Harpenden bounce back to beat Biggleswade FC in second title double header

With Biggleswade beating Town at home on Saturday it sees the honours shared between the two sides and leaves FC four points clear at the top.

In a frantic, and at times verging on nasty, encounter on Tuesday Biggleswade lost to two set pieces after having the lion’s share of possession.

They fell behind in the third minute as Harpenden were awarded a free kick midway inside the Biggleswade half. With the ball delivered into the FC box a Harpenden player got his head to it first, the ball though taking a deflection off Nick Henebery and leaving Sam Wyer helpless as it flew into the net.

Harpenden with their direct play looked to grab a second as Biggleswade faced a deluge of balls played from deep into their half.

Tom Cookman made inroads into the Harpenden area and saw his shot deflected onto a post with Harpenden clearing the loose ball.

With one or two robust challenges to deal with Biggleswade finished the half on top but had failed to really trouble the home keeper. They did lose Henebery on 20 minutes to a knee injury and his replacement Toby Williams only made it to half time before an injury also to the knee saw him depart.

The second half saw Biggleswade have the greater share of possession and although the surface was very poor they still looked to get it down and play at every opportunity.

A deserved equaliser arrived just before the hour. As with the first goal it was a defender who scored it as an attempted back pass went over the keeper and into his own net.

The next 30 minutes saw FC with enough of the ball to grab what could have been a winner. George Riley saw a free kick hit the bar and Lee Northfield fired a shot wide, however for all their dominance they over-played too often rather than make the home keeper work.

The winning goal arrived on 90 minutes as Harpenden were awarded a corner, and the ball was turned in by the striker’s thigh.

Biggleswade will feel the least they deserved was a point but on the night Harpenden did enough in front of goal to deserve the points.

FC now have to make sure they take three points from a very strong Harefield United side on Saturday.