Real Bedford Lose to Kettering Town in Bank Holiday Clash
By Will Murray
Real Bedford lost their second consecutive Southern League Premier Central match, succumbing to a 2-0 defeat to Kettering Town. Leon Lobjoit and Alfie Lewis scored the goals for the Poppies in front of a crowd of 1,082.
Both sides created chances in the early stages, with a dangerous cross delivered by Lobjoit from the left wing narrowly evading Nile Ranger at the backpost after seven minutes. Five minutes later, Ben Stevens saw his low effort well saved by Jason Alexander, who impressed in goal for Simon Hollyhead’s side.
In the 13th minute, Kettering found themselves in front through Lobjoit. After a defensive mix-up, the ball fell to the striker, who curled a left-footed effort in off the far post.
Ranger had a golden opportunity to double the lead, but his shot was blocked from close range in the 16th minute.
After this close call, the Pirates found their rhythm for the first time in the game. The best chance came in the 33rd minute when Conor Tee’s low cross from the left wing found Archie Jones, whose first-time effort went over the bar.
Just before the break, the ball was laid back to Stevens in the middle of the box, who saw his effort superbly blocked by Will Glennon to give the visitors a one-goal advantage at half-time.
Second Half
After eight second-half minutes, the Poppies doubled their lead. A mistake in midfield gave the ball to Alfie Lewis, who curled a perfectly placed effort past Tyler McGregor into the bottom right corner.
The task to get back into the game became even more difficult two minutes later when Jones was given a second yellow card to send the Pirates down to 10 men.
Kettering had chances to extend their lead, with Glennon and Lobjoit coming close after a free-kick in the 70th minute.
Jamar Loza, who came on in the 72nd minute, also had a golden opportunity to make it three 10 minutes after his introduction. He was sent through on goal and rounded McGregor, but was impressively denied by Sam Cartwright, who made a last-ditch block to deny the attacker.
Stevens and Ty Ward forced Alexander into late saves, however, the visitors maintained their clean sheet and secured their fourth consecutive league victory in the 2025/26 season.
In his post-match interview, Rob Sinclair said:
“Obviously, we’re disappointed. We made two big errors and we got punished for them. If you make those kinds of mistakes, you’re going to concede goals. A disappointing one but we move on to Monday now.”
Next up for the Pirates is an away game against St Ives Town on Monday 25th August.
Lineup: McGregor, Davies, Cartwright, S. Ward, Richardson (T. Ward 75’), Setchell (Hitchcock 75’), Watkins (Weyman 61’), Jones, Tee (Galliford 81’), Stevens, Evans (Allen 61’).
Real Bedford 0-2 Kettering Town
Saturday 23rd August 2025
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Location: Ledger Stadium
Attendance: 1,082
