Waders held in ten goal thriller - Arlesey beat Eagles

In a lacklustre opening half littered with silly bookings and a couple of more serious injuries, neither hosts Bedford Town or the Blues really gained the upper hand in what was a dull and easily forgotten Bedfordshire derby.

However when substitute Joel Mason replaced teammate Aston Goss after 57 minutes, suddenly Arlesey looked slightly the better side and when Mason was fouled inside the Eagles area seven minutes later by Bedford sub Jon Darby, referee Reeve immediately pointed to the spot and Dillon’s penalty kick went in via the inside of home keeper Ian Brown’s left-hand upright to break the deadlock.

And it was Dillon again in the 87th minute when a 30 yard Dave Deeney free kick was headed back across goal by Jimmy Gray for Dillon who converted what might looked to be a typical training ground set-piece move for 2-0.

At Forde Park in Division One of the Spartan South Midlands League, Langford suffered their second successive 4-1 league defeat inside five days.

Having lost at Ampthill Town’s Woburn Road ground in midweek, the Reds went down to a well organised Hoddesdon Town side this afternoon after the dangerous Robbie Carroll netted a hat-trick

Tom Nielson opened the scoring for Hoddesdon on 18 minutes with Carroll making it 3-0 at the break with a double in the 22nd and 39th minutes.

Kim Forsythe did pulled one back for Langford following a 64th minute penalty but Carroll completed his hat-trick five minutes from time while Forsythe picking up a straight red as the game entered stoppage time.

For the second time in seven days, Cranfield United slammed in eight goals, this time at Sun Postal Sports while Ampthill Town were 2-0 home winners against Welwyn Garden City, but Bedford FC went down 2-1 at home to Kentish Town.

In the preliminary round of the FA Cup, Biggleswade Town hosted Haringey & Waltham Development at the Carlsberg Stadium and will now have to replay folowing a ten goal thriller.

It ended 5-5 thanks to an 89th minute strike by the visitors’ Oakley. Tom McGowan gave the Waders a second minute lead but Falco pulled it back before Harry Hunt netted for 3-1 in the 24th and 34th minutes. Peter Gatti added a rare fourth just before the break and everyone in the 107 crowd thought that it was all over for the Essex Senior League club.

And when Jon Woolf added the fifth in he 66th minute that surely spelled disaster for the Haringey & Waltham Development faithful... didn’t it?

But goals from Owusu (67), Oppong (73), Staughton (76) and finally Oakley a minute from time ensured that the Waders will now have to do it all over again on Tuesday night back in Haringey.

Having been re-instated in the cup competition following Kings Langley’s flouting of the rules with an inelligible player after they had beaten Stotfold 5-2 two weeks ago, the Rokermen hosted Enfield Town at Roker Park today and Gordon Bickerstaff’s side went through 2-1 to reach the first round qualfying stage.

Biggleswade United were away to Ryman Division One side Tilbury but after having put out Leverstock Green in the previous round, they bowed out 3-1 against The Dcckers.

And finally, at The Hollow, Potton United were hoping to recover from that 8-0 thrashing at Huntingdon last weekend when they hosted Buckingham Town but despite the much improved performance they lost 1-0 to a Craig Ross strike on the hour.