An 87th-minute winner courtesy of Harborough Town captain, Ben Williams meant that Bedford Town left Leicestershire this Saturday afternoon with nothing as they fell to a second league defeat of the season.
An early second-half strike from Bees forward Ben Stephens broke the deadlock before the Eagles’ ever-dependable wide man, Ryan Blake restored parity with 20 minutes to go.
Williams then dispatched a teasing set-piece delivery from Connor Kennedy to secure a 2-1 win and leapfrog Bedford in the Southern Premier Division Central table.
Before today’s clash at the Bee Hive, Harborough Town hadn’t won a game since their playoff victory in the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands back in May, despite not conceding more than one goal in each of their opening three league games.
A brief migration away from the Eyrie hasn’t proved to be too much of a hindrance for the Eagles with a respectable four points from their first three matches.
They have carried an air of assuredness in their opening games, marked by a 4-1 drubbing of Halesowen last weekend.
No Leon Lobjoit meant a return to the starting eleven for Connor Tomlinson who within a minute had set up Rob Hall for a shot on goal, but unfortunately the effort was underwhelmingly tame and straight at Elliot Taylor in goal.
Goalless first half
The pristine turf combined with a few brief bouts of spitting rain was causing the ball to skid with pace when played along the ground.
It was the Bees who used this to their advantage most effectively when Robinson played a slide-rule pass to release Kai Tonge one-on-one against the deceptively large frame of Bosworth.
The Eagles’ number one smothered the shot convincingly but it was certainly a warning sign for the Bedford defence who had been caught high and dry on that occasion.
Harborough would continue to mount pressure on the Bedford goal, but were denied a breakthrough by the razor-sharp reflexes of Bosworth who saved goal bound efforts from both Ben Stephens and Kai Tonge in the last ten minutes of the half.
A penalty claim for Bedford waved away by the referee on the stroke of half-time frustrated the away contingent behind the goal, building up quite the atmosphere as the players walked back towards the changing rooms for a half-time strategy session.
Despite all the noise and excitement, the half-time score was 0-0 and neither team had yet to truly stake their claim on proceedings.
That changed from the first whistle of the second forty five, as Harborough Town came out a reinvigorated team that looked capable of putting the Eagles to the sword.
Regrettably, for Bircham’s men, It took the Bees seven minutes to do just that.
A cross from the left flank picked out Stephens in the middle expertly who buried the opportunity on the half-volley to grab his third goal in as many games for the Bees and more importantly, put his side in pole position for their first league win of the season.
Blake’s goalscoring form continues
Conceding early in a half of football is always a tough pill to swallow, but for the Eagles, it seemed to serve as motivation.
In the ten minutes following the goal, Bedford increased their tempo, looking to exploit what was an undeniably firm Harborough backline with the pace of Blake and Tomlinson.
Unsurprisingly, it was those two that combined to conjure up the equalizer.
It came when Tomlinson had drifted out onto the right in search of the ball and some space to operate in. He received the ball in his path from Boorn and charged down the wing, spotting the central run of Blake.
He slipped it in for the winger who quenched his voracious thirst for goals with an emphatic strike into the bottom left corner.
From that point on, it looked for all the world as if Bedford Town would at the very least hold on to the draw, even though a few contentious refereeing decisions had gone against them.
This would not be the case, as it turned out that the Bees had a late sting in their tail.
The home side had earnt themselves a free-kick 25 yards from goal, and over it was Connor Kennedy. He whipped it invitingly into the box, towards a sea of fluorescent yellow shirts flying towards goal.
Substitute, Tendai Daire got a touch on it at the back post before Captain Ben Williams tapped in from close range to snatch all three points for Harborough just three minutes from time.
It confirmed a second loss of the season for the Eagles; this one far more cruel than their 1-0 away defeat to Spalding United on matchday one.
They’ll be hoping to level things out with a second victory of the season against Bishop’s Stortford on Bank Holiday Monday, played at Hitchin Town’s Top Field as work on The Eyrie ground continues at pace.
On the last day of the month, the Eagles are in FA Cup action away to Royston Town, a team they have already played and drawn with in the league this season.
