Bedford Town 2 Stourbridge 0

The two teams came into this match on the back of contrasting results on the Bank Holiday Monday as whilst Stourbridge had hit six against Redditch, the home side had suffered a 4 – 1 loss at Biggleswade. The early exchanges seemed to reflect those outcomes as the visitors started in positive fashion to put Bedford on the back foot. In the 9th minute a kick downfield from Dean Coleman was collected by Ben Billingham on the right and he exchanged passes with Luke Benbow before Benbow curled a shot from just outside the corner of the box into the arms of home keeper Dan Green. Two minutes later Coleman launched forward a long free-kick and Billingham laid the ball off to Sean Geddes who drove a rasping 25-yard effort wide and then on 14 minutes Geddes went closer with a 20-yard free-kick that flashed inches past Green’s left-hand upright. Against the run of play though Stourbridge found themselves behind in the 19th minute as Paul Cooper sent in a low cross from the right towards the near post area where Dominic Lawless was upended by a mistimed tackle from Jamie Oliver. Lawless got back up to slot away the resulting spot-kick to put Bedford ahead. Things got even worse for The Glassboys in the 25th minute when a low shot from outside the box from Jeremy Nash was spilled by Coleman straight to the feet of Andrew Phillips who had a simple tap-in to double the home side’s lead. The Eagles were visibly lifted by the two goals and with a lead to defend, they battled gamely after that and got numbers behind the ball to frustrate Stourbridge. In the 33rd minute Henry Eze played the ball forward and Benbow fed Ryan Rowe whose low 20-yard drive was touched round the post by the diving Green, then on the stroke of half-time a right-wing corner from Geddes was met by Will Richards, but his downward header towards goal was blocked.

Stourbridge were back on the attack straight from the re-start with Billingham threading a pass through to Rowe in the right-hand side of the box, but his angled low shot was saved by Green. Jordan Fitzpatrick then fired over from 20 yards in the 56th minute and two minutes later he squandered a better chance after Richards had picked out Benbow on the right flank with a raking diagonal ball. Benbow sent over a cross towards the far post where Fitzpatrick was lurking, however he pushed his low shot back across the keeper and wide of the far post. On 62 minutes the visitors won a free-kick just outside the box, but Green was well positioned to comfortably save Billingham’s attempt. Another opportunity went begging in the 71st minute with Aaron Drake delivering a deep cross from the right and Richards headed the ball back across the face of the six-yard box towards Rowe who could not direct his header on-target. Three minutes later Rowe set up Roland Agbor - who had added some pace and energy to the visitors attack following his introduction - and he cracked in a shot from just inside the box that was pushed away by Green as he dived away to his right. The Glassboys were susceptible to the counter attack as the clock ticked down and on 80 minutes Ashley Farmer won a free-kick just outside the area after a fine dribble, however his free-kick deflected off a Stourbridge head in the wall to go out for a corner. Stourbridge continued to press and in the 84th minute Geddes slipped a pass inside to Agbor whose cross-shot was blocked, but Geddes pounced on the loose ball only to blaze his shot over the bar. Five minutes later Geddes sent a long diagonal free-kick into the box from close to the halfway line on the left and the ball bounced through to Billingham at the back of the area, however he hooked his acrobatic volley past the post. In stoppage time Bedford might have rubbed salt into the visitor’s wounds as Jordan Davies helped the ball on to Phillips and he raced into the left-hand side of the box, but saw his shot parried by Coleman at his near post.