For fans of Real Bedford, Santa brought a sack full of goals throughout the Christmas period as the Pirates scored thirteen without reply in a savage display of attacking football across two games.
The recipients of the thrashings were Crawley Green and newly-promoted, Shefford Town and Campton and although both teams lie towards the bottom of Spartans South Midlands Premier, the nature of the victories will give manager, Rob Sinclair great confidence.
Hat tricks galore
There were three individuals who scored hat tricks across the four days, and it was the usual suspects who did the damage.
On Saturday, Real were 4-0 up at half-time against Crawley thanks to a brace from Joey Evans, a customary strike for Ben Stevens and a rare goal for captain, Tom Wood.
Stevens added his second shortly into the second half to make it 5-0, but it was Evans who would take home the match ball with a deft finish inside the area, although he did miss out on his fourth with arguably his easiest chance towards the end of the game.
It mattered not, as Real strolled home 6-0 winners in front of a busy McMullen Park crowd and they would go one better on Wednesday night.
Baptism of fire for Shefford
Shefford Town and Campton backed up a league win last season with a wonderful FA Cup run that saw them reach the third qualifying round, beating the likes of Grays Athletic and Dunstable Town along the way, but they have found this league campaign far tougher.
Winning only three of sixteen league games saw them in 19th before kick off, and it was soon apparent it was going to be three from seventeen as Real set about the goalmouth once again in a clash dubbed ‘The Battle of Bedfordshire’.
Ben Stevens opened the scoring after ten minutes with what was described as a “peculiar” goal before Josh Setchell got on the scoreboard after half an hour to make it two.
Both players would go on to score hat tricks as Real dominated.
Stevens made it three before the break before Setchell matched him almost straight from the kick off in the second half and when Stevens bagged a hat trick of his own – making it 5-0 before the fifty minute mark – Shefford looked in real trouble of facing an embarrassing scoreline.
A Mo Ahmed strike after 55 minutes extended the away side’s lead to 6-0, but Real took their foot off the gas, only for Setchell to score his own hat trick in injury time to secure a 7-0 drubbing.
More match balls please
At a combined 51 league goals for the season, Ben Stevens and Joey Evans continue to give opposition goalkeepers a few sleepless nights.
Evans’ hat trick on Saturday was his fourth of the league season but Stevens leads the way in the goal scoring charts on 27, with Real scoring a whopping 82 goals already this season.
Real Bedford are top of Spartans South Midlands Premier Division; seven points clear of Milton Keynes Irish although the Buckinghamshire side do have a game in hand.
Real are back at McMullen Park for the final game of 2023 against Cockfosters on Saturday 30th December, while the Ladies return to action in 2024 against St Albans City on 7th January.
Tickets for all of Real Bedford’s games can be bought here.
