It was a typically busy weekend for Bedford Hockey Club, with a full programme of matches across the 14 senior squads on Saturday, and Junior and Masters fixtures on Sunday.
The Men’s 1st XI match against Bishop’s Stortford was more a game of cards than hockey, with Bedford’s spattering of greens and yellows being trumped by the eight cards shown to Stortford, progressing from green, to yellow, to red.
The play itself was end-to-end and concluded in a 2-2 stalemate.
The draw keeps Bedford second in the division, below City of Peterborough. It’s Peterborough that Bedford faces next in their league run, with a Friday fixture on 6 December at Bedford’s Chester Road ground with an 8.15pm push-back.
An Erin Macfarlane goal, in the 53rd minute for the Ladies’ 1st XI, also secured them a 1-1 draw away to Beeston. The squad now take a break from National League action, until play resumes on the 1 February when they host Cambridge City.
Several of the team will be switching from frozen pitches for the fast-paced indoor format of hockey when they participate in the indoor east qualifiers this Sunday (8 December) in Ipswich.
It seems to have been a weekend for draws, with the Ladies’ 3rd XI also frustrated at having to settle for a 2-2 draw against Blueharts.
Blueharts had opened the scoring 23 minutes into the match, only for Bedford to equalise three minutes later. There was no further score until Bedford found the back of the net on 58 minutes.
Whilst Bedford had hoped it would be the winning goal, their wish was short-lived, Blueharts pulling the scores level again with less than ten minutes to play.
It was a 3-3 draw for the Men’s 5th XI, two goals from Tony Gammon having Bedford leading until late in the second half, when Bishop’s Stortford evened the scores.
A goal for Bedford, by Reuben Maddocks, would have ensured the win had Stortford not then also scored their third. Bedford travels away to Southgate Adelaide this coming Saturday, with Southgate yet to win a match this season.
The matches of both the Men’s and Women’s 6th XI’s also closed with stalemates, each ending 2-2; the Ladies’ 6th’s frustrated by a disallowed goal against St Albans in the dying minutes, although the men were delighted to have pulled themselves back from 2-0 down to level with West Herts.
It was an uncharacteristic 4-3 loss for the Ladies’ 2nd XI, missing out on points to Blueharts. A home crowd will hopefully lift Bedford back to winning ways on Saturday when they take on Crostyx.
The Men’s 2nd’s secured a 5-0 victory over Broxbourne, leaving Bedford second in the division, with Broxbourne in fourth.
It was always going to be a tough fixture for the Men’s 3rd XI, in the same division as the 2nd’s, taking on St Albans who are 3rd, Bedford losing 5-1.
There was a win and a loss for the Club’s 4th XI’s; the men lost out 5-1 to top-of-the-table Royston, whilst the women, who are in pole position in their league, took a 3-1 away victory over third place Blueharts.
The women will hope to stretch their lead still further next weekend when they host Royston, who sit just one place up from the bottom of the table.
The Ladies’ 5th XI also now take the top spot in their division, after beating St Albans’ 6th team, 3-0.
It was mixed fortunes for the Club’s development squads, the Ladies’ 7th XI taking the glory, defeating Bishop’s Stortford 5-0, whilst the men fell behind against their MBDA opponents, 3-1.
Sunday was a successful day at Chester Road, at different ends of the age range. The Boys’ Under 16s stepped up against Braintree and took an amazing 8-2 victory.
Also out on the pitch, in front of a home crowd, were the Women’s Over 45’s, playing in their first round of the England Hockey Tier 1 Masters Championship.
Whilst the match was played in great spirit, by both Bedford and Blueharts, most of Blueharts’ attempts to attack were thwarted by a dominant Bedford squad, who took the victory 9-0, which sees them continue to the next round of the Tier 1 playoffs.
In away fixtures, the Girl’s Under 14s travelled away to St Neots, who proved strong opponents, leaving Bedford 5-0 down.
The Men’s Over 45’s headed to Leighton Buzzard for their first-round play-off in the England Hockey Championships and, like their female clubmates, will continue in Tier 1 after their 4-1 victory.
Words by Jean Fitch
Edited by Tom Carr
