August 17, 2026
Cheltenham Town suffered a 3-1 defeat to Real Bedford on Sunday afternoon after a debut goal for Leo Joyce was not enough to rule out goals from Lucy Wood, Melis Mehmet and Blue Bartlett-Antwi.
The first chance fell to Real Bedford, but Robinesses keeper Lily Felgate was on hand to deny Wood from opening the scoring within the opening minutes.
Wood did open the scoring just after the 10-minute mark, her powerful strike into the top-right corner of the net giving Felgate no chance.
Less than a minute later, Joyce forced Pirates keeper Hunkin into a save, her effort from close-range parried away to deny an almost instant equaliser.
Real Bedford then doubled their lead, the ball taking an unfortunate deflection and cannoning into the back of the net off Mehmet after Wood’s initial effort hit the post.
The Robinesses halved the deficit before half-time, Joyce getting on the end of Chloe Snook’s ball in and making no mistake.
Half-Time: Cheltenham Town 1-2 Real Bedford
The hosts started the second half positively, a goalline scramble almost ending in an equaliser, however, Real Bedford managed to clear.
The following corner fell to Lilly Wellesley-Davies, but her effort rocketed over the bar.
Felgate was called into action again up the other end, making a brilliant double save to deny the visitors a third goal.
After hitting the crossbar twice in the second half, the Pirates added a third in injury time, Bartlett-Antwi slotting home to restore the visitors two-goal lead.
Cheltenham make the trip next week to face AFC Bournemouth in their first away game of the season.
Cheltenham Town: Felgate; Murphy (Bell 65), Vine, Owen, Wellesley-Davies, Salisbury-Williams (Hall 84); Day (O’Keefe 63), Evans (Jones 90), Curtis; Joyce, Snook (Nascimento 84)
Attendance: 143
