Bedford Town capped off their calendar year in formidable fashion with an imperious 3-1 victory against fellow promotion-contending heavyweights, Halesowen Town on Saturday (28 December).
Eddie Panter’s second half double was enough to see the Eagles home, and with half of their league games now completed, Bedford Town now sit fourth in Southern League Premier Central.
The only promoted side at step three who are better off than the Eagles at this stage in the season are Cray Valley Paper Mills in the Isthmian Premier Division.
Having dealt the Yeltz a 4-1 defeat at the Grove in West Birmingham earlier in the season, Bircham’s side would have been defiantly sanguine in the build-up to this match, not focusing too heavily on their opponent’s rather impressive league position of second.
The visitors’ form coming into this weekend has been below standard, with two losses and a draw in their previous five, leaving them four points adrift of high-flyers, Kettering Town.
Bedford on the other hand had won their last three in the league before this one, scoring nine goals in the process.
Eagles start fast
Despite bringing a boisterous and well-populated away contingent, Halesowen were unable to stop an early bolt from the Bedford blue, courtesy of captain, Ryan Blake.
With less than three minutes played at the Eyrie, a free-kick from Elliot Simmons was cleared by Halesowen only as far as Blake, whose effort took a sizable deflection to wrong-foot Daniel Platt and give the Eagles an early lead.
Halesowen looked to hit back with immediate effect, and had it not been for the heroics of Adam Harrison to deny Conor Tee, Jamie Willets and the division’s top scorer, Keiren Donnelly all in the space of five minutes, the equaliser would most certainly have arrived.
However, Bedford were unable to weather the continuous torrent of Halesowen attacks, eventually conceding a penalty with just ten minutes remaining until half-time.
As well as Harrison had been playing, Tee dispatched from the spot, lashing it into the top left corner.
Panter makes his mark
One attacking spark in Bedford’s tentative and defensive first half display was Ed Panter, a player brought in as a result of Bedford’s exigency for goals following the departure of James Clifton.
He was doggedly determined in his press and earned the Eagles a number of free-kicks in valuable areas in the first half. During the second, he would come to reap meaningful rewards for his efforts, and in quite some style.
The beginning of Halesowen’s demise came just seven minutes into the second half.
Following a rather even start to proceedings, Musa Ceesay was sent off as a result of a second booking dished out to him by the referee for a foul on Panter.
The emphasis was now on the Eagles to find a winner against their 10-man opposition, and it was Panter who popped up to deliver.
Following a cross from the left flank, a blocked shot from Leon Lobjoit bounced up perfectly on the edge of the box for Panter who rifled it in on the volley past Platt to send the adjacent home fans into pandemonium.
A superb first goal for the Eagles for Panter was quickly followed by an even sweeter second just seven minutes later. With fatigue setting in for the outnumbered trailing visitors, Bedford’s new number nine could sense another.
This time Panter was rather foolishly invited to shoot by the visitors’ retreating defence, and high on confidence as he was, he fired his shot venomously into the top right postage stamp from 20 yards, setting his seal on what was now sure to be a Bedford Town victory.
While the travelling fans remained in good voice until the final whistle, Halesowen really had little to shout about for the remainder of the match, clearly unable to cope with the dominance imposed upon them by Bedford following Ceesay’s dismissal.
The 3-1 win is Bedford Town’s 11th in the league this season, and while Kettering Town look to be heavy favourites for the league title, the growing whispers of securing a play-off spot grow louder at The Eyrie.
A foray into Hertfordshire beckons next as Bedford take on Bishop’s Stortford on New Year’s Day; a side they’ve already beaten in the league this season.
A win could see them rise to second in what is becoming quite the season for Lee Bircham and his team.
