Pirates Fall to Boreham Wood in Second Pre-Season Friendly
Real Bedford fell to an 8-2 defeat against clinical Step 1 side Boreham Wood in the Pirates’ second pre-season outing at the Ledger Stadium.
Boreham Wood looked dangerous in the early stages as Abdul Abdulmalik found himself in a promising position inside the box but was deemed to be offside.
Abdulmalik continued to cause problems to Real Bedford’s defence. Drew Richardson lost possession of the ball on the edge of box but the forward couldn’t pounce on the skippers’ mistake and he fired just wide.
Real Bedford Trialist shotstopper made his first stop with a comfortable save from Luke Norris’ long-range effort.
Some neat footwork from Ben Stevens saw him play it through to Jordan Ponticelli and the Pirates striker was brought down by the last man, although the referee did not take any further action.
Zak Brunt had the best chance for the Hertfordshire based side with a half volley that went just wide inside the box.
A lapse of judgement in the Wood’s defence saw Ponticelli shoved in the back following an inswinging cross on the right hand side and Rob Sinclair’s men were awarded a penalty. Stevens made no mistake from the spot to give Real Bedford a 1-0 lead with a fierce strike into the bottom left corner.
Sam Cartwright came close to doubling the lead from a corner but Luca Gunter made a fine stop to deny the defenders’ header.
However, Boreham Wood equalised seconds before half time. A quick free kick move caught the Pirates’ defence napping. Callum Reynolds came flying in to head home from close range and level the scores to 1-1.
Second half
Both sides sent out different teams for the second-half, with the Wood taking the lead very quickly after the interval. A mistake by substitute Owen Brooks allowed Tarryn Allarakhia a clear opportunity from the left to curl it into bottom right and give the Wood a 2-1 advantage.
It was almost a carbon copy of his first as Allarakhia made it a brace only four minutes later with an even better finessed strike into the top corner from the edge of the box to double their lead to 3-1.
The visitors were in cruise control and scored a fourth within 10 minutes of second half as Matt Rush finished calmly after a low cross from the right hand side.
An excellent bit of football from Real Bedford followed with 20 to go. Richardson played the ball out of his own box before switching it to Stevens. The goalscorer slipped in Josh Allen but the strikers shot went agonisingly wide.
The Pirates pulled one back through Stevens scoring his second of the game with an incredible lob from near the centre circle after a mishap at the back from Boreham Wood, cutting the deficit to 4-2.
Real Bedford’s fight back was short lived, as Rush scored his second into an open net after a neat passage of play from the National League side.
Following a short corner, the ball came out to Wood number 9, who thundered a rocket past the keeper from the edge of the box to make it 6-2 with 12 minutes to go.
The Wood did not let their foot off the gas as the number 9 swiftly made it a brace. The forward beat the offside trap set by Real Bedford’s defence and ran through on goal to finish calmly after taking it around the Pirates’ trialist goalkeeper.
The Wood’s’ late, relentless pressure continued as they scored their third goal within five minutes and eighth of the game after another mistake at the back from the Pirates.
The final whistle blew and 8-2 was the final result in a ruthless second half attacking display from the visitors, who proved too strong in the end for the hosts. A scoreline perhaps not reflective of the true performance, there will be some positives for Rob Sinclair’s men to take into Saturday’s encounter against Berkhamsted.
First-Half XI: Trialist, Ward, Richardson, Cartwright, Morrell, Thanoj, Collins, Setchell, Tee, Stevens, Ponticelli.
Second-Half XI: Trialist, Trialist, Richardson, Cartwright, Collins, Trialist, Simmons, Brooks, Tee, Stevens, Allen.
Real Bedford 2-8 Boreham Wood
Date: Tuesday 14th July 2026
Kick-off: 7:30pm
Venue: Ledger Stadium
