Enfield Town saw their FA Cup hopes and unbeaten start to the season ended in sorry fashion on Saturday as they were beaten 3-0 at home by a Bedford Town side one step below them in the pyramid.

What many felt was the Towners’ worst showing of the campaign so far, coupled with the Eagles’ best display, combined to produce a result that few supporters of either side would have expected prior to the first qualifying round tie.

The visitors were positive from the outset and barely 60 seconds were on the clock when Enfield goalkeeper Joe Wright was forced to tip over a Callum Donnelly effort.

Paul Benson headed a Ben Ford corner narrowly over and Dan Walker also wasn’t far away following a Donnelly cross, before Bedford’s good start was rewarded in the 13 minutes when Walker latched on to a through ball and advanced into the penalty area to beat Wright.

This sparked Enfield into attacking life with Lewis Taaffe having an effort blocked, while Bedford keeper Kyle Foster had to be alert to deal with Sam Hatton’s long-range effort.

Remi Sutton fired across goal, before the visitors had the ball in the net again, but it was ruled out with Benson offside.

Andy Leese’s side were struggling to find any rhythm though, and their cause was not helped with the injured Taaffe having to make way for Bilal Sayoud in the 39th minute.

The hosts were almost caught cold after the restart as Wright did well to deny Donnelly when he was through one-on-one.

But Town then had a positive spell as Sam Youngs flashed a low drive just wide and, soon after, he flicked over a cross from Sayoud.

However, the Towners were fortunate not to concede again when poor defending gave Walker a clear sight of goal, but be blazed badly over.

Bigger gaps began to appear in the Enfield defence as they continued to try and get back on terms and they were to be punished in the 69th minute when Ashton Grant side-footed home from just inside the 18-yard box.

Substitute Brandon Adams did head over a Matt Johnson cross in the 82nd minute, but a dismal day for the Towners was wrapped up two minutes later when Walker latched on to the ball in the centre of the pitch and was able to advance before firing past Wright.

The Towners will hope the defeat proves to be no more than a blip when they return to league action with a trip to Lewes on Saturday.