable for a Step 4 club, but they have got to come and watch this team play. Get yourselves down the Eyrie next week!”

Eagles are at Kidlington this Saturday, but then host relegation-threatened Colney Heath on February 19, both in the Southern League Division One Central, where Eagles now have a five-point lead over Berkhamsted, who still have a game in hand.

Against midtable FC Romania, Connor Tomlinson opened the scoring in just 37 seconds, set up by Callum Donnelly and added another in the 86th minute.

Rene Howe added a penalty after five minutes and two more goals from Charley Sanders in the14th and 37th minutes completed the handful. The visitors’ consolation came from a 37th minute spot kick.

“We were 3-0 up in 15 minutes and completely controlled the game,” said Setchell.

“Great win, great day and nice now we’re getting a week’s rest in between so we can train and we are just looking forward to the next game.

“It’s great to be involved at the top end and we just have to take it game by game, week by week, keep doing what we are doing, hopefully keep our best players fit and hopefully take our chances when they come.

“We are in a real strong position now. We have come through what we thought was going to be a sticky month with 16 points out of 18 in January.

“Now we’re going into a tough February, although the fixtures look on paper that we can win.

“Kidlington pick up some good results at home and we have got to go there and be professional. They drew with Berkhamsted.

“We are not going to win 11 games on the spin to go on and win the league, of course we are going to slip up.

“I don’t honestly believe any of the other teams in the top five are going to win their last ten games - you’ve just got to drop less points than the other teams.

“We know we can beat anybody on the day, as do the other teams at the top, and we have just got to keep going. There’s a long way to go.”

Eagles will also host Southern League Premier Central Division side Biggleswade Town in the Beds Senior Cup on February 15.

Kempston Rovers were beaten 5-0 by high-flying Ware on Saturday and visit Harlow Town this weekend.