Northwood battle back to get the better of the Eagles

With Enol Ordonez Suarez unavailable and Tyler Reading still injured, Jon Taylor brought in goalkeeper Ashley Harris from Haringey Borough.

Also drafted in to the side was right sided defender Devante Stanley, formerly of the Luton Town academy.

The encouraging start came as the game entered the third minute, with poor defending from the visitors allowing Nathan Hilaire to steal in at the far post to convert a Josh Beech cross from the right wing.

Bedford stayed on top of their opponents, threatening to add to the tally and derail their away unbeaten run that stretched from the middle of October last year.

However, the Northwood equaliser came on 22 minutes as a back-pass from Ollie Peters bounced awkwardly for Harris, and his attempted clearance flew high, and had a wicked spin on it.

Peters went to try and control the ball, but the spin took if off his foot and off for a corner, with Louis Stead directing a header into the net from the resulting delivery.

A minute before half-time, Northwood took the lead with what would prove to be the winning goal, as Rob Hastings hooked in a cross that came off the left hand post and in.

The second half was fairly flat, and it wasn’t until midway through the half that either side produced an attempt on goal.

It went to George Nicholas, as he bundled his way into the Bedford area, before unleashing a shot that flew high over the bar.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, Marcus Campbell worked to find space for a shot, but had to snatch at the ball when a brief glimpse of goal came, shooting wide of the mark.

Another chance for Bedford came in the 87th minute, when Stanley’s cross found Beech, but he didn’t connect properly and the ball posed no threat to the Northwood goal.

To define how scrappy the second half was, it took until the 89th minute for a proper save to be made.

On a Northwood breakaway, Niko Muir put Jermaine Heron free, and Harris dropped quickly to push the ball away. From the rebound, Muir could have wrapped up the points, but again Harris was down to deny a goal.

In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Berkley Laurencin did well to stop Beech’s overhead kick, and that was it for Bedford.

The Eagles stay in 13th, and take a trip into Hampshire for their next game, travelling to Petersfield Town on Saturday for a 3pm kick-off.

Eagles: Ashley Harris, Stuart Muldrew (Devante Stanley 78), Lee Hawkes, James Peters, Ollie Peters, Kyal McNulty (c), Marcus Campbell, Ben Farrell (James Hillsdon 85), Josh Beech, Afolabi Obafemi (Mahmut Caglar 62), Nathan Hilaire.

Subs not used: Chris Cordara-Soanes, Taishan Griffith.

Northwood: Berkley Laurencin, Georges Ehui, Andy Lomas, Steve Brown (c), James Budden, George Nicholas, Joakim Ehui (Jermaine Heron 85), James Burgess, Niko Muir, Louis Stead, Rob Hastings (Max Holland 75 (Bayley Brown 90+2)).

Subs not used: Alex Nolan, Mark Burgess.

Referee: Mr. A. Humphries.

Assistants: Mr. G. Connell & Mr. O. Bentley.

Attendance: 167.