Derby day defeat

A bumper crowd enjoyed a gloriously sunny autumn afternoon and saw two sides giving as good as they got in a great advert for local football at Hillgrounds, with the visitors managing to show their strength and get the victory.

Kempston made two changes from the midweek FA Cup replay, with Mason Spence and Kyal McNulty coming back into the line up with Ben Acquaye dropping to the bench. Bedford were unchanged from their superb away win in the cup the previous weekend.

After the early exchanges, it was the visitors who took the lead. Former Luton Town man Dan Walker hit a volley from inside the box over the despairing reach of Martin Conway in the Rovers goal. The ball hit the underside of the bar and bounced down, Paul Benson followed up but the goal had already been given, Walker’s seventh of the season already for Town. Two minutes later, Bedford felt aggrieved not to have been given a penalty when Benson headed the ball on to the arm of McNulty from point blank range, the referee was unmoved, deeming it ball to hand. Nathan Tshikuna was the first to test Forster in the Town goal, but his effort from the edge of the box was comfy enough for the stopper to deal with. Luke Heneghan then fired wide for Rovers as they pressed for the leveller. Walker then had two efforts, one wide and one over the bar before Rovers did find the equaliser slightly against the run of play. Ben Shepherd threaded a pass through for Luke Heneghan, the linesman had raised his flag, but play continued. Heneghan’s shot deflected off the legs of Forster as he rushed out. The ball rose high into the air and bounced down into the net. Bedford players surrounded the officials, indicating the earlier flag in the build up. After brief consultation, the referee was satisfied that the flag was against Josh Crawley and not Heneghan, allowing the goal to stand. As the visitors re-grouped, Watkins-Clark had a placed free kick spilt by Conway, but Rovers’ FA Cup hero recovered to end the danger. Walker then extended the Rovers keeper with a power drive after a free kick lay off. Conway diving full stretch to his left to beat the ball away. From the resulting corner, Callum Donnelly found himself free on the goal line to tap in the in swinging cross to restore Bedford’s lead right on half time.

The second half continued the full blooded nature of this derby game, both sides exchanging chances in the early minutes. Mason Spence for Rovers curling a shot in to the arms of Forster, while at the other end, sub Lee Roache’s snap shot forced a smart save from Conway. As Rovers looked to press forward for a second equaliser, the inevitable gaps were left at the back, a very neat move between Walker, Roache and fellow sub Woods-Garness ended with the later seeing a low shot blocked by the legs of Conway. Woods-Garness then saw a shot deflected wide after a powerful run. With six minutes left on the clock, Rovers had a free kick in a dangerous position. Ben Shepherd’s powerful strike flying inches wide of the post. Woods-Garness then had two glorious efforts to kill the game, first he saw a one on one blocked by Conway, minutes later he took the ball around Conway before inexplicably taking another touch when he had an open goal. The hesitation allowed Rovers to get back and clear. Town did managed the third goal that their second half performance deserved deep in stoppage time, Lee Roache at the second time of asking, after his initial shot was parried by Conway, putting the ball in off the post.

The result lifts the Eagles to sixth place in the table, while Rovers sit in thirteenth. Both clubs have huge FA Cup ties next weekend, Kempston hosting Marlow, while Bedford travel to AFC Telford. Kempston, however have a midweek date before that with AFC Dunstable in the Southern League Cup.