The Pirates End 2025 with Defeat Against St Ives Town
By Louie Truman
A challenging end to the year as the Pirates lose 3-1 at home to St Ives Town. Duncan Idehen, Theo Alexandrou and Ethan Creary scored for the Saints, which left Rob Sinclair’s side with one point from their last three.
Both teams started the fixture positively; the first chance came for the visitors, but Drew Richardson was forced into making a good block. The Pirates then had a chance of their own. Conor Tee put a dangerous ball into the area, but the Ives defender cleared. Just after this, Tee had another good chance, which went over the bar.
It was a good start for the Pirates against a resilient St Ives side, who made it difficult throughout and tested Real Bedford defensively. The Visitors kept applying the pressure, and Sam Cartwright put in an important block to prevent St Ives from taking the lead.
In the 26th minute, Duncan Idehen opened the scoring. Ives continued to look dangerous after the goal as Richardson made a great tackle in his own box. Real Bedford went in search of an equaliser, with Stevens and Tee getting efforts away, but both chances lacked the cutting edge to punish.
The Pirates kept putting Ives under pressure as Stevens and Richardson had opportunities which went just over. Ricky Marheineke’s side doubled their lead with a goal from Theo Alexandrou just before half-time. The visitors went into the break 2–0 ahead.
Second Half
In the 48th minute, the Pirates had their second penalty shout of the game waved away by the referee. Josh Allen had a shot on goal, but it was another good save from goalkeeper Ollie Taylor. Jones went close to getting a goal back, just hitting the crossbar.
Rob Sinclair made his first change of the afternoon with Joey Evans replacing Lee Watkins. As Real Bedford continued to push forward, they had a handful of chances which were blocked or saved.
Despite creating opportunities and pushing for a goal, it was St Ives who went on to score, which made it 3-0 to the visitors. Ethan Creary was the goal scorer. Josh Allen scored his twelfth goal of the season, which gave the Pirates some hope late on, but the game finished 3-1 to St Ives after five minutes of added time.
Next up for the Pirates is an away fixture against Bishop's Stortford on Saturday 3rd January 2026.
We would like to thank you all for your continued support this year, and wish you, and your families a happy new year. See you in 2026!
Lineup: King, S.Ward, Richardson, Cartwright, Simmons, Jones (Weyman 75’), Tee, Watkins (Evans 63’), Setchell (Deall 85’), Stevens, Allen
Unused subs: Morrell, Davies
Real Bedford 1-3 St Ives Town
Saturday 27th December
Kick-off: 3pm
Location: The Ledger Stadium
