The highlight of the weekend for Bedford Hockey Club was a 3-1 win for the Under 18 Boys, playing Winchester in the semi-finals of England Hockey’s Plate Championship.
The first goal for Bedford came just 17 seconds into the match as Oscar Jewers caught the opposition off guard. End-to-end competitive play followed, but with no further goals coming in the first half.
It was Winchester who found the back of the net, ten minutes into the second half bringing the scores level for all of two minutes, before Jack Bellamy demonstrated his 3D skills to give Bedford the lead again.
It was Jack who stretched the lead still further, his second goal coming ten minutes later.
The team now head to the finals of this national competition, which will be played out at Lee Valley when they face Deeside Ramblers.
Double digits for Men’s 1st XI
There were further impressive wins across the adult teams.
Four goals from Simba Chigwada helped the Men’s 1st XI ease to a 10-0 triumph over bottom of the table Letchworth, taking the total number of goals scored by the team so far this season to 79.
Top of the table, City of Peterborough are already guaranteed promotion up from the Premier to the National League; the point difference between them, second place Saffron Walden and third place Bedford beyond reach with just two fixtures remaining.
The Bedford squad have an away game in Bishop’s Stortford this coming Saturday, finishing their league run on 29 March playing the league champions at Bedford’s Chester Road ground.
The goals also flowed freely for the Men’s 2nd XI; a Finn Leaver hat-trick helping the squad to a 7-0 victory over Welwyn Garden City.
With top of the table Luton Town only securing a 5-0 win in their match, Bedford nudge two goals nearer to closing the gap in goal difference between the teams.
It was St Albans’ 4th XI that Bedford’s Men’s 3rd XI faced in their match, coming away with a 2-0 win and holding fifth spot in the same division as their 2nd XI clubmates.
Bedford’s Men’s 4th XI just missed out having travelled away to Potters Bar, the scoreline finishing 3-2 to the opposition.
A struggling Men’s 5th XI failed to break the defence of Welwyn Garden City, losing 2-0, with 11th placed Bedford travelling to second place Bishop’s Stortford this weekend.
The Men’s 6th XI remain five points clear at the top of the table after going 2-0 down in the first half of their match away at Saffron Walden, but they scored two late goals to secure a 2-2 draw.
It was also a 2-2 draw for the Men’s 7th XI.
Bedford opened the scoring with a goal by Joe Allen just two minutes into the game, only for Saffron Walden to pull the scores level as the first half whistle approached.
Walden then went on to take the lead in the 54th minute, but Joe stepped up once more and forced the draw with only 3 minutes remaining on the clock.
Ladies 1st XI fall away
A single late goal from Bedford’s Ellie Scott wasn’t sufficient for the Ladies’ 1st XI who lost 3-1 against Cambridge University.
Cambridge opened the scoring just five minutes into the match, followed by a second six minutes later.
Had Bedford been able to build on Ellie’s 51st minute goal, a draw would have been welcomed, but Cambridge scored a third late on to secure the win.
It wasn’t until the second half of the Ladies’ 2nd XI match against Old Loughtonians that there was any score; Bedford’s Ana Hickling finding the back of the net in the 52nd minute.
Sadly, the lead was short lived, Old Loughts pulling the scores level three minutes later. The draw holds Bedford in third spot.
The Ladies’ 3rd XI took a 3-1 win over Berkhamsted & Hemel, with all the goals coming in the second half of the game.
It was an uncharacteristic 3-2 loss for the Ladies’ 4th XI away to Bishop’s Stortford, Stortford having opened the scoring in the final minute of the first half.
A goal from open play by Cheryl Harding early in the second brought the scores level, only for Stortford to move ahead again a few minutes later. A penalty stroke to Bedford once more levelled the scores, but Stortford snatched the win seven minutes later.
Despite the loss, the team still sit at the top of the table, two points ahead of second place Luton Town, although Bedford also have a game in hand.
A hat trick for Bea Burak helped the Ladies’ 5th XI to an eventful 5-3 victory against Berkhamsted & Hemel’s 3rd XI, while the 6th XI lost out 4-3 at Bishop’s Stortford despite gaining a 3-1 lead, scoring three goals in quick succession in the first half.
The Ladies’ 7th XI enjoyed a fantastic game against Welwyn Garden City, maintaining a constant barrage of goals, starting with the first on the four-minute mark, and finishing with their sixth and final goal in the closing stage of the second half to cement a 6-0 victory.
Another highlight from the weekend was the first Walking Hockey Tournament to be hosted by the club.
The tournament welcomed teams from Letchworth, Welwyn Garden City and Chiltern, with Bedford fielding two teams of its own, and saw two hours of back-to-back competitive matches.
Since being one of the first clubs in the country to start Walking Hockey six years ago, it is fantastic to see the growth of this highly inclusive format of the game, to such an extent that there are now sufficient local teams to have made this tournament feasible.
Words by Jean Fitch
