Halesowen 0 Bedford Town 2

Halesowen's first British Gas Premier Division home game ended in a depressing defeat in front of a large and expectant crowd.

With Bedford still smarting from Saturday's 4-0 home defeat by Bromsgrove, Michael Lyon evaded the Yeltz defence in the fourth minute but drove straight at goalkeeper James Dormand.

Dormand's 10th minute clearance then put Aaron Farrell free but his lob over Bedford goalkeeper Michael Armitt rebounded off the crossbar.

Home striker Paul Devlin departed in the 23rd minute with a worrying groin injury and below-par Halesowen rarely looked comfortable for the rest of the evening.

The Eagles took a 25th minute lead when Dormand's poor clearance left him out of position and the ball eventually fell for Ben Farrell to fire home from the edge of the area.

The Yeltz looked momentarily livelier after the break with Aaron Farrell firing across the face of goal for substitute Aza OÕGarro to strike just wide in the 46th minute before Jay Denny's 62nd minute shot was blocked.

But Bedford wrapped up the game with their second goal on 66 minutes when Stuart Sinclair's 25-yard effort took a deflection to dip over goalkeeper Dormand.

Halesowen continued to struggle to find their rhythm up front although O'Garro headed onto the roof of the net after 79 minutes.

Bedford almost grabbed a third goal when Ben Farrell initiated an 80th minute break only to see Lyon balloon the ball over the bar and, in injury time, Sinclair curled another effort just wide.