Look, I’ll be straight with you: both these sides have spent the opening stretch of the season blowing hot and cold with the consistency of a broken radiator. This was the match where Wessex decided to stay hot.

The game was essentially decided before the tea had even cooled in the stands. Balla Etuk-Idongesit found the net in the 6th minute, courtesy of a Mucio Brizuela-Sosa assist, and the vibes shifted immediately. It wasn't a masterstroke so much as a sudden realisation that Pendle hadn't quite woken up yet.

Pendle spent the next half hour trying to remember where they were on the pitch. That hesitation was punished in the 41st minute when Rafe Endecott scored. It was a clinical finish, assisted by Etuk-Idongesit, and the timing was particularly cruel. To concede just before the whistle is a special kind of misery. It meant Pendle went into the break facing a two-goal deficit and a very long walk to the dressing room.

So here's the thing: Rafe Endecott is currently playing like a man who has discovered a cheat code. He'd been involved in two goals against Mancunia on July 31, and this goal felt like a continuation of that same mood. Actually, maybe he's just in a purple patch. Either way, he looked entirely too comfortable.

“Pendle Athletic will reckon they were unlucky, though "unlucky" is a generous word for a team that spent ninety minutes looking like they were playing in a different time zone.”

The second half was a largely polite affair, a slow crawl toward the inevitable. The formality was completed in the 82nd minute when Lansana Berhe-Tewelde added a third. Berhe-Tewelde has been a nuisance for opponents lately, having scored against Edgbaston on July 28, and this goal served as a tidy punctuation mark to a dominant afternoon.

Pendle Athletic will reckon they were unlucky, though "unlucky" is a generous word for a team that spent ninety minutes looking like they were playing in a different time zone. They had no answer for the movement of the Wessex front three. It was a professional job, devoid of any real drama, which is perhaps the most flattering thing one can say about a 3-0 win.

Wessex move up the table with a bit of momentum, though they'll have very little time to enjoy the feeling before Matchday 8 begins tomorrow.