Wellsford Athletic 3–1 Pendle Athletic: a habit broken

Match report

Look, I reckon the game was decided in the first quarter of an hour. Adriano Crialese scored in the 15th minute after a bit of quality from Kohei Asano. It was a goal that settles the nerves, primarily because Crialese has developed a knack for being in the right place at the right time lately. He took the game to the break with a 1-0 lead, which is usually where Wellsford start to get nervous and invite a stalemate.

Look, the restart brought an immediate shift in vibes. Just two minutes after the interval, Asano turned provider into finisher, scoring in the 47th minute from an Alexis Anglade pass. It felt like a deliberate attempt to kill the contest before Pendle had time to remember they were playing a match.

Pendle did manage a brief moment of hope in the 63rd minute. Théo Acheraïou climbed highest to head home a Mortimer Dewhurst cross, making it 2-1. For a few minutes, it looked like the familiar script of a late collapse was being written. Honestly, I thought we were headed for another split of the points. I'm probably wrong, but I thought it.

Then Tatsuya Iijima scored in the 73rd minute to make it 3-1. It was a tidy finish in open play that effectively ended the contest, leaving Pendle to spend the final seventeen minutes watching Wellsford pass the ball around with a level of comfort that bordered on the rude. One Pendle supporter was seen contemplating a discarded meat pie on the concrete, which felt like a fitting summary of their afternoon.

Wellsford move up from 5th place with the win, while Pendle remain mired in the lower half of the table. There is very little time to reset before Matchday 17 tomorrow.