Title: Bedford Town 0 Bashley 2 League: BGB Southern Football League Premier Division Kick Off Date: Saturday 18th April 2009 Kick Off Time: 3pm Report by: Roger Worsley
Bedford's home form has been a major factor in stabilizing the club this season after the previous two campaigns have seen relegation from the Conference South and reprieve in The Southern League after finishing in the bottom four.
Unfortunately, in the last match of season played at the Eyrie, the Eagles didn't produce the form that has helped them to hit the fifty-point mark, losing through a goal in each half to Bashley. Just before the match, Stuart Wall was presented with the Supporters Club Player Of The Season trophy, narrowly beating some of his team-mates in what was to prove a strong bout of voting. Lee Howarth had one change to the side that lost to Cambridge City on Easter Monday, with Rob Miller coming in for the unavailable Jonathan Woolf. With the weather hopefully giving everyone a taste of what summer has to offer, the visitors nearly took the lead just two minutes into the game when Ryan Moss' header from close range was saved by Mike Armitt. Bedford had the ball in the back of the net a couple of minutes later, but much to the relief of Bashley ‘keeper, David Elm, the linesman had flagged for offside. Elm totally fumbled a Craig Daniel cross allowing Jamie Gould to nip in and ‘score'. This was to be Elm's only mistake of the match. In the tenth minute he redeemed himself when Callum Lewis chested down a Gould cross, before firing a half-volley that the Bashley guardian saved instinctively. With the sun beating down and a definite feel of the end of season, there wasn't another noteworthy moment until the half-hour, when Ian Draycott's controlled shot was beaten away by Elm and half-cleared by Matt Parnell. Tony Battersby and Graham Clark provided the back-up, but were unable to find a way through the Bashley defence. The visitors took the lead right on the stroke of half time when Chris Knowles collected the ball thirty yards from the Bedford goal. Knowles tried his luck and the ball flew over Armitt and into the top right hand portion of the net. The 2nd half didn't fare much better than the 1st, although four minutes in, Clark's cross from the right grazed the bar, but no one was in attendance to sweep up and play the ball back in. Bedford kept up the early pressure and Lewis' low cross from the right stranded Elm with no Bedford player in the danger area to tap the ball in. Play deteriorated rapidly with the occasional pot-shot from either side that posed no trouble whatsoever. On seventy-one minutes, Armitt had to dive low to his left to deny an Adam Kelly effort from the edge of the area. Two minutes later and Bashley had doubled the lead. Richard Gillespie latched onto a pass from the right flank, and on the right hand corner of the Bedford area, unleashed a shot that, despite the best efforts of Armitt to deflect the ball, was destined to hit the back of the net. The Eagles were unable to reply instantly and their only real chance came with three minutes of the game remaining when Elm cut out a Clark cross before substitutes, Stacey Field and Ashley Deverell could pounce. Bedford's last match of the season is at Mangotsfield on Saturday 25th April and it will be the last chance for the side to record a double for this season. Graham Clark will miss this game due to the one match suspension he earned for the red card against Tiverton.
Line-ups:- Bedford Town: 1 Mike Armitt 2 Graham Clark 3 Eddie Lawley (c) 4 Rob Miller 5 Jon Darby 6 Stuart Wall 7 Craig Daniel 8 Callum Lewis 9 Tony Battersby 10 Ian Draycott 11 Jamie Gould Subs: 12 Ashley Deverell (on for Daniel 78) 14 Steve Jackman 15 Stacey Field (on for Battersby 86) 16 Michael Ewang 17 Michael Kavanagh
Bashley: 1 David Elm 2 Paul Gazzard (c) 3 Chris Ferrett 4 Matt Finlay 5 Matt Parnell 6 Chris Knowles 7 Adam Kelly 8 Dave Allen 9 Ryan Moss 10 Richard Gillespie 11 Charlie Knight Subs: 12 Alex McCarthy (on for Knight 73) 13 Steve Hollick 14 Pete Castle 15 Justin Keeler 16 Steve Riley (on for Allen 83)
Goals:- Bashley: Chris Knowles 45, Richard Gillespie 73
Yellow Cards:- Bashley: Ryan Moss 59, Charlie Knight 62, Dave Allen 79