Walnuts crack as Eagles soar

The match began with both teams feeling each other out, Nathan Tshikuna, Jamaine Ivy and Bedford’s David Manu all had early half chances. But it was in the twentieth minute that Balogun put a deep cross into the Rovers box, forcing Hateley Mercer to put the ball behind for a corner with Manu lurking. From the resulting corner, Rovers failed to clear their lines and the lively Grant put the ball back into the box. McKenzie-Lowe received the ball to feet and was allowed to turn and shoot low into the net. Less than a minute later, a slip in the Rovers back line gifted a one on one chance to Brad Woods-Garness and the well travelled forward had composure enough to take the ball around Martin Conway and slip into the empty net to double the lead. On the half hour; a poor back header was seized upon by Grant and he punished Kempston further by adding the third with a low shot. It could’ve got even worse for Rovers as Woods-Garness was denied by the feet of Conway when clean through. Kyal McNulty was cautioned late on in the half for a late challenge.

Kempston made a triple change at the break, withdrawing Mercer, Boland and Ivy to introduce Shepherd, Johnson and Lewis. This meant a slight re-shuffle of personnel and saw captain Ash Fuller, making his 150th appearance for Rovers, drop in at full back. Five minutes into the half, Jake Newman was shown a yellow card for needless getting involved with the Bedford keeper, who was trying to delay the taking of a corner. Newman and Johnson would have half chances before the best effort of the evening so far for Rovers saw Robbie Goodman head a corner straight at Forster in the Town goal. Luke Heneghan went into a robust 50-50 challenge with Paul Cooper and appeared to have won the ball, but a free kick and caution were awarded as the challenge was deemed to have been dangerous. With ten minutes to go, Bedford heaped more misery on Kempston as Dylan Gittens was allowed to run from a right sided midfield starting point all the way into the area to score Bedford’s fourth. Kempston did register on the score sheet, in the eighty second minute. A forward ball from Sam Johnson into Newman, who laid it off for Heneghan. The attacker, took the ball inside and unleashed a rocket of a shot from outside of the box and into the top corner of the goal. The four goal advantage was quickly restored, however, as a long ball over the top to Manu saw the forward hold off his marker easily and slot the ball home for five one. Ben Shepherd was booked late on for a cheap foul as the game petered out.

By the time the final whistle had gone, most Rovers fans had long since left the ground on the long journey home. Quite rightly the Bedford Town players were roundly applauded from the field by the majority of the 311 crowd. Rovers are now without a game for ten days, having been eliminated from the FA Trophy already, so a very detailed inquest can be made into where Rovers went wrong this evening. We will look to bounce back at Northwood on November the 4th. If you really need to get some Rovers action this weekend, the Development side are away at Wilstead FC in the County Premier League (MK45 3HN)