Report - Bedford Town 1 - 3 Wealdstone

Wealdstone began pre-season with a comfortable victory away at Bedford Town, 168 days after their last win all the way in March.

Goals from new signings Danny Parish and Charlee Hughes, as well as Michee Efete, overpowered the Eagles despite Connor Tomlinson’s consolation goal.

The Stones were struck by injury within the opening 10 minutes, Trialist C was stretchered off and was replaced by Trialist E.

The tempo was controlled by the away side despite the early stoppage in play, Parish headed wide from Trialist B’s cross as the new forward looked threatening.

Parish’s persistence on his Stones debut paid off and he scored his first goal for the club when he poked Moses Emmanuel’s square pass underneath Lewis Patching at the near post.

The National League South champions looked surprisingly sharp after a five-month wait for action, Emmanuel provided another assist with a reverse through ball to Efete who powered into the box and slotted under Patching.

New signing Hughes made the instant impact that he was looking for as he guided Trialist D’s near post header from Green’s corner into the middle of the net, less than a minute after the restart.

Bedford striker Drew Richardson smashed the cross bar not long after as the hosts looked to get back into the game, Richardson then scored a great curling strike but was ruled out for offside.

It would be Tomlinson who would split the Stones defence in the final 15 minutes and he calmly chipped the ball away from Lewis Everett.

The hosts showed an improved performance in the second half but the National League new boys began pre-season with a positive display.

Report by Dec O’Reilly

Wealdstone: Trialist A (Everett, 45), Trialist B (Sheppard, 45), Stevens (Trialist D, 45), Okimo (Cawley, 45), Efete (McLennan, 45), Phillips (Trialist F, 45), Charles (Smith, 45), Trialist C (Trialist E, 10), Parish (Green, 45), Emmanuel (Mendy, 45), Lafayette (Hughes, 45).

Bedford Town: Patching, Longden (Howe, 45), Summerfield (Eyre, 83), May, Steele, Watson, Harriott (Page, 70), Sinclair, Tomlinson, Richardson, Walker.