Official Bideford AFC football club website

The Robins kicked off tonight needing a boost to their Toolstation League campaign, three loses on the bounce have seen Bideford slip down to 16th in the table. And they proved a point tonight when they came back from a goal down to beat Ilfracombe with two late goals.

The first half was a scrappy affair, but Bideford were looking the better of the two, again the wingers causing trouble for the Ilfracombe defense. But it wasn't all one way traffic, Kenny Griffiths in the Bideford goalmouth pulled out some cracking saves to ensure that the sides went in at half time with a score of 0 - 0.

The second half kicked off and Bideford continued to play good football, with better passing and communication than we have seen in recent games. But it was Ilfracome who put the ball into the back of the net first when the referee gave a disputed free kick inside the Bideford half after 68 minutes, and a mistake at the back let Ilfracombe through to make it 1 - 0.

After 75 minutes Darren Hawkins was shown a yellow card for dissent when he heavily protested as an Ilfracombe player blatenly handled the ball in the area and the referee didn't point to the spot.

With the game going into the last ten minutes, Bideford looked like they were going to make it 4 league losses in a row, but they were still piling on the pressure, and after 82 minutes they were rewarded when a Nick Barker cross found the head of Ellis Laight to knock it past the Ilfracombe keeper.

With 2 minutes to go Bideford were awarded a corner and Nick Barker crossed it in for Tom Stocco score from a header.

The whistle blew and Bideford pick up the three points, which they deserve after a good performance away from home.

Match Attendance: 137

Next game at home to Brislington on Saturday, 3pm KO