Bedford Town’s dream start to the Southern League Premier Division Central season continues after another sensational afternoon saw them fight back from 2-0 down at league leaders, Stamford to steal a stunning 3-2 victory.
Leon Lobjoit’s second half hat trick again sent Lee Bircham’s men into delirium and secured a fourth straight league victory that sees them top of the table, two points clear of Stratford Town in second.
Bedford Town may have lost 5-1 at home in the FA Trophy last week, but there seems to be no sign of their league form letting up as they sent a shockwave across the division again on Saturday.
The Eagles announced three new signings of the eve of Saturday’s game, but it was a familiar striking force who will be sung by Bedford Town fans as Leon Lobjoit once again came up trumps at key moments.
Bircham’s side were 2-0 down at the break thanks to a double from Stamford’s James Blunden.
His first came via a header from a corner for the hosts and almost ten minutes later, he’d doubled the league leaders’ lead in similar fashion, heading home from a cross after a long throw-in was only half cleared by the Eagles defence.
Most of the travelling Eagles contingent may have been thinking their unbelievable run in the Southern League was coming to an end.
But one man had other ideas.
Star man Lobjoit takes home match ball
A double hammer blow early in the second half set the cat amongst the pigeons.
It was only five minutes into the second half that Bedford Town found a way back into the match as the home defence failed to clear properly and Leon Lobjoit was on hand with the speed of a sniper to steer the ball home and halve the deficit.
A few minutes later, it was 2-2; Lobjoit once again finding space on the right wing and whether he meant to shoot or cross, he didn’t care too much as the ball nestled into the far corner and brought Bedford Town level.
The equaliser seemed to wake Stamford up from their half-time slumber as they created a couple of chances of their own to no avail, while Ryan Blake had a wonderful opportunity late on to claim the winner only for Tom Jackson in the Stamford goal to keep it out.
However, it was left to star man Lobjoit to claim a scintillating winner to seal a remarkable Bedford Town comeback.
It wasn’t the prettiest of goals; Stamford once again failed to clear from a free kick and Lobjoit was on hand to poke it over the line and claim the 3-2 victory that see them leapfrog their opponents to the summit of Southern League Premier Central.
Not many will have expected Bedford Town to be top of the table after 11 fixtures of this new season, but confidence at The Eyrie is sky high, bringing with it a good time feeling to football in Bedford.
Lee Bircham’s men don’t have long before they have to regroup and go again, with a trip to mid-table Banbury on Tuesday night before they’re back at The Eyrie next Saturday (19 October) as they host Barwell.
