Real Bedford threw away a 2-0 lead to eventually draw 2-2 against Barwell on Saturday (11 October), squandering an opportunity to rise into the Southern League Premier Central play-off spots.
Goals from Archie Jones and the in-form, Josh Allen had left Real Bedford 2-0 up and coasting with twenty minutes to spare, before a devastating brace from debutant, Anthony Dywer snatched a point for the visitors.
Real’s league form has picked up after an awkward start to life at step three, winning their last four league games to rise towards the play-off spots, and with confidence high after a dramatic 4-3 midweek win in the County Cup at AFC Dunstable.
Read: Late shows seal Bedford Town and Real Bedford spots in next round of County Cup
With everything heading in the right direction, today’s home game against struggling Barwell was a chance to rubber stamp a good run of form, and it looked to be heading serenely well after Archie Jones opened the scoring after ten minutes.
After a relatively subdued start, the midfielder was on hand to kickstart the encounter; rushing on to a deflected cross from Ben Stevens to power home a header past the helpless Finn Osborn in the Barwell goal.
The majority of the first half chances fell to the feet of amber shirts, with long range efforts for Conor Tee and Jones flying just wide as Real dominated the majority of the ball.
Despite their first half dominance, Real were often restricted to firing from distance, although one of those strikes nearly caught out Osborn in the visiting goal as he dropped one close to his line, although was able to scramble back to save his blushes.
Barwell chances were few and far between. Most of their attacking play came via the left hand channel and Zayn Hakeem, who had by far the best chance of the half for the visitors as he poked a long ball over Tyler McGregor’s crossbar.
Indeed, the brightest part of Barwell’s first half performance were there fluorescent all green kit, as the home side went into the break one goal up and cruising.
Substitute Dwyer changes the game
Real manager, Rob Sinclair was perhaps more animated on the touchline than his usual cool and calm demeanour, and he must have sensed something would go wrong despite his team’s dominance.
It wasn’t long before his team doubled their lead; the ball broke for Stevens on the edge of the area whose shot was half blocked by a flying Freddie Cook, but only falling to the feet of Josh Allen who made no mistake to score his eighth goal in four games.
The chances kept coming for Real, and they would go on to regret not taking a third, as both Stevens and Tee saw efforts fly just over the crossbar, while Hakeem continued to be the sole danger at the other end, following suit with a shot of his own.
A rare indirect free kick on the Barwell six-yard line was blown way over by Jack Morrell, while Stevens had the best chance of the lot in seeing his effort blocked on the line by Cook after Osborn had raced out of his goal.
All of these chances went begging, and Barwell made them pay.
The first Barwell goal came out of nothing; a beautiful through ball from Sam Tomlinson found Dwyer who coolly slotted past McGregor to halve the deficit, but even then, the danger didn’t seem to bother the home side too much.
They were perhaps unlucky to see a third goal – and a second for Allen – disallowed for a push on Barwell’s Aitcha, but that is where their excuses run out after they conceded a soft equaliser on 83 minutes.
A corner found its way to the back post where Dwyer was waiting to smash home an unstoppable volley to restore parity.
Real Bedford pushed for a winner late on, but could not fashion any guilt-edged chances and will have to settle for a point, although they will all see it as two points dropped against an otherwise lacklustre Barwell side.
They are back at the Ledger Stadium in seven days’ time as Royston Town visit, with Tuesday’s tie at AFC Sudbury postponed owing to a floodlight issue at the King’s Marsh Stadium.
