Bedford Town boss Lee Bircham has described forward Leon Lobjoit as a “special, wonderful player” after scoring a hat-trick in his first game following his baby daughter’s funeral.
Baby Marnie was only a few days old when she died last month but Lobjoit returned to action in Saturday’s away game against Stamford.
Town were 2-0 down before the 29-year-old netted three times in the second half, including an added-time winner, to put them top of Southern League Premier Central.
“Leon had his baby girl Marnie’s funeral on the Monday and this was his first game after that. For him to grab a hat-trick, it was very emotional for all of us,” Bircham told BBC Three Counties Radio’s Non-League Show.
“Me and Leon have a special relationship that goes back a few years now. I think I’m the manager Leon has played for most in his whole career.
“There’s a link there, but above and beyond that, he’s a special, wonderful player.”
Lobjoit was on the books of Queens Park Rangers and Northampton Town earlier in his career before moving into non-league football.
His treble against Stamford took him to nine goals for the season so far.
“Always nice to grab a hatty,” he posted afterwards on X, formerly Twitter.
Bircham said: “It’s not just him, it’s also the other boys who create chances for him – if he didn’t have that, he wouldn’t get the goals he does.
“You’ve always got half a chance when you’ve got a goalscorer in your team and long may that continue, he’s been brilliant.”
Bedford were unable to repeat their second-half fightback as they lost 2-0 at Banbury United on Tuesday evening, but remain a point above Kettering Town in the table.
Despite that, Bircham – who recently signed a two-and-a-half-year contract extension – said his focus was on avoiding relegation rather than achieving back to back promotions, having come up via the play-offs last season.
“At the moment we keep saying survival is our target and with the budget we’ve got, it’s got to be that,” he said.
“Just because we’re top of the league now, we can’t be looking at promotion – Hitchin last year were in the play-offs at Christmas and they still went down.”
Neighbours Real Bedford, who are third in Southern League Division One Central, a level lower than Town, have very different ambitions, backed up by bitcoin millions, but Bircham believes two successful clubs is good for the area.
“They’re trying to get to the Premier League, we’re trying to stay at the level we’re at. We’re happy being a non-league club, Real Bedford obviously are not,” Bircham added.
“Two different courses and there’s room for two different teams in the town.”