FEATURE: Bedford Town boss Lee Bircham on a new league, new pitch but the same winning habit

​The Eyrie had the high quality new surface laid over the summer, with the first matches played on it last month by Bedford and their tenants Biggleswade FC who are continuing their ground-sharing agreement.

And with three wins out of four on their new pitch so far, Bircham has been pleased to get back on their own patch having played at Biggleswade Town and Hitchin while the surface was being laid.

He said: “Pre-season was pretty chaotic because after the end to last season, being in the promotion race and winning in the play-offs, we were then quite late in deciding to go for the 3G pitch, so it meant we had to have all our friendlies away from home.

"We didn’t get any FA funding or grants. The club’s owner has put his hands in his pockets, put his money where his mouth is and got us the top 3G surface you can get.

"It’s going to add to the community feel at the club. In the play-offs we were getting attendances of over 2,000 with loads of kids wearing Bedford tops.

"So it’s important to keep that community element by enabling everyone to play on the pitch and enjoy the facilities.

"You couldn’t do that with a grass pitch – we lost a lot of games last year to waterlogged pitches and so on which is now a thing of the past.

"It did mean we had nowhere to train in pre-season or even at the start of the campaign, and whilst we tried to get as many away fixtures in as possible early on, a couple of clubs didn’t want to switch so we had to go to other grounds and so there was no home advantage.

"But it made us a lot stronger and appreciate coming back home more and having our own HQ.”

Bedford finished second in the SPL Division One Central last season before beating Ware in the play-off final in front of a huge crowd at The Eyrie.

This season, they have again begun well and going into the break for last weekend’s FA Trophy fixtures, they lay second in a league from which they suffered a horrid relegation just 18 months ago, prior to Bircham’s appointment.

And despite defeat in the Trophy at home to Hendon on Saturday, Bircham has otherwise been delighted with the start whilst also being keen to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

He said: “There’s a degree of expectation here but you can’t have it both ways – we’ve just been promoted and can’t be banging on the door wanting more wage budget when we’ve just spent that much money on the pitch.

"We’re probably in the bottom three of budgets in that league, and we can only seriously aim to finish fifth from bottom, stay up and build.

"We’re not looking up, only over our shoulder and that will take the pressure off the players, particularly given the pressure they were under last year in being expected to go up. I’m delighted with the way the players have gone about things.”

Bircham says that another plus about having a 3G surface is that his team can play a more consistent style of football, rather than having to adapt based on how pitches may have been affected by the weather.

“We’ve got the luxury of being able to get the ball down and play more than we often could on grass,” he said.

"The lessons were learned from last year. One area of the pitch often got flooded and it would often kill our momentum and how we played.

"You can start the season with one system on the lovely pitches but by the time the winter came, we had to adapt to the heavy pitches and so on.

"You almost need two sets of players to deal with each scenario.

"We’re not sure how much of an overall advantage it will be – it’s been a good start but a lot of teams have these pitches now anyway, although the quality of them can very.”

Bircham also took time out to praise striker Leon Lobjoit, who suffered a tragedy earlier in the season when his two-week-old daughter Marnie Jaz Mae passed away suddenly. Her funeral took place this week.

Bircham said the whole club was devastated by the news.

He said: “I’ve known Leon for years and we’re very close – we’ve always worked together and he’s scored so many goals for me.

"Seeing someone you care for so much going through that is so hard, and it got to all of us as a club and a squad because barely two weeks earlier we were celebrating Marnie’s birth. The sad news came so out of the blue.

"We were there for him but it shows the character of the man that he wanted to come back – it’s where he gets his happiness and joy and he’s played really well and dedicated his goals to his little girl.

"I’m so proud of him as a man – forget the football, he’s just an inspirational character. It’s been very humbling.”