Bedford FC

[Rhodes]

A quick turn around for Rob Sinclair's men, following the 1-0 win at Flackwell Heath on Saturday, with another Southern League Division One Central fixture at mid table Enfield FC tomorrow evening and at Hertingfordbury Park, a 3g surface where Real Bedford have already won this season just over a week ago against Hertford Town:

Edited November 3 by Rhodes

[LondonEagle]

Bedford Town through to last 8 of Beds Senior Cup.

Beds FA have said that the QF draw will take place after the remaining games next week, although confused as thought Rhodes had already posted Town and Real's opponents?

Let's hope the derby game is a semi-final or Final, anyway?

[Rhodes]

On 29/10/2024 at 14:44, Rhodes said:

A quick turn around for Rob Sinclair's men, following the 1-0 win at Flackwell Heath on Saturday, with another Southern League Division One Central fixture at mid table Enfield FC tomorrow evening and at Hertingfordbury Park, a 3g surface where Real Bedford have already won this season just over a week ago against Hertford Town

How do we see this evening's fixture panning out at Hertingfordbury Park for Rob Sinclair's men:

Edited November 3 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

2 hours ago, LondonEagle said:

Bedford Town through to last 8 of Beds Senior Cup.
Beds FA have said that the QF draw will take place after the remaining games next week, although confused as thought Rhodes had already posted Town and Real's opponents?
Let's hope the derby game is a semi-final or Final, anyway?

LondonEagle - Yes, I'm also 'confused of Tunbridge Wells' as according to the link below the draws for the Bedfordshire FA Senior Cup, up until the Final, have already been made with Real Bedford and Bedford Town destined to meet in a Semi Final at the Ledger Stadium. Congratulations on the First Round win at Biggleswade Town last night, albeit by the skin of the Club's teeth, on penalties:

https://fulltime.thefa.com/competition.html;jsessionid=1F632E9B9BEC726170D3B85D0523F64B?selectedSeason=791957193&selectedFixtureGroupAgeGroup=0&selectedDivision=0&selectedCompetition=967160429&ftsCompetitionPageContent.selectedFeatureCode=1_265905841

[LondonEagle]

They seem to have changed the link now and therefore it will be an open draw i assume. They did the same last seasson.

[Rhodes]

On 30/10/2024 at 13:21, Rhodes said:

How do we see this evening's fixture panning out at Hertingfordbury Park for Rob Sinclair's men

What can you say folks, roll on 1931/32 😉. See a match report and local press coverage of last night's victory at Enfield FC putting Real Bedford top of the Southern League Division One Central:

https://www.realbedford.com/news/real-bedfords-second-half-seals-3-1-comeback-win-over-enfield

https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/real-bedford-come-from-a-goal-down-to-win-at-enfield-and-go-top/

Edited October 31 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

An interesting and lengthy recent Podcast with, who else, Peter McCormack and his name sake, Peter St Onge, an economist by trade from the Heritage Foundation in the United States and who was a Fellow at the highly regarded Mises Institute based in Auburn, Alabama. St Onge was born and bred in Philadelphia and lived as a child in West Germany and Japan, he has since lived in Mexico, Brazil, Canada and Taiwan and speaks fluent Spanish, French, Japanese and is conversational in Mandarin. In other words these are the sort of people Mr McCormack is rubbing shoulders with, what is Bedford Town Chairman Adrian Brown doing in comparison to promote his Club and the town of Bedford:

Edited October 31 by Rhodes

[RallyInRaleigh]

A nice comeback win yesterday. Nervy to be trailing well into the second half but the boys keep finding a way. Just a mere 86 points away from promotion 😆

[Rhodes]

Let's get ready to rumble then for tomorrow's Southern League Division One Central fixture with lowly Kidlington FC at the Ledger Stadium which will be live streamed:

https://www.realbedford.com/real-bedford-v-kidlington

Edited November 1 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Real Bedford Ladies are left 'high and dry' tomorrow (3 November) afternoon and kicking their heels with no Sunday fixture however thoroughly deserve a well earned rest following a busy schedule of late and good results against Moneyfields Ladies and Chesham United Ladies, amassing seventeen goals in those two games, since their shock FA Cup Third Qualifying Round defeat at Cambridge United Ladies last month which nobody, least of all the Ladies and boss Charlie Bill, can still explain and should have been playing in the First Round of the competition tomorrow.

[Rhodes]

On 31/10/2024 at 10:29, Rhodes said:

What can you say folks, roll on 1931/32 😉. See a match report and local press coverage of last night's victory at Enfield FC putting Real Bedford top of the Southern League Division One Central:

https://www.realbedford.com/news/real-bedfords-second-half-seals-3-1-comeback-win-over-enfield

https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/real-bedford-come-from-a-goal-down-to-win-at-enfield-and-go-top/

A groundhopper from another Forum was at Enfield FC last Wednesday and gives an interesting and extensive summary of the proceedings, praising Rob Sinclair and his men:

Enfield 1 v 3 Real Bedford - Southern League Division 1 Midland.
Programme 36 pages £3.00 - Admission £10.00 (nc) - Att. 153.
A question of persistence for the visitors who controlled proceedings for all but the opening minutes but took an hour before they levelled after conceding in the opening minutes. What was most impressive about the visitors approach was their ability to subtly adapt their play after a first half where their constant short overly patient passing led them up an ever increasing arrays of attacking dead ends. The assumption was made that the decision was made at the interval to still constantly pass and pass and pass but there was more urgency about the visitors play and there were more risks taken rather than an overriding need to keep possession.
What was almost certainly not on the visitors agenda was to fall behind so early with a goal which showed a notable lack of marking with Jack Taylor sending over a corner from the right and Matt Hurley was afforded an amount of space to head past Tyler McGregor that you rarely associate with a team that has only conceded five goals in their opening ten league games.
Regrettably, for Enfield this was about as good as it got as the visitors quickly gained an advantage, though their approach of constant short passes, running off the ball and trying to find space was quite ineffective over the course of the first half due to close defensive marking from the likes of Hurley, J Taylor and Ben Wyss and when the home defence was breached then George Edgeworth was on hand to block and parry as was the case denying Joey Evans from close range. Perhaps there was a first half over reliance on crosses in from the right supplied by the highly impressive Joshua Setchell and to a lesser extent Eniola Agemoh-Davies which were frequently charged down or cleared and from observation it was all rather frustrating with the impression being obtained that there was a reluctance to attempt anything that was not contained in their textbook that governed their adopted style of play.
Very occasionally there was a more probing longer pass forward but throughout the first half there was a distinct lack of space available to the visitors and although it was never a simple task, Enfield held onto their first half advantage.
The adoption of a slightly more expansive style of play was an astute move by the visitors though it did take time to take effect as their attacking frustrations continued with a cross from Agemoh-Davies where he had plentiful space on the left sent straight into the side netting and a vociferous call for a penalty when Setchell went to ground being waved away by the Referee. What was an imperative for Real Bedford was the need to be patient and their perseverance finally paid when Setchell delivered what appeared to be his one hundred and fifty third cross of the evening of the right and the stretching J Taylor directed his attempted clearance powerfully past his own keeper. Harsh on Enfield in view of their stubborn defending but completely deserved from the visitors perspective.
After levelling gaps started to appear in the home defence with them being caught upfield which led to a rare example of a quick break from Real Bedford, which was not fully capitalised upon as Setchell shot straight at Edgeworth. With a quarter of an hour remaining Real Bedford finally took the lead with a further low cross from Setchell leading to a further miscue of an attempted clearance from J Taylor which flew high into the air. Evans and Edgeworth challenged for the descending ball and although there were hints that the Enfield keeper was impeded, Evans' header over the line from close range was adjudged to be perfectly legal.
After Archie Jones squandered a clear chance for the visitors in the final minutes sending a shot way over the perimeter fence, the win for Real Bedford was assured when the low cross from Setchell was met by a perfectly struck and directed first time shot from Ben Stevens that beat Edgeworth for pace and accuracy. Highly impressive second half display from the visitors who ascend to the top of the evolving SL1C table over Hadley and on this type of performance give the impression that they will be very difficult to dislodge.
If the memory serves correctly, this is the first occasion that Enfield have shared Hertingfordbury Park after their previous groundshare at Bishop's Stortford. A Club that gives the impression that they are gradually declining into oblivion with the same people running the Club who were involved in the acrimonious split with Enfield Town over twenty years ago, no noticeable new support as anyone interested in and around Enfield would surely watch Enfield Town. It would be fair to say that half of the crowd was supporting the visitors, though two of the more vocal Real Bedford supporters were of a certain age and gave the impression that they held little interest in bitcoin/blockchain or any other obscure types of alternative currencies.
Arrived into Hertford slightly earlier than expected with a view to partaking a couple of pints in the Six Templars (JDW) but as was the case in Bury St Edmunds at the weekend the ale selection was poor, though decided to persist. The regret was obvious with the Ghostship from Adnams (a brewery whose ales are drunk at best infrequently) being rather unpleasant. At least it was £1.79 cheap and it was possible to make a pint last an hour, basically due to the fact that the other available ales were even less appealing.
The presence of a far less important CC match at White Hart Lane did make for a much busier journey once the hordes embarked at Northumberland Park, though it was not uncomfortable. In fact all of the connections ran without difficulty though the screeches of the inebriated femmes attempting karaoke on the c2c service back to Grays was at best grating. The cacophony reminded of mating foxes or the less tuneful moments of Throbbing Gristle. Indoors at two minutes to midnight.

Edited November 2 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

On 01/11/2024 at 17:29, Rhodes said:

Let's get ready to rumble then for tomorrow's Southern League Division One Central fixture with lowly Kidlington FC at the Ledger Stadium which will be live streamed

Another emphatic victory this afternoon for Rob Sinclair's men to extend the Club's lead at the summit of the Southern League Division One Central table. I trust overseas fans enjoyed the live stream.

[Rhodes]

On 02/11/2024 at 18:46, Rhodes said:

Another emphatic victory this afternoon for Rob Sinclair's men to extend the Club's lead at the summit of the Southern League Division One Central table. I trust overseas fans enjoyed the live stream

Some flesh, or is it meat, on the bones from Saturday's 5-1 win over Kidlington FC at the Ledger Stadium in front of a reasonable attendance of 272 considering the visitors aren't that well supported and with a match going on 'next door' at The Eyrie. The goals came from Ben Stevens, Tom Hitchcock, Lee Watkins and a clinical brace from Jack Morrell, boss Rob Sinclair will have no doubt been unhappy with the soft, and un-necessary, goal his men conceded right at the death from the penalty spot however it's extremely unlikely the Championship will be decided by goal difference come the end of April with Real Bedford scoring goals for fun each week:

https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/five-star-real-bedford-see-off-kidlington-to-extend-lead-at-the-top/

Edited November 4 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

In addition a groundhopper from another Forum was at the Ledger Stadium on Saturday and gives an interesting account of his visit as well as his thoughts on Step 3 groundgrading for next season which Mr McCormack will need to have in place by the end of March next year:

Real Bedford 5-1 Kidlington, Southern 1 Central, McMullen Park
Adm. £6 (conc), Programmes available. Att. 272
Had originally looked at doing this ground a couple of weeks ago but York City being the visitors next door put us off. Biggleswade were at home yesterday to Thame United so a much smaller total crowd for the limited parking to cope with. This completed the Division for me.
The rise of Real Bedford has been pretty well documented, having gained promotion from Step 5 last season they are well poised to do likewise from Step 4 to 3. The side have a number of players who I guess have played at higher levels, a couple in particular stood out. The team as a whole played the ball around very well.
Kidlington did well early on and held their own but once the first goal went in (24th min) the remainder was quite predictable, a second from a free kick corner and a third from a corner right on half time put the game to bed. Kidlington had their best spell early on in the second half and spurned 3 good chances to score, a couple of very good saves as well it must be said.
Despite this always had the impression that RB could step up a gear, they added 2 more before Kidlington scored a stoppage time consolation soft penalty.
As you enter the ground from the driveway there is a Clubhouse/tea area/Club shop on the right hand side (changing rooms at the rear of this) and followed by a food outlets and several beer “kiosks”. I had seen there was a mini festival there today.
On the nearside is a small stand and next to that another “stand” with wooden benches, very few seats in total. On the far side is a small bit of cover right at one end, walking right around on that side was interrupted by tape either side of the gantry holding the cameras which were used to live stream the match. Flat standing around the remainder.
I’ve got a bit lost as to the rules for ground grading but cannot see any chance whatsoever of this being ready for step 3 by the end of March (if that is what’s required), indeed could not see any obvious signs of development, unlike for example at Milton Keynes Irish a couple of weeks ago.

Edited November 4 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Here we go folks, highlights of the live stream from Saturday's 5-1 'cake walk' over Kidlington FC at the Ledger Stadium, the hallowed turf is looking amazing isn't it considering all the rain it has had to endure over the last six week's or so. Also see the Club's match report and the amazing 32 page match programme that would do Premier League Club's proud:

https://www.realbedford.com/news/real-bedfords-dominant-display-secures-5-1-victory-over-kidlington

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/619758344d16e93725c39d0a/t/6727b3385d817503e88058b2/1730655050768/%2355+v+Kidlington-compressed.pdf

Edited November 5 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Check out these amazing back packs now available from the Club shop or on-line, try not to all rush at once however they are bound to fly off the shelves particularly at the 'bargain basement' price of just £20, that's giving them away:

https://shop.realbedford.com/

[RallyInRaleigh]

11 hours ago, Rhodes said:

In addition a groundhopper from another Forum was at the Ledger Stadium on Saturday and gives an interesting account of his visit as well as his thoughts on Step 3 groundgrading for next season which Mr McCormack will need to have in place by the end of March next year:

Real Bedford 5-1 Kidlington, Southern 1 Central, McMullen Park
Adm. £6 (conc), Programmes available. Att. 272
Had originally looked at doing this ground a couple of weeks ago but York City being the visitors next door put us off. Biggleswade were at home yesterday to Thame United so a much smaller total crowd for the limited parking to cope with. This completed the Division for me.
The rise of Real Bedford has been pretty well documented, having gained promotion from Step 5 last season they are well poised to do likewise from Step 4 to 3. The side have a number of players who I guess have played at higher levels, a couple in particular stood out. The team as a whole played the ball around very well.
Kidlington did well early on and held their own but once the first goal went in (24th min) the remainder was quite predictable, a second from a free kick corner and a third from a corner right on half time put the game to bed. Kidlington had their best spell early on in the second half and spurned 3 good chances to score, a couple of very good saves as well it must be said.
Despite this always had the impression that RB could step up a gear, they added 2 more before Kidlington scored a stoppage time consolation soft penalty.
As you enter the ground from the driveway there is a Clubhouse/tea area/Club shop on the right hand side (changing rooms at the rear of this) and followed by a food outlets and several beer “kiosks”. I had seen there was a mini festival there today.
On the nearside is a small stand and next to that another “stand” with wooden benches, very few seats in total. On the far side is a small bit of cover right at one end, walking right around on that side was interrupted by tape either side of the gantry holding the cameras which were used to live stream the match. Flat standing around the remainder.
I’ve got a bit lost as to the rules for ground grading but cannot see any chance whatsoever of this being ready for step 3 by the end of March (if that is what’s required), indeed could not see any obvious signs of development, unlike for example at Milton Keynes Irish a couple of weeks ago.

I won't pretend to know all of the updates that need done at the grounds between now and a potential promotion next year. I'm sure it's a huge pain point for Peter and the rest of the club management having the distress with the grounds situation and Bedford Town and the city. However, I have a hard time imagining Peter lets a promotion go to waste when money can be a bandaid to cover up small changes until they have a more permanent ground situation pinned down.

[Rhodes]

12 hours ago, RallyInRaleigh said:

I won't pretend to know all of the updates that need done at the grounds between now and a potential promotion next year. I'm sure it's a huge pain point for Peter and the rest of the club management having the distress with the grounds situation and Bedford Town and the city. However, I have a hard time imagining Peter lets a promotion go to waste when money can be a bandaid to cover up small changes until they have a more permanent ground situation pinned down.

RallyInRaleigh - So where is your vote going today then, I assume 'the Donald' 😉. The link below may be helpful, the Club have five months to 'get their house in order' in time for next season and the Southern League Premier Division Central, Mr McCormack has been known to leave things until the last minute due to his busy schedule and, as the groundhopper suggested, there would appear to be a fair bit of work to do at the stadium especially on the far side where the streaming gantry is currently situated and also installing the required number of seating for Step 3 football:

https://www.groundgrading.co.uk/nls230b3c4a

Edited November 5 by Rhodes

[LondonEagle]

17 hours ago, RallyInRaleigh said:

I won't pretend to know all of the updates that need done at the grounds between now and a potential promotion next year. I'm sure it's a huge pain point for Peter and the rest of the club management having the distress with the grounds situation and Bedford Town and the city. However, I have a hard time imagining Peter lets a promotion go to waste when money can be a bandaid to cover up small changes until they have a more permanent ground situation pinned down.

Rally, i think the original reporter was confused.

You only have to get ground up-to-speed the March FOLLOWING PROMOTION. This coming March it has got to get a Step 4 grading (the league they are currently in) and the following March (2026), it would have to get a Step 3 grading and so on - if they are promoted each year, that is.

If it isn't ready by March (I'm sure it will be in RB's case,) not only would a club be denied any promotion I believe, but would be relegated to the league below. I doubt there is any chance of this happening in RB's caxe, just explaining the rules.

Edited November 5 by LondonEagle

[RallyInRaleigh]

25 minutes ago, LondonEagle said:

Rally, i think the original reporter was confused.

You only have to get ground up-to-speed the March FOLLOWING PROMOTION. This coming March it has got to get a Step 4 grading the league they are currently in and the following March (2026), it would have to get a Step 3 grading and so on - if they are promoted each year, that is.

If it isn't ready by March (I'm sure it will be in RB's case,) not only would a club be denied any promotion I believe, but would be relegated to the league below. I doubt there is any chance of this happening in RB's caxe, just explaining the rules.

Good to know--always happy to learn a bit more. For a club dead set on promotions and aspiring to league football, I just can't imagine a world where they let the grading regulations which are clear cut be a deterrent. I do think they are incentivized to do the bare minimum, at present, however, until they have a more permanent ground secured. Why invest beyond the minimum if it's unlikely to be your permanent residence and it's sufficient for what you need right now. Efforts are better spent on the product impacting performance than the grounds when the grounds almost assuredly will need to change. 

5 hours ago, Rhodes said:

RallyInRaleigh - So where is your vote going today then, I assume 'the Donald' 😉. The link below may be helpful, the Club have five months to 'get their house in order' in time for next season and the Southern League Premier Division Central, Mr McCormack has been known to leave things until the last minute due to his busy schedule and, as the groundhopper suggested, there would appear to be a fair bit of work to do at the stadium especially on the far side where the streaming gantry is currently situated and also installing the required number of seating for Step 3 football:

https://www.groundgrading.co.uk/nls230b3c4a

It's going to be damn close, isn't it?! I haven't voted for the Donald either of the last two times and I'm not particularly enthused that he's the leader of the conservative party still. That said, he did get my vote this time around. Kamala just being installed after the democratic party pretended Biden was mentally competent until it was inconvenient for them to keep up the charade really bothers me. Americans don't agree on much but I HIGHLY value the ability to choose and I can't support that move. All that's left now is to drink and watch the tv talking heads paint maps all night!