Bedford Town let slip an early two goal lead to eventually draw 2-2 at Hereford in National League North on Tuesday night (2 September) in another story of so near, yet so far for the Eagles.
Ryan Blake and Tyrone Marsh had set a vibrant Bedford on their way with two goals in the first twenty minutes, only for Hereford to steal a late point thanks to Lawson D’Ath and an 87th-minute Montel Gibson goal.
Lee Bircham was quoted as saying his team was like, “a go-kart in a Formula One race” after another narrow loss at AFC Fylde at the weekend, but his Bedford Town team were away from the starting blocks like prime Lewis Hamilton on Tuesday night.
Read: Lone Thomas goal condemns Bedford Town to away defeat at Fylde
It took just four minutes for the Eagles to send their small but dedicated group of travelling fans into raptures as Ryan Blake opened the scoring.
Ellis Brown, at the forefront of a lot of Bedford Town’s early season attacking form, floated a cross into the back post and found his captain, who sent it back across goal and into the corner to give his side an early lead.
I-Lani Edwards and Omari Sterling-James missed half chances for the home team, but otherwise the first twenty minutes belonged to a rampant Bedford who could, and maybe should, have put the game out of sight.
Their second came courtesy of the returning Tyrone Marsh who scored his seventh goal of the season; the in-form striker collecting a loose ball that was heading out and proceeding to fly inside and let loose with the strike of a man full of confidence to double the lead.
Just a few minutes later, Marsh’s effort across the face of goal went narrowly wide at the far post as Hereford were under the cosh and facing a first half drubbing.
Lewis Coyle was then on the end of a perfect cross from Greg Taylor, only for Theo Richardson to pull off an outstanding save to keep his side in the game not long after, before a counter attack led by Marsh found Ellis Brown, whose effort was eventually blocked.
Only last ditch defending by the Eagles stopped Hereford from gaining a goal back towards the end of the first half, as Bedford Town went into the interval with a deserved two goal lead.
Hereford fight back
Likely sent out off the back of a forceful half-time team talk from manager, Paul Caddis, Hereford came out on the attack, seeing an early effort for Andy Williams ruled out for offside, before Wilks was forced to tip an Eno Nto header on to his crossbar.
Bedford’s only effort in the early stages of the second half came from Marsh, who attempted a repeat of his audacious free kick against Telford, only for Richardson to palm it round the post as Hereford continued to pile on the pressure at the other end.
They eventually halved the deficit; a corner was only cleared to the right boot of Lawson D’Ath who powered home a half volley to create a nervy final twenty minutes for those in blue.
Efforts from Junior Gyamfi and substitute, Shaun Jeffers were stamped out, and it would prove to be costly as a goalkeeping error from Wilks gifted Hereford a point with just three minutes remaining.
A deep cross ought to have been collected by the Bedford number one, but he proceeded to drop it at the feet of Montel Gibson who toe-poked it into the net to salvage a point for the home side.
How important those two dropped points could be remains to be seen, but the 2-2 draw means Bedford Town remain in the relegation zone with one win from seven games, two points behind Hereford in 20th.
Bedford Town are back in action at The Eyrie on Saturday (6 September) as they host 14th-placed, Curzon Ashton, who will be confident after beating one of the season’s early form teams in Chorley last night.
