Match Report | Real Bedford (A)
Halesowen suffer late heartbreak to the Pirates’ 96th minute winner
Match Report
The hosts took the lead just under 10 minutes after the restart for the second half. A pass from Ben Stevens found Josh Setchell down the right, who ran side by side with Reece Mitchell before bursting past and firing the ball into the net at Dan Platt’s near post. The Yeltz equalised on 82 minutes, as a Fin Holmes cross to the back post found Jason Cowley, who landed awkwardly on the deck but still managed to find Jordan Ponticelli to head into the net from close range.
The game was fully in the balance, and despite two efforts coming our way in the six minutes of stoppage time, it was the Pirates who snatched all three points with the last kick of the game. A pass from assistman for the first Stevens found substitute Ben Weyman in the middle, who found the space to pass into to allow fellow sub Jack Morrell to find the bottom left. Two pin point finishes for the hosts to get the win over the line.
The opening 10 didn’t come to anything really, it was proper cagey stuff. The first shot of the game came the way of the hosts. A Lee Watkins pass out wide to Josh Setchell saw the latter put a cross into the middle, which was audaciously volleyed wide by Swindon Town loanee Harry Gray. A minute later, our first attempt arrived, as Jason Cowley wriggled his way through, but couldn’t get enough pace on his shot to beat Craig King in the Pirates net.
The early Real Bedford effort, which was very close from Gray, seemed to spur the Yeltz into a frenzy of confidence. A quarter of an hour in, a Ben Cassidy cross just missed Cowley, five yards from goal, and was flicked away by Shaheim Ward. Reece Mitchell then had a cross cleared by Jack Davies in the middle. Two minutes later, a second strike from Cowley went begging, this time off target and over the bar.
The dominant spell continued from Russ Penn’s boys in white, a white kit btw that we have worn four times this season, and lost three of them. Anyway back to the game. The closest we came to a goal of the contest came on 22 minutes, as a ball over the top was controlled by Jordan Ponticelli in the box, and just hit wide of the left post. And I mean, just hit wide, a foot to the right and it would have been in. Just under five minutes layer, we won a free kick after Cowley was brought down recklessly by Jack Davies. The delivery from Jim Kellermann down the right found Cowley, whose header was claimed by King.
The Yeltz entered an almost 15 minute stage of a stale nature from minutes 26-39, and a worrying sign that proved pivotal at the start of the second half, was that the hosts ended the first with the ball in our half. Milan Butterfield was tackled down the left, and it allowed Conor Tee to find a gap to Josh Allen inside the left of the area, who scuffed an effort wide. A minute before stoppage time, Ben Stevens found Archie Jones in space in the middle, who puts a dangerous low cross into Gray & Josh Setchell &, who get in each other’s way which resulted n a poor effort from the former.
The 54th minute opener from the Pirates was a sucker punch, especially after we started the half better, aside from a Gray ball in the box, and an Allen shot, which was saved by Dan Platt. The early Yeltz chances came from a Kellermann corner which saw a Cowley header flick wide, and a Ponticelli shot blocked by the last man, Jack Davies, before the Yeltz loanee put the ball over the bar from the follow up.
The hosts had their tales up when Setchell placed the ball into the bottom right, and it proved so when the goalscorer found Stevens on the edge two minutes later, who shot straight at Platt on the floor. On the hour mark, we had our first attempt at goal since the opener, as Kellermann found Ponticelli, whose shot on route to goal was blocked. The turn of the hour in the match was the turning point for us though.
A corner was won by Cassidy on 65 minutes, who did brilliantly down the right to win a corner off second half substitute Jack Morrell. The delivery from Kellermann was flicked on by Cowley, but into the hands of King. Five minutes later, a cross from Cowley down the right just missed Kellermann at the back post, as Ward cleared but only as far as Mitchell, whose wild effort flew well wide.
It took us almostt 10 minute to craft another opening to goal, as 73rd minute sub Fin Holmes found Todd Parker, who spotted captain Josh Smile in space through the middle. The Yeltz number four shaped up, and shot over. Still awaiting his first goal of the season and since a striker over Stamford in January last year. A minute after Josh’s audacious effort, a Kellermann free kick was aimed towards Butterfield, who flicked on and found Ryan Wollacott in the box, who shot over the bar.
The hosts did create a rare opportunity for Platt to wrap his palms around the ball, as Stevens found substitute and ex Royston man Ben Weyman. The latter played the ball through to the league’s third highest scorer, Allen down the left, who shot straight at the Yeltz number one. The goal came literally 30 or 40 seconds after, and fair play to the lads for not stopping at wanting the one goal.
The board went up for six minutes of added time, a number held up on the fourth official’s board that we have much enjoyed in recent months and years, but not so much this time. A 92nd minute breakaway saw go inside, fail to curl the ball around King, before Smile hit a ball straight at Real Bedford’s number one. The huge 96th minute blow is a real dammer, a good finish from the full back, but not so much when it goes in your net. Five games left to play, but still only one point behind 5th. A lot left to play for!
Attendance: 1,133
Teams
Real Bedford XI: Craig King (GK), Drew Richardson, Jack Davies, Lee Watkins (Sam Cartwright 88′), Josh Setchell, Archie Jones (Ben Weyman 63′), Ben Stevens, Conor Tee (Sam Collins 74′), Shaheim Ward, Josh Allen, Harry Gray (Jack Morrell 63′)
Unused Subs: Tom Hitchcock
Yeltz XI: Dan Platt (GK), Ben Cassidy, Josh Smile (C), Ryan Wollacott, Mitch Roberts (Fin Holmes 73′), Todd Parker, Jason Cowley (Kyle Finn 84′), Milan Butterfield, Jim Kellermann, Jordan Ponticelli, Reece Mitchell
Unused Subs: Jak Hickman, Rob Evans & Ty Barnett