A harrowing couple of weeks at The Eyrie has seen Bedford Town drop into the bottom four of Southern League Premier Central and now face the prospect of a rearranged cup tie ahead of a huge few months for Graeme Tomlinson’s side.
Tuesday night saw a return of the Bedfordshire Senior Cup, the Bedfordshire FA’s flagship competition where Bedford Town finished runners-up to Leighton Town last season after losing a penalty shoot out at Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road.
The Eagles were drawn away at Arlesey Town of the Spartans South Midlands Premier League but the game was abandoned after just twelve minutes due to the fog descending on the Armadillo Stadium with the tie to be replayed at a later date.
Only one game of the second round has been completed so far, with Biggleswade Town seeing off AFC Dunstable 2-1, while Luton Town’s tie against Biggleswade United also didn’t go ahead with Kempston Rovers due to face Potton United next week.
Relegation battle
The abandoned fixture adds another problem to Graeme Tomlinson’s growing list, with key games to come in February against teams in and around a congested relegation zone in Southern League Premier Central.
The Eagles have been the masters of their own downfall in recent times, giving up two goal leads in consecutive matches against table-topping Leiston and then Ilkeston Town in a frustrating period for the club.
A 2-0 lead inside twenty minutes against Leiston was blown by half-time, while Ilkeston mounted a second half comeback to battle from 2-0 down at the break to win 3-2 at the New Manor Ground on Saturday.
Read: Title chasing Leiston battle back to defeat Bedford Town in goal fest
Joe Butterworth’s goal after 48 seconds set Bedford Town on their way on Saturday before Connor Tomlinson doubled the lead after 15 minutes as he intercepted a dreadful back pass by Ilkeston’s Joe Wilson to coolly slot home.
Familiar issues started to surface after the interval though as Ilkeston got a goal back almost from the kick off thanks to Henri Wilder.
In what was becoming a case of déjà vu, the equaliser soon arrived thanks to former Premier League striker, Leroy Lita – still plying his trade in the seventh tier at 38 years old and the implosion was completed moments later thanks to Wilson making amends for his earlier error.
A Rene Howe equaliser was disallowed for offside to compound misery for the Eagles who must now regroup ahead of three key fixtures in their relegation battle, beginning with a trip to Stourbridge this Saturday.
A key February awaits…
Two home games against fellow strugglers Stratford Town and Needham Market then follow and Tomlinson will look towards gaining as many points as possible to steer clear of the bottom four, where they currently reside.
Town are perhaps disadvantaged by the amount of games others around them have in hand. Alvechurch, also on thirty points, have played a whole six games less than the Eagles with all of the teams around Bedford Town having at least a single game in hand.
Consecutive home games on 21st February and 25th February may prove key to reignite the Eagles’ campaign, and the players and coaching staff will look to the local community to come to The Eyrie and be the 12th man for these big occasions.
Tickets for upcoming home games can be purchased here.
