There were just a handful of league matches for Bedford Hockey Club at the weekend, catching up on fixtures postponed from the recent inclement weather.
The club now take a break, returning for some post-festivity action with the traditional Boxing Day run-around, when players from Shefford & Sandy link up for some mixed-hockey fun, alongside the annual, inclusive, all-comers match.
The Ladies’ 7th XI travelled to Letchworth and finished their pre-Christmas league run with a fantastic victory with the first goal, by Tilly Sheldon, coming within the first minute followed by a second from Tilly on the 7-minute mark.
There followed a flurry of goals throughout the match, culminating in Sadie da Silva finding the back of the net for goal number seven, as the final whistle approached. The 7-0 scoreline takes the team’s goal tally to 34 this season.
There was also a dominant performance on home turf for the Ladies’ 4th XI.
Goals by Cheryl Harding, Bea Burak, Isla Nicolson and Molly Hawkins, plus two apiece for Alice Brady-White and Emma Evans as well as a player-of-the-match performance by Bedford’s keeper, Sienna Chapman, secured the 8-1 domination over Royston’s 1st XI.
The win holds Bedford at the top of the table, four points ahead of second place Luton.
Not to be outdone by their female clubmates, the Men’s 7th team bagged the points in their match with a 6-0 win over Stevenage; two early goals by Luke Killen opening the scoring.
It was a 6-0 scoreline for the Men’s 3rd XI too, wrapping up the day’s action at Bedford’s Chester Road, with their game against Letchworth.
Stevenage had the home advantage and took the victory in the Ladies’ 3rd XI match; Bedford finishing 2-1 down after Stevenage grabbed two late goals.
There was a Christmas bonus for the Men’s 4th XI, stepping out on Sunday morning for their rearranged fixture against Southgate Adelaide. Bedford were jubilant with their 4-2 victory, only their second win of the season so far, lifting them from the bottom of the table.
Sunday also saw action for the Women’s Over 55s, in the England Hockey Tier 1 Championship.
The team had moved on to the second round play off after beating Harleston Magpies a few weeks previously, but knew this round would be a challenge, facing up to last season’s Tier 1 champions, Kettering.
Despite putting up an admirable fight, and Bedford scoring two very well worked goals, Kettering took a 4-2 win. The defeat for Bedford now sees them move into the plate competition, where they will be looking to better their silver medal finish of last season.
Following Bedford’s Men’s and Women’s indoor squads’ successes in the earlier rounds, reaching the semi-final stages of their East Area Indoor Championships, they were also back performing on Sunday in Ipswich.
Whilst each lost out on the chance to fight it out for gold, after the men fell to Cambridge University and the women to St Albans, both Bedford squads headed into their respective bronze medal matches.
The men had a close-fought battle with Harleston Magpies, the 9-7 Bedford victory clinching them the third-place spot.
The women had a thrilling match against Cambridge University, which saw Bedford pull back to 5-5 from 5-2 down in the final minute. The stalemate took the match to a penalty shoot-out, with Bedford grabbing the bronze medal via the excitement of penalty shuffles.
Words by Jean Fitch
