Bedford Hockey Club’s teams continued their campaigns at the weekend to secure their best league placings, with just a few weeks remaining before the close of play for the season.
The Men’s 1st XI had to settle for a 3-3 draw away to Ipswich; England over 35s player, Vincent Pretorius getting on the scoresheet with two of the Bedford goals.
This coming weekend, bottom of the table Letchworth will travel to Bedford.
Whilst there’s no possibility of anyone in the Premier Division catching top of the table Peterborough – who are guaranteed promotion – third place Bedford are just two points behind Saffron Walden in second.
The final match of the season, on 29 March, will certainly be one not to miss when Bedford host Peterborough at Chester Road.
It was another tough day at the office for the Ladies’ 1st XI, suffering a hard-hitting 7-0 loss against the University of Birmingham.
The Men’s 2nd XI edged closer to top of the table Luton after Bedford’s 8-1 victory away to Bishop’s Stortford.
Credit also goes to Bedford’s 3rd XI in the same division who frustrated Luton by restricting them to just three goals in their fixture, aided by some fantastic keeping from Phil Morris.
The goal difference, which is all that stands between Bedford’s 2nd XI and Luton, now reduces to just eight goals.
A solitary goal in the closing minutes of the first half, after a second was disallowed, was still sufficient for the Ladies’ 2nd XI to take the points from Letchworth in a tight 1-0 win. The Bedford squad head away to fifth place Old Loughtonians on Saturday.
With just three matches left in the season, there is no possibility of catching St Albans who sit in top spot, nine points ahead of Bedford.
A second place finish is not beyond the realms of possibility, with Bedford currently in third just three points behind second place Chelmsford.
The Ladies’ 3rd XI have had a mixed season of results, aided by a 1-0 loss against Harpenden. They will hope playing on home turf this coming Saturday will give them the edge over visiting Berkhamsted & Hemel.
It was a disappointing 2-1 defeat for the Men’s 4th XI against Rickmansworth, with Bedford’s opponents grabbing both their goals in the final ten minutes of the game.
This weekend, the Bedford team face a journey to Potters Bar in search of a win with Bedford just holding themselves outside the relegation zone.
It’s a different story for the Ladies’ 4th XI, who, barring a catastrophe, will see themselves heading up a division next season.
They hold pole position after last weekend’s 6-1 victory over Rickmansworth, with the first goal coming just four minutes into the match. This weekend, they head away to fourth place Bishop’s Stortford.
The Men’s 5th XI will be very happy to have returned home with a 3-3 draw against third place Blueharts, thanks to a hat-trick from James Logan, while The Ladies’ 5th XI bagged a 1-0 away win over Shefford & Sandy; Bea Burak scoring the only goal.
A 3-0 victory for the Men’s 6th XI over Royston sees Bedford sitting top of the table, although with some other teams in the division having a game in hand. They travel away to ninth place Saffron Walden for their next fixture.
A tough game had been predicted for the Ladies’ 6th XI, facing top of the table Letchworth.
The prediction became reality; two Bedford players suffering injuries, requiring them to leave the field of play and Bedford having to settle for a consolation goal; an absolute stunner by youngster and player of the match, Manpriya Sira.
Letchworth, in response, netted four. The team travel away to Bishop’s Stortford this Saturday.
Luke Killen added to his season’s goal tally in the Men’s 7th XI match away to Hertford. His goal, as well as one from Jon Ratcliffe, helping Bedford to a 3-2 win, while the Ladies 7th XI lost out 2-0 at Potters Bar.
Sunday saw a great representation from numerous Bedford youngsters, in the County Under 15 Boys and Under 17 Girls finals, representing Bedfordshire.
Both squads were supplemented by youngsters stepping up above their age grouping to field teams for the tournaments, which saw the boys head to Cambridge and the girls to Redbridge.
Alongside the Bedford players, the boys’ team had talent from Luton and Leighton Buzzard, and they put on an excellent display of teamwork, taking two draws and a win, but having to settle for runners-up position after a loss to tournament winners, Essex.
The girls – a predominantly Bedford squad – also put in a great performance, winning two, drawing two, and narrowly missing out 1-0 in matches against Hertfordshire and Essex. They finished fourth out of the seven counties represented.
Bedford player, Tilly Sheldon, scored all Bedfordshire’s goals across the day.
Words by Jean Fitch
