Real Bedford 0 – 4 Leighton Town

Leighton Town kicked off the pre-season in the scorching sun with a win against newly named Real Bedford. A side chocked full of faces familiar and new, Leighton looked much the better side as they ran out comprehensive winners with goals from Leon Lobjoit, Lewis Toomey and Kevin Owusu.

Gaffer Lee Bircham had his side pressing high, as was a continuance of the great running they’ve been doing in summer training. Town enjoyed the attacking momentum early on yet had a penalty shout waved away on ’17 as new boy Jordan Brown went down. The men in purple persevered though and the breakthrough came just three minutes later. Lobjoit was played in down the left and cutting back onto his right he ignored a screaming Archie McClelland to display a great finisher’s instinct to find the near corner easily.

Bedford looked to pull one back and would have if it wasn’t for a sublime stop from another new face Xavi Comas on ‘25. The header from point blank range looked to be in but Comas was alive to palm it right out of the top left corner. After this, on ’35 the visitors would double the lead.

It was Leon Lobjoit again. The former Northampton forward darted down the right, toying with his defender who stood off. Still surging right, he blasted back across goal to find the top left with ease. Before the half was out, he would be denied a hattrick by some great athleticism from the home keeper.

After the break, it seemed that the pace had dropped in this real test of fitness. Speculative efforts were rife until Leighton won a penalty. Lewis Toomey stepped up and calmly converted, making it 0-3. After another water break, Bircham’s men kicked on – energised by substitutes Ayo Mougonague, Kevin Owusu and Josh Adeyileua.

Ultimately, it would be this combination that would bring the fourth goal. Great pressing from Ayo forced a mistake at the back. The loose ball broke to Josh who found Kevin and the forward hit it brilliantly from range to cap a fantastic team performance all round. Now, focus shifts to Tuesday and a trip to Bovingdon in the next preseason test.

LTFC XI: Comas; Towell, Collins, Harvey, Goodman, Pyman, Brown, Spaul (C), Toomey, Lobjoit, McClelland.
Subs: Bircham, Marsh, Owusu, Adeyileua, Mougonague, Silvestri, Peart.

Report By: -
Max Bradfield