Both Bedford Town and Real Bedford left the off-pitch merger talks to one side in winning their respective Southern League encounters on Saturday (18 January).
Bedford Town gained revenge on St Ives as Leon Lobjoit’s second half stunner earned them a 2-1 win in the seventh tier, while Real Bedford remained top of Southern League Central Division One with a 3-1 victory at home to Leverstock Green.
Both clubs have been at the forefront of non-league chatter in the last 24 hours, after Bedford Independent broke the news that they had gone into merger talks to unify their two clubs into a single entity.
Read: Bedford Town and Real Bedford in merger talks to “transform football in Bedford”
The task for respective managers, Lee Bircham and Rob Sinclair was to turn their players’ attention to matters on the pitch, and both were able to rouse their sides to add another three points to two impressive campaigns so far.
Lobjoit the stand out again
Back in November, Bedford Town were on the wrong end of a combative and controversial 3-0 home defeat against today’s opponents, St Ives Town, but the Eagles gained revenge and hold on to their coveted spot in the play-offs in doing so.
Bedford’s newest signing, Lewis Hilliard had the first opportunity of the game before Will Glennon had a shot saved for St Ives by another new Eagles face in Jameson Horlick, before the Eagles broke the deadlock on the quarter hour mark.
Hilliard became the provider as Bedford Town’s number nine, Eddie Panter latched on to a lobbed pass to fire past Dan Wilks in the St Ives goal and once again put the Eagles in the ascendency.
He could have had a second only for the offside flag to ruin celebrations as Bedford Town continued to assert themselves on the game with chances for Lobjoit and Junior Gyamfi, before a huge penalty shout was denied on the stroke of half-time.
St Ives took just ten minutes of the second half to equalise courtesy of former Biggleswade FC front man, Amir Hadi as he sauntered past Horlick and slid the ball into the empty net to restore parity.
The referee’s yellow card then dominated proceedings before a moment of magic from Lobjoit sealed the game.
His long range effort flew over Wilks and into the back of the net for his 15th league goal of the season, and secured another three points for Bedford Town, who remain fifth in Southern League Premier Central.
The final whistle was greeted with monumental cheers from the travelling Bedford Town fans, many of whom had voiced their discontent at yesterday’s news of merger talks, but still on the side of Lee Bircham’s men who continue to surprise in the seventh tier.
Real maintain two-point advantage
Back in Bedford, Real survived a Leverstock Green equaliser to eventually win 3-1 and maintain their two-point gap over Berkhamsted at the top of Southern League Central Division One.
It took half an hour for Rob Sinclair’s men to break down their fellow promoted side, Leverstock but great interplay from the usual protagonists in Ben Stevens and Joey Evans saw the latter continue his hot goalscoring streak with a neat finish.
What wasn’t on the cards was an equaliser for 21st-placed, Leverstock Green as Ryan Carruthers headed home the cross of former Bedford Town midfielder, Kyle Connolly on the hour mark to put the cat amongst the pigeons at the Ledger Stadium.
However, it didn’t take long for Real Bedford to regain the lead, as three minutes later an incredible solo effort from Isaac Galliford, that saw him beat four defenders before firing home, restored a 2-1 advantage that the home side would not give away again.
Josh Setchell confirmed the three points would be staying in Bedford with another late strike of his own to seal an important win given closest rivals, Berkhamsted also won 3-1 at Northwood.
With Barton Rovers losing 2-0 at Leighton Town, the pair have moved further clear of the chasing pack turning this title tussle into a two-horse race, with the return encounter between Real and Berkhamsted on 22 March.
What happens, both on and off the pitch, between now and then remains to be seen but regardless of boardroom matters and talks of a merger, both Bedford Town and Real Bedford were good value for another three points each on Saturday.
Bedford Town return to action on Tuesday 21 January as they travel to Stourbridge while Real Bedford are back in action next Saturday (25 January) as they look to avenge defeat earlier in the season against Welwyn Garden City.
