With Christmas just around the corner, not all of Bedford’s teams were in action with six senior teams having fixtures on Saturday; playing away from home bringing its advantages whilst home turf proved rather unlucky.
The Ladies’ 4th’s, taking on Broxbourne at Bedford’s Chester Road pitch, got off to a great start, opening the scoring.
Broxbourne upped their game however and took control, fighting back strongly to leave Bedford 1-4 down.
The Men’s 4th’s downfall, against top of the table Shefford & Sandy, was the clinical execution of the short corner set-piece by Bedford’s opponents. 0-3 the final score.
The Men’s Vets meanwhile, whilst playing with energy and enthusiasm, don’t always manage to get the results they deserve.
Such was their game against Harpenden which, despite a great effort from the Bedford team, ended 6-2 to the opposition.
In contrast, the three teams travelling away, all returned with wins under their belts.
The Ladies’ 6th’s beating Blueharts by 4 goals to 2 and the Ladies 7th’s gaining an equally impressive 3-0 victory over Welwyn.
Over in Berkhamstead, the Men’s 3rd team secured themselves a 2-0 win.
On Sunday, the Bedford Masters Ladies’ Over 45’s squad smashed the home jinx when they took on local rivals, Letchworth in their first-round play-off of England Hockey’s Investec Women’s Over 45’s Tier 2 Championships.
Despite Bedford dominating from the outset, a solid Letchworth defence and great keeping from the Letchworth goalkeeper prevented Bedford getting on the scorecard until the closing minutes of the first half when Bedford, finally, found the back of the net from a penalty corner.
After the rather frustrating first half, Bedford returned to the pitch with a renewed vigour and were rewarded with a second goal in the opening seconds, followed by two more in close succession.
Whilst Letchworth demonstrated on several occasions that they could be dangerous on the break, Bedford dominated play, with the final score 4-0 to Bedford. They on to the next round of the Championships.
All of Bedford’s teams now take a well-earned rest from training and matches until the New Year, with games starting again for some squads on the 4th January.
