Bedford Women’s over 55s hockey team come up short in final

As the sun rose on May the fourth, it marked the arrival of finals day for Bedford’s Women’s Over 55s squad, in the England Hockey National Tier 2 Club Championship, and the team certainly felt the force of support behind them, after having been named Team of the Year at the Club’s recent end-of-season awards night.

The backing from supporters was phenomenal, as message after message of encouragement pinged through the ether, and the cheering from the sideline by those who had made the long trip to Lee Valley made the atmosphere truly special.

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The Championship journey to this point had seen Bedford, under the amazing captaincy of Joy Leeson and the on and off-pitch guidance of Sue Phillips, demonstrate their ability to dominate an opposition, beating Oxford Hawks 6-0; winning 3-0 in a penalty shoot-out with Cheshire in the quarter finals; and securing a 9-0 victory against LX North in the semi-finals.

This being the final, however, and Harleston Magpies known to be a force to be reckoned with, the stakes were set high.

Bedford opened strongly, holding possession and pressing forward in attack with adept passing.

Once Harleston got a sniff of the ball, however, they showed they meant business.

After some end-to-end action, eleven minutes in, Harleston made their first entry into the D, only to be awarded a penalty corner which, whilst struck high from the top of the circle, managed to drop and find the back board for the goal to be awarded.

The rest of the match continued in much the same manner, attacking play switching between Bedford and Harleston, with very few opportunities for Harleston to take open play shots on goal, Bedford holding a strong defence.

When Bedford managed to penetrate their D on the attack, they looked by far the more dangerous, coming frustratingly close to getting on the end of some fantastic passes into the circle.

There was also no shortage of penalty corners awarded to both teams as the match played out but, whilst several at either end were struck on target, all were barred from entering the goals.

With the clock showing two minutes to go, Bedford made a last forceful press in their attacking 25, the ball going in and out and across the D in a tantalising finale.

Even with just 30 seconds remaining, it looked as though the score-line was going to be levelled and a penalty shoot-out felt a real possibility. It was, sadly, not to be.

Bedford gave their all and should be proud to have finished their journey to Lee Valley as Tier 2 Women’s Over 55s National Club Championship Silver medalists.

Already, the talk of the team is of a return journey to Lee Valley next season, when the intention is to regain the title of National Champions, Bedford having been inaugural winners in this age-group in 2022.