Pendle Athletic 2–2 Heaton AFC: a stubborn habit

The Pendle kit man had the bibs pegged out by half nine and the smell of fresh grass cuttings drifting over the turnstiles by kick-off. A proper Friday evening in the valley, and by the end of it, both sets of supporters had seen exactly what they came for. Another draw. Pendle's seventh in nine. At this point they are not so much a football team as a stubborn habit.

The opener arrived from a corner, the kind of delivery that Mortimer Dewhurst practises until the laces go soft. Gideon Bardsley rose at the near post and nodded it in on 19 minutes. That made it three goals in three appearances for the forward, which is the sort of form that gets a man a new contract and a proper parking spot.

Then the game changed shape. Cihan Köprülü, who had been running the midfield like he owned it, went in late on 26 minutes and saw red. Straight red, no debate, no lengthy consultation with the fourth official. Heaton down to ten with the best part of an hour left. The sensible read was damage limitation. The actual read was something else entirely.

Pendle could not find a second before the break, and Heaton came out with the sort of quiet menace that makes you check the away end has actually got ten men on the pitch. Quentin Egremont, quiet for the first half, scored twice in nine minutes. First from Wilson Astbury's pull-back on 56, then a lovely finish from Belisario Castelnuovo's through ball on 65. Ten men, 2-1 up, away from home. The physio was doing more work than the goalkeeper.

But this is Pendle, and Pendle do not lose. Stewart Ashmore met Felix Astbury's cross on 69 and headed the equaliser with the sort of certainty that suggests he had seen the delivery coming before the corner was even taken.

Another point for the fourteenth-placed hosts. Another point for sixth-placed Heaton, who will wonder how they have managed to draw so many games with Egremont in this form. The pair meet again soon enough. The way these two are going, the rematch will finish level as well.