Bedford Town failed to make it three National League North wins on the bounce on Saturday (28 February) after they were downed 2-0 by high-flying Darlington in the north east.
An early strike from Cedric Main was consolidated by a close range header from Jack Maskell shortly after half-time as Darlington continue an expected surge towards the play-offs, while Bedford Town remain six points above the drop zone in 18th.
That gap has been opened up courtesy of an excellent week for Bedford Town, who achieved back-to-back National League North wins for the first time since November after victories against Chorley, and fellow relegation strugglers, Peterborough Sports.
Tuesday night’s victory against Sports also saw the Eagles’ talisman, Tyrone Marsh rise to the top of the division’s goalscoring charts as he netted all four of the goals to take his season’s tally to 26.
Read: Marsh scores four as Bedford Town thrash Peterborough Sports
However, the star striker could do nothing on Saturday to stop Darlington achieving their third straight win.
Main is the main character
Bedford Town started well, as early chances for Ellis Brown and George Moncur were snuffed out; the latter thanks to a solid save by Darlington’s loanee goalkeeper, Rory Watson.
It was another Ellis who would kick start proceedings at the other end, with Darlington taking the lead after 13 minutes.
Good work from Ellis Stanton and Tom Tweedy culminated in a cross to Jack Maskell, whose initial effort was well kept out by Ashmore, only for the rebound to find Cedric Main who smashed in the opener.
Elliot Forbes was denied by Ashmore soon after, before Darlington’s Taylor fired wide with the home side beginning to turn the screw.
Their best chance to extend the lead in the first half fell to Maskell, who failed to connect properly with an excellent cross from Tweedy, but it took just three minutes of the second half for the attacker to make amends.
Main turned provider, as he muscled his way to the byline and dinked in a cross to the back post for Maskell, who headed in the simplest of finishes from close range.
Aidan Rutlidge’s flick was palmed clear by Ashmore on 65 minutes, with the rebound fired wide, while Bedford’s George Moncur went up the other end and forced Watson into an equally smart save.
Another late effort for Moncur flew wide in a largely anticlimactic ending to the encounter; a far cry from the reverse fixture in November in which Tom Allan’s 95th minute winner secured a 4-3 win for the Quakers at The Eyrie.
“No complaints”
“I thought we played well”, said Eagles manager, Lee Bircham after the game.
“I thought we were good for large spells, but they’re top five for a reason. You could see in key areas, they are better than us. The two up top caused us problems.
“We had two good moments, some good patterns and link up plays. I was pleased with a lot of the performances, but we’re 18th in the league, and they’re fifth and there’s reasons for that.
“I don’t think we’d have scored if we’d have played until tomorrow, but all in all no complaints, and they deserved the win”, he added.
Bedford Town’s mileage continues into next week, as they return to the north east next Saturday (7 March) to face mid-table side, Spennymoor Town.
