It's the big one! Bedford Town v Berkhamsted at Eyrie with hopes for four-figure crowd

League leaders Bedford Town welcome Berkhamsted on Saturday for the ‘massive’ top of the table clash, hoping for a four-figure crowd to share the excitement at the Eyrie.

“It’s the two best teams in the league as it stands, both going for promotion,” said Eagles’ manager Gary Setchell.

“Saturday’s result is not going to decide who, if any of us, gets promoted but it will be a big step, a six-pointer.

“They have done brilliantly this year, as we have. We’re two good teams so it’s going to take a mistake or a bit of luck to decide the match.

“They have good players, we have good players so it should be a really good game.

“If you’re not going to watch Bedford Town in this one, then when are you!

“The support has been great this season and is growing and why can’t we see four figures on Saturday?

“There’s no Premier League football on television so we’d encourage armchair fans to come a watch a live game. It’s a massive game, probably the biggest Bedford have been involved in for a few years.”

And their success so far is creating a brilliant atmosphere at the club.

“Football is a lot easier when you are doing well – and we’re enjoying it,” he said.

“We’re a little bit ahead of where we thought we would be, although we always targeted promotion.

“And we’ll approach this game exactly the same as the 25 others. Of course everyone knows it’s a big fixture, but we won’t do anything differently and will pick a team to try and get a result.”

Bedford top the Southern League Division One Central on 58 points after 25 games, with Berkhamsted two points behind with a game in hand.

The Comrades won the season’s earlier encounter 1-0 and go into this game on the back of a 4-2 success last weekend over mid-table FC Romania, who are Bedford’s next visitors.

Eagles drew last Saturday’s game at seventh-placed Thame United 2-2, coming back from being 2-0 down just after half time, with goals from Rory McAuley and Connor Tomlinson to be level around the hour-mark.