Real Bedford striker, Joey Evans continued his sparkling form in front of goal with another brace as Real Bedford ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at lowly Kidlington on Saturday afternoon (8 February).
Those two goals alongside a Ben Stevens opener keeps Real top of Southern League Central Division One ahead of a chasing Berkhamsted side who won 1-0 against AFC Dunstable.
Kidlington were not expected to cause too many problems against a Real Bedford team who had already beaten them 5-1 at home this season, although manager Rob Sinclair had noted in the week that four of those goals came from set pieces.
“They are tougher than their league table suggests”, said Sinclair but his side were still too good for the Oxfordshire outlet as the Pirates maintain their lead at the top of the table.
It took just 16 minutes for Real to take the lead as Brett Longden’s inch perfect pass found playmaker, Ben Stevens who made no mistake in firing in off the post for the opening goal.
The first of Evans’ two strikes came on the stroke of half-time as he found himself on the end of an Isaac Galliford corner to nod home the second for Sinclair’s men, all but securing the three points at the interval.
His second, and Real’s third, came shortly into the second half as Josh Setchell once again proved dangerous in beating two defenders before squaring to an expectant Evans who tapped home the goal that put the tie to bed.
With twelve goals in Real Bedford’s last eight league games, Evans is now marauding to the top of the division’s goal scoring charts, and in doing so helps extends their unbeaten run in the league to seven games, six of which have been victories.
“We had to adapt”
Manager, Rob Sinclair once again cited set piece practice on a difficult playing surface at Kidlington.
“For a scrappy game, a horrible pitch, to come away with three goals and three points is pleasing.
“The game was done by half-time in terms of the way we played and created chances, but if there’s one criticism it’s that we could have been a bit more ruthless but pleasing to take the three points.
“You come here on a pitch like this, we had to adapt and change our style. We practiced our set piece routines on Tuesday and Thursday and have routines, so they’re an important part of the game and something we take serious.”
Real Bedford are back at the Ledger Stadium on Tuesday night (11 February) as they welcome Stotfold as they look to hold off the ever-consistent, Berkhamsted in a title battle that looks to be heading to the wire.
