Two goals and an assist from home debutant, Jordan Ponticelli helped Real Bedford twice battle from a goal down to eventually beat Leamington 4-2 on the opening day of the Southern League Premier Central season.
A blistering direct free kick from Conor Tee was the winner after 82 minutes, while a customary strike from Ben Stevens sealed the deal after the Pirates had gone 1-0 and 2-1 down earlier in the game.
Rob Sinclair’s side are heavy favourites in the Southern League Premier Central this season, with some bookmakers making them even money for the title.
One of their challengers may well be Leamington, a side who were relegated from National League North last season but have made wholesale changes to their playing squad as they came back down to step three.
For Real, the core of their squad from last season remains, although they have made key additions in attacking areas, including Ponticelli from Halesowen who proved to be the difference on an entertaining afternoon of football at the Ledger Stadium.
Real fight back from a goal down
Rather predictably, and as is so often the case for the home side, Real Bedford had a lot of the early game possession, but chances were few and far between in the opening quarter.
Chris Wreh and Louie Rea combined well for Leamington in the opening ten minutes only for the latter to find the midriff of Craig King in the Real goal, before Josh Allen and Ponticelli both had chances snuffed out at the other end.
By the 17th minute, the visitors were ahead.
A cross from the left was headed clear to Wreh who made a mess of his volleyed effort, only for it to find Rea who squeezed a shot under the unsighted King to give Leamington the lead.
Real’s opportunities to equalise were few and far between until the 44th minute, when Josh Allen thought he had levelled only to be denied by an offside flag, but the two sides did go into the break level as Ponticelli gained a first home goal in Real colours.
Conor Tee’s cross wasn’t dealt with by a Leamington defence who were unlucky to eventually concede four, with the ball falling to the feet of Ponticelli who guided it home into the bottom corner via a deflection from a blue shirt.
Whether it was going wide or not we will never know, but the goal was credited to the former Halesowen man who would go on to score a brace in a winning effort for the Pirates.
Tee free kick wins it
The early stages of the second half were punctuated by injuries for both sides, but while Real Bedford were dominating the possession stats, Leamington were still able to pack a punch on the break.
They were back ahead just eight minutes into the second half as Rea broke clear, and despite the attacker being forced out wide, he was able to recycle the ball back into the centre where Owen Farmer was on hand to find the bottom corner.
Their lead was short-lived.
The second Real equaliser came just two minutes after they had fallen behind again, with Allen creating a chance from nothing, bullying Ruben Freeman off the ball before squaring to Ponticelli who placed home his second of the afternoon.
With their tails up, the Pirates sensed a third, led by their enigmatic new signing, CJ Kiala who cut inside from the right wing moments after the equaliser, pulling out a step over to beat the defender only to blaze his effort narrowly over.
Drew Richardson’s pinpoint through ball then found Allen, who took it around an onrushing Cian Tyler in the Leamington goal, only to see his goal bound effort cleared off the line by the excellent Kelly.
On another day, Richardson could well have seen red for a cynical pull on Weah when the attacker was ready to race away on goal, but the referee adjudged otherwise, and it left Real Bedford with the chance to go on and win it.
And they did just that.
Allen was fouled on the edge of the area on 82 minutes, and up stepped Conor Tee who powered home an unstoppable free kick into the top corner to put Real ahead for the first time in the game.
Five minutes later, the clincher came in the form of the ever-present Ben Stevens, with man of the match Ponticelli finding the number ten in space in the area, allowing him to send a similarly unstoppable effort past Tyler.
It capped an excellent game, in what was manager Sinclair’s 200th in charge at the club, and a result that come April 2027 may prove key as Real Bedford mount another title challenge at step three of the non-league game.
They return to action against another potential title challenger in Peterborough Sports on Tuesday (11 August).
