Pre-season Friendly
The New Eyrie, Bedford
Admission: £5.00
Programme: None
Attendance: 100 (estimate)
So, just four days after I brought my 2020/21 hopping season to a close, with the spectacular occasion of watching England beat Germany in the Euro 2020 Round of 16 at Wembley Stadium, today I would kick off my 2021/22 season. Hopefully how the day began will not prove an omen for the season ahead. Planning visits to grounds this early in pre-season is always a minefield for groundhoppers, with games played on different pitches, locations, or called of at short or no notice. And having planned a visit to Milton United, I fortunately noticed on waking up this morning, buried in the away club's Twitter feed, that that game was off. And so I settled on this game, at a ground I'd be wanting to visit for some time. There was some doubt whether I would make the game though, as trespassers on my local line meant there was little sign of trains moving through my local station, although fortunately one eventually did, setting me back almost an hour. Heavy rain falling during my walk to the station completed the less than ideal start to my day and season, although fortunately the rain stayed clear henceforth, and indeed the rest of the day went smoothly and enjoyably.
This game would be between clubs who are both members of the Southern League, with Biggleswade in the Division One Central, a step below Royston Town in the Premier Division Central. Since the club's formation in 2016, Biggleswade had groundshared at Biggleswade Town's Langford Road until the curtailment of last season, but have now entered an agreement to share Bedford Town's home ground for the foreseeable future. Today would be Biggleswade's first home game there, although they did play in an "away" fixture against their landlords on Monday, winning 1-0. Situated about four miles eastwards from Bedford town centre, and a ten minute walk from the train station to the bus station, followed by a further fifteen minute bus ride, delivers visitors adjacent to the ground. The turnstiles are located in one corner of the ground, with visitors have a choice of purchasing their ticket in advance, and then showing their e-mailed QR code to the turnstile operator for scanning, or paying by cash. The ground is rather impressive for a Step 4 host club, with spectator accomodation available on all four sides, and presumably it is ready to host football two or even three steps higher in the pyramid. Moving along from the entrance, a small cream coloured building hosts Bedford Town's club shop, which was obviously not open today. A marquee was erected pitchside in front of the very large blue clubhouse building, which looks more like a sports hall with a sloping roof, and which includes a very spacious if rather dark (or stylish, depending on your point of view) bar area, with a television stream projected onto one of the walls. A fairly long brick built all-seater stand straddles the half way line, with a burger van positioned in the far corner. A long metal stand stretching between corner flags provides plenty of cover behind the end closest to the entrance, whilst two virtually identical brick stands are located behind the other goal and straddling the half way line on the remaining side. Plenty of trees closely surround the ground, along with grass between the pitch side walkway and perimeter fence, make this a ground that is easy on the eye, but the busy A421 dual carriageway passing immediately behind the ground provides constant loud traffic noise.
On an overcast and rather muggy afternoon, Biggleswade started on the front foot, keeping the Royston keeper busy in the opening ten minutes, but it was Royston who took the lead on 16 minutes after the referee played advantage and the ball was struck low across the keeper and into the bottom right corner. And they doubled their lead within a minute when the ball was played low through the defence, and the Royston forward tapped the ball to one side of the oncoming keeper, before slotting it into the empty net. Whilst Royston controlled much of the play, Biggleswade did create some presentable chances. On 39 minutes a shot from outside the area took a deflection and, with the keeper rooted the ball went just wide of his left hand post. On 42 minutes, the ball was looped over the defence for the Biggleswade forward to run clear, but the keeper was alert to come out of his area and clear the ball, and on 44 minutes, a low cross shot went just wide of the far post.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with Royston having most of the play although still Biggleswade created some decent chances. But on 53 minutes, Royston scored their third, a low ball forward led to the Biggleswade defence claiming offside, but the Royston player found himself all alone to get the ball under control near the edge of the box before firing the ball into the net, brushing off the keeper's body en route. Both sides had their chances to score in the remaining time, but no more goals were forthcoming. This was a decent early run out for both sides, with Royston playing some nice, controlled football, while Biggleswade will take great heart from managing to create plenty of chances against higher ranked opposition.
Highlights of this game can be viewed by clicking here.
As I had a little time to spare, I took the opportunity of walking around McMullen Park, home of Spartan South Midlands League Division One outfit Bedford FC, which is adjacent to The Eyrie. It is a decent enough ground for Step 6 football, with a modern stand offering terracing and seating, straddling the half way line, with a converted portakabin unit to one side, imaginatively laid out with a green all-weather carpet, and wooden benches inside.
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