Real Bedford’s Women must wait until at least 13 April to claim the Women’s National League Division One South East title after being held to a 0-0 stalemate at AFC Sudbury on Sunday (30 March).
Charlie Bill’s side are still unbeaten in the division after 20 games, securing 13 wins and 7 draws and sit five points ahead of chasing Norwich City with just two games remaining, but were denied a win on Sunday thanks to the heroics of the opposition goalkeeper.
Four of their seven draws in the league have been 0-0 deadlocks, and despite numerous chances in the first half, Real couldn’t find a way past player-of-the-match, Nina Meollo in the Sudbury goal at the Mel Group Stadium.
Abbie Bensted was the main beneficiary of the chances, but was kept out repeatedly by Meollo while Layla O’Brien and Breon Grant shots were straight at the Sudbury shot stopper.
The latter also spurned a great opportunity late into the first half when through on goal, and when the Real strike force did beat Meollo, they were denied by the woodwork.
Sudbury however were the closest to scoring in the first period; Jade Barrett’s header and her follow-up were cleared off the line as both teams had chances to go in front.
The barrage continued into the second half, Meollo called into action to once again deny Grant, while O’Brien had two efforts acrobatically tipped over the crossbar in what was an inspired performance from Meollo.
When Amber Gaylor was sent to the sin-bin in the ninth minute of added on time, Real Bedford were on the cusp of having to accept that Sunday was not their day, and will have to wait a fortnight to potentially get their hands on back-to-back league titles.
“Fair play to Sudbury”
Manager, Charlie Bill was fairly relaxed about his side’s performance despite not being able to find a way through.
“It was frustrating in the end”, said Bill.
“We couldn’t have created more moments and not scored, and we hit the post a few times.
“No team is going to let us win the title and the opposition will always up their game, and that’s what Sudbury did today so fair play to them. They showed a real determination to keep the ball out, and their keeper was superb; she pulled off four or five unbelievable stops.
“The key message is that we’ve gone a further point clear, and now we’re five ahead with two games to go. We’ve got a nice week off ahead of the game against [London] Seaward, hopefully in front of a good crowd and get the job done at home.”
That game, against the division’s bottom side in Seaward, takes place on Sunday 13 April and sets up what could be a unique weekend at the Ledger Stadium.
The men are nine points clear in their own division, and should they and Berkhamsted win this coming Saturday 5 April, it could mean the men are in a position to win the league at home on Saturday 12 April against Kings Langley.
Read: Real Bedford rout Beaconsfield to get one hand on Southern League trophy
With the club’s wealthy investors American investors in the Winklevoss twins also in town that weekend, the stage looks set for another successful ending to another Real Bedford campaign.
