The home side who have been gifting leads of late actually made a fast start themselves with Anna Sullivan rifling in from inside the box after 10 minutes.
Sadly, the second half started badly when Lauren Hawkins equalised early on and in another half of limited chances Mylee Baker got in and became the match winner with 20 minutes remaining.
It wasn’t a classic but after weeks of finding themselves 2-0 down in the very early stages it was a very controlled start by the home side.
They were rewarded early on when last weeks late hero Sullivan, contested for the ball at the edge of the box, beat a few players and rifled a shot that was parried by the keeper but landed in the corner of the net.
After that it was a half of very few chances with both teams having tidy periods of play but lacking any quality in the final third.
Real almost equalised when a fortuitous bounce allowed Hawkins in as she rounded Clarke it looked certain to be an equaliser but for the heroics of Ciera Flatt throwing herself onto the line and sliding it to safety.
It remained a slender lead at the break, but Needham’s resolve was broken early on when a long free kick on the halfway line went all the way to Clarke, but she spilled it trying to catch it on the full and Hawkins was there to tap into the empty net.
Both sides looked dangerous but again the final third was a stinking point and so a draw would have been a fair result.
Jae Lewis-Samual had a chance to put Needham in front when she got through but didn’t get her foot around the ball and it went straight past the far post.
And not long after that Real Bedford scored what would be the winner as Baker was played in down the left and with plenty of space cut inside into the box and lifted the ball over the on-rushing Clarke.
Needham pushed for an equaliser and had chances but again the final finish just let them down and ended up seeing a narrow defeat after such a promising start to the game.
The Development Team also succumbed to a narrow 2-1 defeat on the road to Long Melford in League action after last week’s cup triumph.
Immy Porch scored for the visitors but just like the first team it was another defeat in a fine margins game.
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