Real Bedford 0 - 0 Tring Athletic

DAN GOULD THE SAVIOUR

After lifting the Herts Charity Shield Trophy on Wednesday night, following an emphatic 4-0 win over old rivals Oxhey Jets, we faced another stiff test when for the second Saturday running we visited McMullen Park to play Real Bedford this time for a crucial League match particularly for our hosts.

The game attracted a record crowd for the Pirates (Real Bedford’s nickname) of 1,031 who came in the hope and possibly expectation that their club would claim the League title for the second year running and gain promotion to the next tier above in the Football pyramid.

However, we turned out to be party poopers by getting a hard earned and well deserved draw whilst MK Irish, the only other challengers, won 2-0 at FC Romania to keep the title race alive. With 2 games left, home to London Lions on Tuesday night and away at Sawbridgeworth Town on Saturday, the Pirates need just 4 points assuming that MK Irish win their last 2 games. Real Bedford have been the best team in the Premier Division and would be this writers hot tip for the title and promotion and we wish them every success for the future which we will watch with great interest.

The lead up to this game was surreal, with the Sun newspaper publishing a headline that the billionaire Winklevoss twins will make a huge investment into Real Bedford with ambitions to reach the Premier League by ploughing in £3.6 million worth of Bitcoin to become joint owners alongside Peter MCCormack.

However, despite the large crowd and huge expectation our players didn’t let this get to them and they produced a superb performance to claim a fully deserved point. The hosts enjoyed a lot of possession but the lads put in a real shift, defended resolutely and created a few opportunities themselves to score on the break.

The crucial moment in the game came in the 87th minute when the Pirates were awarded a penalty but Dan Gould pulled off his 3rd penalty save out of 4 faced this season. Dan has been a superb signing and it’s no coincidence that our form has improved greatly since he took over in goal.

This was an excellent performance by the players against a quality side especially as we were missing key centre backs skipper George Carbery and Dave O'Connor but Ryan Sharkey and Greg Deer, who donned the captains arm band, stood in and did a terrific job.
Also Ryan Sturges and his coaching team deserve great credit for being brave enough to make some big changes to personnel and formation.

We are 6th in the table with 3 games to go starting with a trip to Aylesbury Vale Dynamos on Tuesday night then on Saturday we entertain Baldock Town at the Michael Anthony Stadium.

The lads are flying at the moment so come along and give them the support they deserve.

Team:

TA: Dan Gould, Harry Jones, Adam Sawyer, G Deer (Capt), Ryan Sharkey, Harry Shepherd, Harrison Mead, Eli Hearn, Noah Butler, Frankie Hercules, Max Hercules. Subs: Charlie Bradshaw, Jack Harvey, Ben Kakembo, Luke Peerless, Jonah Howgego.

Crowd: 1,031