Shefford and Sandy draw in Bedfordshire League

At the end of a highly entertaining 90 minutes on a more than heavy surface at Bedford Road Recreation the points were duly shared in a 1-1 draw to leave the home side the much happier outfit despite that opening home win of the season eluding them.

This was nevertheless more than offset by now being unbeaten in their last five outings and up to eighth place in the division sponsored by Sportsform. The visitors will look upon the outcome as being a major dent into their championship hopes.

It was the home side who opened the scoring just five minutes before the half-time break via James Cooper, a lead they were to hold until Chris Slough levelled matters nine minutes into the new half.

Sandy then almost collected all three points when substitute Tom McGhee hit the bar from distance with just two minutes remaining before in time added on home goalkeeper Daniel Beall was required to pull off a fine save from Michael Jones to ensure his side would be rewarded with a well deserved point.

The biggest winner of the day turned out to be the rain with the scheduled games, AFC Oakley M&DH v Pavenham; Eastcotts AFC v Sharnbrook; Flitwick Town v AFC Kempston Town & Bedford College; Ickwell & Old Warden v Caldecote; Lidlington United Sports v Marston Shelton Rovers and Renhold United v Wilstead all postponed due to waterlogged pitches.

Division One supported by Wests Citroen Bedford

With league leaders Henlow having their game at Cranfield United called off, second place Elstow Abbey took full advantage to climb back onto the top of the Division One supported by Wests Citroen league table with a 3-1 home win over AFC Kempston Town & Bedford College Reserves to extend their winning ways up to six games.

Ahead via a strike from Dom Parrella after just five minutes they were to be pegged back when Town’s Chris Allen struck to draw his side level in the 28th minute. However, Abbey were back in front just six minutes later via Billy Mills who then added a third in the 57th minute to see the Abbey home to a relatively comfortable victory.

Riseley Sports now find themselves unbeaten in their last four home starts following a 3-2 win over Shefford Town & Campton Reserves who were suffering their fifth defeat on the bounce. Paul Brown netted twice and Josh Poole once for the home side against replies via Daniel Bright and Sam Kelly.

Elsewhere, Queens Park Crescents took their unbeaten ways up to five games with a 2-0 home win over Sundon Park Rangers to send the visitors to their fifth consecutive defeat. Goals from Shazad Sattar and Ayaz Hussain doing the damage.

The Great Barford v Potton Town; Marabese Ceramics v Bedford SA and Meltis Albion v AFC Oakley M&DH Reserves games were waterlogged off.

Division Two

Just one game was to survive the rain in Division Two when at King George VI Playing Fields. Clapham Sports made it seven wins on the bounce with a 3-0 home win over Meltis Albion Reserves to duly take them to the top of the Division Two league table at the expense of the non-playing Westoning. Grant Williams, Neil Larham and Sam Maddix netted the goals to do the damage.

The games called off were Caldecote Reserves v Renhold United Reserves; FC Houghton v Wootton Village; Kempston Hammers v Elstow Abbey Reserves; Marston Shelton Rovers Reserves v Kempston Athletic; Moggerhanger United v Westoning and Wilstead Reserves v Stevington.

Division Three

With league leaders Lea Sports PSG having their home game against Ickwell & Old Warden Reserves called off their lead at the head of the league table was reduced to just two points after Cranfield United Reserves ran out 2-1 winners at Clifton, Phil Kempsell netting both goals against an own goal in reply for the hosts.

However missing the chance to draw within a point of the league leaders were Atletico Europa whose unbeaten away ways were ended with a 2-1 defeat at Dinamo Flitwick who were winning for the first time in five outings. Joseph Kwarcinski and Mark Reynolds were on the home scoresheet against a lone reply from Sergi Kadji for the visitors.

Elsewhere it was a sharing of the spoils for FC Serbia and Flitwick Town Reserves from a 2-2 draw in a game transferred to the 3G surface at Hillgrounds. Milan Marusic netted twice for the home side and Benn Ward and Oli Banfield teplied for the Town. Whilst a lone goal from Matthew Evans was enough to return Shefford Town & Campton A to winning ways with a 1-0 home win over Sandy Reserves.

The other games waterlogged off were Caldecote U20 v Mid Beds Tigers and Westoning U20 v White Eagle