Bedford Town FC
The Eyrie
Meadow Lane
Cardington
Bedford
MK44 3SB
Ground: 51
Date: Tuesday 21st August 2018
Bedford Town 3-0 Yaxley
Southern League Division 1 Central
Attendance: 283 (official)
Bedford Town FC - History
The first club under the name Bedford Town are first recorded in 1884, changing name to Bedford Association in 1887 before disappearing in 1891. The next club under the name were founded as Bedford Swifts in 1890, changing to Town in 1894. This club absorbed Bedford Rovers in 1896, but disappeared at the turn of the century.
The next Bedford Town were founded in 1908, joining the Northamptonshire League's Division 1 and remaining there until the outbreak of World War 1. The club remained in the league after the war and won the title in the 1930/31, 1932/33 and 1933/34 seasons. The league then changed its name to the United Counties League, and the club finished runners-up in the first season under the league's new name. The club then remained in this league until World War 2 began.
After the war, the club joined the Southern League and, in 1955, applied for election to the Football League, but received no votes and were as such unsuccessful. The club again applied for election to the Football League in 1957, 1958 and 1959, receiving one, two and no votes respectively. League reorganisation in 1960 saw the club placed in the Southern League's new Premier Division.
The 1966/67 season saw the club relegated to Division 1 after finishing second from bottom, only to make an immediate return before immediately dropping down again. However, the club made an immediate return to the Premier Division for a second time in the 1969/70 season. Relegation to Division 1 again followed in the 1973/74 season, but once again the club made an immediate return to the Premier Division.
During this period, with the exception of 1974, the club applied to join the Football League every season, but continued to be unsuccessful. Their final application to join the Football League came in 1975, but was again unsuccessful, leaving the club with the second-highest amount of unsuccessful applications to the Football League (15), with only Yeovil Town being unsuccessful more often.
In 1982, after failing to secure a new home after their lease on their home ground at Queens Park was terminated, the club disbanded. It then took until 1989 for a new club to form, with the new club starting in Division 1 of the South Midlands League. This league was won in 1993, followed by the Premier Division being won the following season. This earned the club promotion to Division 3 of the Isthmian League, and the club finished 3rd in their first season to earn promotion to Division 2.
The club remained in Division 2 until 1999, when the title was won to earn promotion to Division 1. Two years later, the club finished runners-up in Division 1 to earn promotion to the Premier Division. Despite finishing 15th in the Premier Division in the 2003/04 season, restructuring saw the club compete in the play-offs for promotion to the Conference North/South and, after beating Hitchin Town in the semi-finals, they were beaten by St Albans City in the final.
Instead, the club transferred to the Southern League and finished 5th in both seasons. This qualified the club for the play-offs in 2006, and they beat Bath City and Chippenham Town to earn promotion to the Conference South. However, they only lasted at this level for one season, finishing bottom and being immediately relegated back to the Southern League. The club then remained in its Premier Division until relegation to Division 1 East at the end of the 2013/14 season, where they have remained ever since (with the league being renamed Division 1 Central over the summer).
The club have an illustrious FA Cup history, progressing all the way to the 4th Round in the 1963/64 and 1965/66 seasons, losing to Carlisle United and Everton in those respective campaigns and notably beating Newcastle United in the 1963/64 run. The club reached the FA Trophy semi-finals in 1974/75, beating Hitchin Town, Ashford Town (Kent), Highgate United and Wigan Athletic before losing to Scarborough over two legs. As for the FA Vase, the club's best run came when they last competed in it in the 1998/99 season, reaching the 5th Round by beating Biggleswade Town, Eynesbury Rovers, Ibstock Welfare, Fakenham Town and Wroxham before losing to Tiverton Town.
My Visit
Compared to the issues in getting a game for my previous groundhop at Stowmarket Town, this groundhop was decided around a month ago, as soon as Yaxley's fixtures for our debut Step 4 campaign were finally released. Almost immediately, I suggested it to my father and he was more than happy to take me to the game. Thankfully, no issues popped up in the interim to disrupt my plans, as happened last time.
On the day of the game, the drive down to Bedford was similarly easy and uneventful, if a little slow due to ongoing roadworks here and there (there seems to be an absurd amounts of roadworks all over the country at the moment, for whatever reason). Regardless, having been picked up from my house at quarter past 6, we got to the ground just before 7pm, paying £1 for parking before then paying £10 each for admission (a rip-off for the eighth tier, in me and my father's opinion) and then £2 for a glossy and informative, albeit oddly-formatted, programme.
With around 45 minutes until kick-off, I did a slow circuit of the ground as I took photos, talking to a few of my fellow Yaxley fans along the way (the Supporters' Coach seems to be working well so far, as we had around 40 or so Yaxley fans in attendance last night), before settling by the dugouts on the near goal side that Yaxley were shooting towards in the first half. At half time, we moved over to the other side of the ground by the far goal and near the main stand.
On the whole, the match alone made this quite a frustrating evening, but the groundhop as a whole was still good: a good ground and a good crowd made for a decent evening out despite the result and Bedford's almost-complete domination of proceedings.
Next up will be a visit to Runcorn Linnets this Saturday for their FA Cup Preliminary Round tie against Maltby Main, while I'm on a weekend break in Chester (hopefully I'll be lucky enough to be back home in time on Monday for Yaxley's local derby against Peterborough Sports, but I don't imagine I will be). After that will be my first trip on the Yaxley Supporters' Coach, as we head to Thame United of Oxfordshire in the league.
The Ground
The Eyrie is an impressive ground at Step 4 level, with cover on all four sides of the ground. Most notable is the 300-seater main stand on the near side, which is the only area of covered seating at the ground. The other areas of cover are covered standing, with the largest of these being a pitch-length area of terracing behind the near goal, which could probably hold around 700 or so people.
The other two areas of covered standing - behind the far goal and on the dugout side respectively - are virtually identical in size and appearance, and both could probably hold 150 or so people each. The rest of the ground is open hard standing, with the only other oddity being a strange fence/gate between those two identical terraces. Whether this used to be where the players come into the ground for kick-off, or if it's used for segregation when required, I'm honestly not sure, as I've not seen anything like it before.
The ground has an overall capacity of 3,000, with the record attendance being a capacity crowd for the ground's opening game against Peterborough United in August 1993. The ground is also next door to McMullen Park, home of Bedford FC (which I will have to visit at some point in the near future).
Photos
The next Bedford Town were founded in 1908, joining the Northamptonshire League's Division 1 and remaining there until the outbreak of World War 1. The club remained in the league after the war and won the title in the 1930/31, 1932/33 and 1933/34 seasons. The league then changed its name to the United Counties League, and the club finished runners-up in the first season under the league's new name. The club then remained in this league until World War 2 began.
After the war, the club joined the Southern League and, in 1955, applied for election to the Football League, but received no votes and were as such unsuccessful. The club again applied for election to the Football League in 1957, 1958 and 1959, receiving one, two and no votes respectively. League reorganisation in 1960 saw the club placed in the Southern League's new Premier Division.
The 1966/67 season saw the club relegated to Division 1 after finishing second from bottom, only to make an immediate return before immediately dropping down again. However, the club made an immediate return to the Premier Division for a second time in the 1969/70 season. Relegation to Division 1 again followed in the 1973/74 season, but once again the club made an immediate return to the Premier Division.
During this period, with the exception of 1974, the club applied to join the Football League every season, but continued to be unsuccessful. Their final application to join the Football League came in 1975, but was again unsuccessful, leaving the club with the second-highest amount of unsuccessful applications to the Football League (15), with only Yeovil Town being unsuccessful more often.
In 1982, after failing to secure a new home after their lease on their home ground at Queens Park was terminated, the club disbanded. It then took until 1989 for a new club to form, with the new club starting in Division 1 of the South Midlands League. This league was won in 1993, followed by the Premier Division being won the following season. This earned the club promotion to Division 3 of the Isthmian League, and the club finished 3rd in their first season to earn promotion to Division 2.
The club remained in Division 2 until 1999, when the title was won to earn promotion to Division 1. Two years later, the club finished runners-up in Division 1 to earn promotion to the Premier Division. Despite finishing 15th in the Premier Division in the 2003/04 season, restructuring saw the club compete in the play-offs for promotion to the Conference North/South and, after beating Hitchin Town in the semi-finals, they were beaten by St Albans City in the final.
Instead, the club transferred to the Southern League and finished 5th in both seasons. This qualified the club for the play-offs in 2006, and they beat Bath City and Chippenham Town to earn promotion to the Conference South. However, they only lasted at this level for one season, finishing bottom and being immediately relegated back to the Southern League. The club then remained in its Premier Division until relegation to Division 1 East at the end of the 2013/14 season, where they have remained ever since (with the league being renamed Division 1 Central over the summer).
The club have an illustrious FA Cup history, progressing all the way to the 4th Round in the 1963/64 and 1965/66 seasons, losing to Carlisle United and Everton in those respective campaigns and notably beating Newcastle United in the 1963/64 run. The club reached the FA Trophy semi-finals in 1974/75, beating Hitchin Town, Ashford Town (Kent), Highgate United and Wigan Athletic before losing to Scarborough over two legs. As for the FA Vase, the club's best run came when they last competed in it in the 1998/99 season, reaching the 5th Round by beating Biggleswade Town, Eynesbury Rovers, Ibstock Welfare, Fakenham Town and Wroxham before losing to Tiverton Town.
My Visit
Compared to the issues in getting a game for my previous groundhop at Stowmarket Town, this groundhop was decided around a month ago, as soon as Yaxley's fixtures for our debut Step 4 campaign were finally released. Almost immediately, I suggested it to my father and he was more than happy to take me to the game. Thankfully, no issues popped up in the interim to disrupt my plans, as happened last time.
On the day of the game, the drive down to Bedford was similarly easy and uneventful, if a little slow due to ongoing roadworks here and there (there seems to be an absurd amounts of roadworks all over the country at the moment, for whatever reason). Regardless, having been picked up from my house at quarter past 6, we got to the ground just before 7pm, paying £1 for parking before then paying £10 each for admission (a rip-off for the eighth tier, in me and my father's opinion) and then £2 for a glossy and informative, albeit oddly-formatted, programme.
With around 45 minutes until kick-off, I did a slow circuit of the ground as I took photos, talking to a few of my fellow Yaxley fans along the way (the Supporters' Coach seems to be working well so far, as we had around 40 or so Yaxley fans in attendance last night), before settling by the dugouts on the near goal side that Yaxley were shooting towards in the first half. At half time, we moved over to the other side of the ground by the far goal and near the main stand.
Not sure who Paul Stebbings is, should be Phil (and strange they got it wrong there but right in the programme)
Having heard that Bedford have invested significant money - for this level, at least - into their squad over the summer, I was expecting this to be an extremely difficult match for us and would have been happy with a draw or even a narrow defeat (wouldn't be the end of the world so early into the season). Here's my report on the match, which went much as I expected in the end:
A tough lesson for us tonight, as we were convincingly outplayed and comfortably beaten by a Bedford side who have reportedly received significant investment over the summer.
Right from the start, it was clear that there was a massive difference in the quality of the two sides: compared to Barton on Saturday, Bedford were on another level entirely, one that we simply weren't ready to come up against. Bedford were well-drilled, looked comfortable on and off the ball and gave us no time whatsoever to play our game.
As a result, it was unsurprising when the ball first ended up in the net after five minutes, but it was surprising when the goal was ruled out to give Bedford a free kick on the edge of the box, even though it had seemed as if the referee had played advantage. Not that it mattered, as this only delayed the inevitable by five minutes: we didn't clear from a corner and Phil Draycott was able to slot the ball in unchallenged. Bedford then had countless chances to increase their lead throughout the half (while we only had one real chance of note), but surprisingly the score did not change by half time.
The second half continued as the first did, with Bedford creating chance after chance but not scoring. We had a couple of chances from a corner on 58 minutes, but we couldn't get the ball in the net and, four minutes later, Bedford doubled their lead, Dan Walker allowed to run with the ball, cut inside and shoot unchallenged to score. The final goal came from a penalty on 87 minutes, Paul Benson chipping over Sutton to score.
Overall, we simply lost to the better team on the night, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. We never gave up and kept trying to get back in the game, but we just couldn't manage it. And it's a shame really, as Bedford's goalkeeper looked very shaky on the few occasions we did challenge him, and had we done so more we may well have got a goal as well. Regardless, this is a game I'm glad we've got out of the way early on, as there's a lot we can learn from this defeat going forward this season.
Right from the start, it was clear that there was a massive difference in the quality of the two sides: compared to Barton on Saturday, Bedford were on another level entirely, one that we simply weren't ready to come up against. Bedford were well-drilled, looked comfortable on and off the ball and gave us no time whatsoever to play our game.
As a result, it was unsurprising when the ball first ended up in the net after five minutes, but it was surprising when the goal was ruled out to give Bedford a free kick on the edge of the box, even though it had seemed as if the referee had played advantage. Not that it mattered, as this only delayed the inevitable by five minutes: we didn't clear from a corner and Phil Draycott was able to slot the ball in unchallenged. Bedford then had countless chances to increase their lead throughout the half (while we only had one real chance of note), but surprisingly the score did not change by half time.
The second half continued as the first did, with Bedford creating chance after chance but not scoring. We had a couple of chances from a corner on 58 minutes, but we couldn't get the ball in the net and, four minutes later, Bedford doubled their lead, Dan Walker allowed to run with the ball, cut inside and shoot unchallenged to score. The final goal came from a penalty on 87 minutes, Paul Benson chipping over Sutton to score.
Overall, we simply lost to the better team on the night, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. We never gave up and kept trying to get back in the game, but we just couldn't manage it. And it's a shame really, as Bedford's goalkeeper looked very shaky on the few occasions we did challenge him, and had we done so more we may well have got a goal as well. Regardless, this is a game I'm glad we've got out of the way early on, as there's a lot we can learn from this defeat going forward this season.
On the whole, the match alone made this quite a frustrating evening, but the groundhop as a whole was still good: a good ground and a good crowd made for a decent evening out despite the result and Bedford's almost-complete domination of proceedings.
Next up will be a visit to Runcorn Linnets this Saturday for their FA Cup Preliminary Round tie against Maltby Main, while I'm on a weekend break in Chester (hopefully I'll be lucky enough to be back home in time on Monday for Yaxley's local derby against Peterborough Sports, but I don't imagine I will be). After that will be my first trip on the Yaxley Supporters' Coach, as we head to Thame United of Oxfordshire in the league.
The Ground
The Eyrie is an impressive ground at Step 4 level, with cover on all four sides of the ground. Most notable is the 300-seater main stand on the near side, which is the only area of covered seating at the ground. The other areas of cover are covered standing, with the largest of these being a pitch-length area of terracing behind the near goal, which could probably hold around 700 or so people.
The other two areas of covered standing - behind the far goal and on the dugout side respectively - are virtually identical in size and appearance, and both could probably hold 150 or so people each. The rest of the ground is open hard standing, with the only other oddity being a strange fence/gate between those two identical terraces. Whether this used to be where the players come into the ground for kick-off, or if it's used for segregation when required, I'm honestly not sure, as I've not seen anything like it before.
The ground has an overall capacity of 3,000, with the record attendance being a capacity crowd for the ground's opening game against Peterborough United in August 1993. The ground is also next door to McMullen Park, home of Bedford FC (which I will have to visit at some point in the near future).
Photos
Very good Dan. A lot of detail and information. You've got a flair for this👍
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