Real Bedford once again put the sword to their opposition in a comprehensive 7-2 thrashing of Thame United at the Ledger Stadium to cement their place in the upper echelons of Southern League Central Division One.
The usual suspects were once again potent as Josh Setchell scored a hat trick, alongside a double for Ben Stevens with goals for Joey Evans and Jack Morrell securing another thumping victory in the eighth tier.
Manager, Rob Sinclair would have been looking for a response following a lacklustre display at Bowers & Pitsea in the FA Trophy last weekend and he got exactly what he asked for in another dominant Real display.
After an early Thame effort for Tom McElroy was ruled out for offside, Thame barely got another look in as Real ran away with the game.
Jack Morrell opened the scoring for the home side after five minutes as his neat header found the far corner and when Eniola Agemoh-Davies jinked his way through two defenders in the left channel to set up a simple finish for Joey Evans, Real were two up inside ten minutes.
Sensing another romp, Real Bedford continued to press forward; chances for Setchell and Stevens fell by the wayside before Setchell got his goal on the half hour mark.
He found himself on the right flank and darted inside, and with a stepover or two, created enough space to finish with aplomb in the bottom corner to give Real Bedford a 3-0 lead.
They couldn’t extend on that before half-time, despite efforts from Agemoh-Davies and Shaheim Ward as the Pirates went into the interval with a healthy advantage.
Goal difference gets another boost
There was a brief period at the beginning of the second half where Thame had a chance to make a game of it.
When Tom McElroy scored in the opening moments, finding himself on the end of a decent cross from Fabian Garcia, the deficit was reduced to 3-1 and minutes later, Brayden Daniel headed over in what was a warning sign for Real.
However, the three goal cushion was restored on the hour mark as Evans was set clear thanks to a clever pass from Drew Richardson, with the number nine unselfish in squaring the ball to Ben Stevens to slot home.
Two minutes later, it was five as Setchell once again terrorised his opposite number and blasted home at the near post via the unfortunate Crowther in the Thame goal.
The winger had his hat trick in similar fashion; good work from Stevens and substitute, Isaac Galliford allowed Setchell to take home the match ball with another confident finish.
Thame got their consolation goal in extraordinary fashion as McElroy got a double of his own by spotting Pirates goalkeeper, Tyler McGregor off his line and serenely lifting it over the Real stopper into the net from 45 yards out.
But it was Real Bedford who had the last laugh as a Stevens effort cruelly took a massive deflection, wrongfooting Crowther and into the back of the net for Real’s seventh and securing another whopping home victory.
There was still time for an unsavoury moment as Thame’s Jack Tutton was sent off late on for a horrible challenge on Jack Morrell, but the left back was unhurt and left to celebrate another huge win at the Ledger Stadium.
“We were brilliant”
Rob Sinclair pointed at the focus of his side off the ball as a key difference to last weekend’s defeat.
“Our main focus was to be better off the ball, and we did that today”, said Sinclair.
“We won more first balls, more second balls than last week which gives you a platform then to play how we want to play.
“Credit to the boys for their reaction to put on their performance, they should be really proud. We were brilliant.”
League action continues next Saturday (19 October) as Real Bedford travel to Hertford Town before a key game in what could be two teams vying for the title come the end of the season, as the Pirates travel to Flackwell Heath the following weekend.
