A bad loking scoreline but actually a rather good game - or was it two games. At one end of the pitch our mostly junior front line constantly plagued an experienced Bedford defence and were unlucky only to score once, Benedict converting from a short corner just before half time. They were unluck to be denied a second short corner after the break when Geoff H nudged Charlie's deflected shot over the line, but the ball was rather harshly judged not to have come out of the D. Benedict, Freddie and Tom played their trademark short passing game with impressive precision and confidence, maybe only their lack of a big hit denied them more success.

At the other end, Bedford soon spotted the usual vulnerability in our defence (lack of pace), and some inattentive marking let them through time after time in the first half. I lost count of the number of times Nick saved one - on - one, but after half an hour we were 4 down. After the break we settled down, sorted out our positioning and absorbed a long phase of Bedford pressure (Steve and Clive both saved on the line), and the 2nd half saw long periods of very good hockey from both sides. It was frustrating to concede one more right at the end.

Ian and Charles gave us a strong new centre midfield combination, and this week we moved the ball out of defence very well. We made good use of width until we got into the last quarter of the pitch but tended to get too narrow as we approached the goal.

Bedford is a hard place to get a result, and they are unbeated this season, so no disgrace and plenty to be positive about.

Player of the match is shared this week between Benedict and Nick