Bedfont - The Orchard

Bedfont FC

The Orchard

Hatton Road

Bedfont

Middlesex

TW14 9QT

Official Website

Twitter 

Ground: 96

Date: Saturday 9th November 2019

Bedfont & Feltham 0-3 Jersey Bulls

Combined Counties League Division 1
Attendance: 78 (official)

Bedfont - History

Bedfont were founded in 2012 when Bedfont FC and Feltham FC merged to form Bedfont & Feltham, with the new club taking Feltham's place in Division 1 of the Combined Counties League. However, the club were forced to play their first season as Feltham due to their entry into the 2012/13 FA Vase under that name. The club then changed to the new name for the 2013/14 season.

The first two seasons under the new name saw the club finish 5th in the league, before they finished as runners-up in the 2015/16 season to earn promotion to the Premier Division. The club struggled upon promotion and finished second-from-bottom, immediately being relegated back to Division 1. The first season back in Division 1 was also a struggle, as the club finished third-from-bottom. However, last season saw the club once again finish 5th, albeit after having been in the top 2 for much of the campaign (and beginning to slip away after I saw them get thrashed 5-1 at Frimley Green). In May 2022, the club announced that they would be reverting to the name Bedfont FC.

In the FA Cup, the club have twice progressed to the 1st Qualifying Round: in the 2014/15 season, they beat Wellingborough Town and Leighton Town before losing to Uxbridge; in the 2015/16 season, they beat London Tigers and AFC Hayes before losing to AFC Rushden & Diamonds. As for the FA Vase, the club's best run came this season as they reached the 2nd Round, beating Lutterworth Athletic, Bedford and Colliers Wood United before losing to Welling Town.

My Visit

At the start of the season, one of the groundhopping aims I set myself was to see Jersey Bulls in action at least once, given that they would presumably follow in Guernsey's footsteps and fly through Step 6 unchallenged. At the same time, I had been keen to visit Bedfont & Feltham for a while, partially because they seem to be one of few clubs who go to the extra effort to welcome groundhoppers, but also due to the ground's proximity to Heathrow Airport and how low planes fly over because of that (I was very keen to experience that and maybe get a few photos here and there). As such, when I first saw this fixture, I added it to the schedule immediately.

However, as my regular readers will know, things haven't exactly gone to plan in recent weeks and, after heading into London last weekend (and for the second week running), I didn't think I'd be able to afford doing so for a third week running, meaning I reluctantly cut this match from my schedule. This meant that my new plans for Jersey and Bedfont were to see Jersey at Fleet Spurs at the end of February and then head to Bedfont the following Saturday for their match against Eversley & California.

But things changed again on Tuesday night when the club announced that this match would be a 1pm kick-off, meaning that there was a potential double opportunity with Bedfont Sports (though I'll talk more about what happened with that in the CB Hounslow entry later today). This was enough to sway me to head into London again, especially as it turned out I could just about afford to do so.

On Friday, I made all my plans for both matches of my first groundhopping double and ordered my train tickets into London, all while keeping an eye on the weather and hoping it wouldn't take a turn for the worse. Yesterday morning, rain was forecast for mid-to-late afternoon, but I didn't think it would affect either match going ahead. Still, I picked up my umbrella along with all my winter wear before I headed off to the train station at around 10am.

Upon arriving at the station and collecting my tickets, I was worried about a repeat of last week, when issues on the railway denied me the opportunity to do a groundhopping double. Thankfully, there were no real issues and I was able to get onto a train at the time I had hoped for, though it was extremely crowded due to the previous train being delayed. Regardless, after departing at around 10:40am, the train arrived into Waterloo around 35 minutes later and I quickly got onto the Underground, making my way over to Hatton Cross after changing at Green Park to get onto the Piccadilly Line.

I arrived at Hatton Cross station at around 12:15pm and started the short walk towards the ground. On the way there, I immediately began to see the planes flying over, with one flying over so low that I could actually see the landing gear being retracted (naturally, the noise of plans flying over that low was absolutely deafening). Regardless, I arrived at the ground ten minutes later and then spent a further ten minutes trying to figure out where the boardroom was. Upon my arrival, I also noticed a Tweet suggesting that kick-off could be delayed due to Jersey's late arrival, but thankfully this did not transpire (otherwise the double would not have been possible at all).

After eventually finding the boardroom, I received a warm welcome from Bedfont & Feltham's programme editor and media manager Rob Healy, receiving a cup of tea, a programme and a couple of pin badges for free. I then spent the rest of the build-up to kick-off in here talking to Rob (not least because it started raining outside not long after I got in), learning about his involvement with the various incarnations of Feltham FC and discussing our respective roles as programme editors. Just before kick-off, he was kind enough to let me through the turnstiles for free as well.

Because I had stayed inside all the way through to just before kick-off, I had to wait until half-time to do my circuit of photos, most of which have come out worse than I would like due to the rain and due to my continuing difficulties in figuring out how to hold my umbrella and take photos with my camera at the same time. In both halves, I sat in the larger of the two seated stands among a group of older groundhoppers, one of whom suggested I should purchase a stopwatch to help with timekeeping (which is most certainly an idea I'll be considering).

 Not entirely sure why the form guide didn't display properly, but I know for a fact that Jersey had won their previous five, as they've won all their competitive games this season.

Considering that Jersey Bulls were already running away with the league, only one outcome seemed likely here, with it simply seeming like a manner of how many goals they could win by. Still, I was sure that Bedfont & Feltham would give it a good go rather than simply sitting down and accepting defeat against the champions-elect.

 Jersey's teamsheet had the right player names on it but the numbers were all wrong, which was less than helpful in trying to write up my match report.

Here's my report on a match in which Bedfont & Feltham made Jersey Bulls work hard for the victory in testing conditions:

With the rain beginning to come down in the build-up to kick off (which was delayed by five minutes), both teams struggled to adapt to the slippery conditions in the first half. This meant that the ball mostly remained in the midfield as the two defences largely nullified the opposing attackers; in the first half, the general pattern was that Jersey had the better of the play but weren't able to produce much in front of goal, while Bedfont had the better chances (from the few that there were). The best chances both came from defensive mistakes: in the 32nd minute, Bedfont's Kelvin Karanja pounced on a poor first touch and crossed into the box to Michael Capon, who couldn't connect and score; then, in the 39th minute, a Bedfont defender miscued a clearance and this set Jersey's Harry Cardwell through one-on-one, his shot then hitting the post.

After an inexplicable twenty minute half-time break, Jersey came out of the blocks with intent and scored two in two minutes: in the 51st minute, Cardwell tapped in at the far post after a cross from the left wing; two minutes later, Jersey earned a penalty and Karl Hinds calmly converted to double his side's lead. At this point, it seemed like it would be a matter of how many Jersey would score, but Bedfont regrouped and defended valiantly against an onslaught of attacks, occasionally countering with intent as well. However, the away side finished the job in the 81st minute when Jack Griffin received a pass in the box and was able to turn and shoot to score. A few more chances came for Jersey after this, but there were no more goals to come.

Planes were flying over more or less every minute, sometimes even lower than this example. However, this was the best photo I could manage in the wet and cloudy conditions.

On the whole, as with Hashtag last Saturday, I expected slightly more from Jersey in all honesty. I would describe them as a good side, certainly, but their performance here is most aptly described as an efficient one than as a truly dominant one. Some credit for that must go to Bedfont & Feltham for being resilient throughout much of the match while also being willing to attack when they had the chances. Other than that, the conditions were undeniably a factor, as the pitch seemed very slippery while also being very bobbly.

This was an enjoyable first leg for my first ever groundhopping double, with the match providing a decent amount of entertainment alongside a very friendly welcome from Bedfont & Feltham's Rob Healy. The planes flying overheard also provided another interesting element to the overall experience, even if the noise was somewhat distracting at times. Also, my match report is notably shorter than usual, which I will admit is a slight consequence of doing a double for the first time (partially because I remembered less than normal but also because by the time I got home I was too tired to go into my usual level of details); I'll discuss this in more detail in the entry on part 2 of the double, where this is more pronounced.

With the match looking likely to finish much later than I had hoped, I had a quick Twitter conversation with fellow groundhopper The Terrace Traveller and asked him for a lift to the next game at CB Hounslow United, which he was kind enough to oblige with. We met up in the ground with a few minutes of normal time remaining, having a quick introductory chat before moving towards the exit to allow us to quickly leave and reach the next match as soon as possible. This saw us leave just before 3pm, and I'll run through the rest in the Hounslow entry when that goes up later today.

The Ground

The Orchard is a good ground for Step 6, with an interesting range of football furniture providing cover of some sort on all four sides. There are two seated stands on either side of the ground, with the smaller of the two being behind the dugouts and providing seats for around 50 people. Directly across from this is a larger seated stand which contains seating for around 100 people.

Behind the near goal is a couple of small covered areas overhanging two benches, with some space to stand in front of these if you so choose. Behind the far goal is two larger areas of covered standing which provide cover for a further 150 or so people. Other than that, the rest of the ground is open hard standing, with plenty of room for expansion if it is ever required.

The ground has an official capacity of 1,200 and is also shared by fellow Combined Counties League Division 1 side British Airways.

Photos