Marlborough United 2–2 Kirkby FC: a shared burden

The record should show that Marlborough United are second for reasons entirely of their own making, and second is where they finished this particular argument. A 2-2 draw with a Kirkby FC side who arrived with 21 points, several bruises, and the vague air of a team that has become rather good at splitting the points, which is a generous way of saying they have forgotten how to lose without company. The company was excellent.

Arda Atalay opened the scoring with the sort of composure that has clearly been missing from the Kirkby penalty area all season. That was the 16th minute. By the 90th, the only thing missing was the win.

Kirkby, to their considerable credit, had read the script in which the plucky visitors get nothing. Solomon Trent, who has made a habit of scoring late goals of late, instead scored in the 41st minute: a header from Bertrand Quesnel's delivery that suggested the away side had actually noticed the league table and decided to do something about it. The lead lasted eleven minutes. Egidio Castagna, a man who has scored in every time zone this season, applied the finish from Lourens Buisma-Veld's pass, and suddenly the second-placed side had to earn their point.

They did, through Henrik Brandt on 63 minutes, assisted by the same Arda Atalay who had opened the scoring. That is the pattern: moments of real quality stitched together by long stretches of controlled chaos, the kind of performance that keeps neutrals entertained and managers unaccountably vexed. Neither defence will frame the footage. Neither set of fans will care much by the morning. The two sides have now shared eight goals across two meetings, which is a statistic of dubious value but undeniable persistence.

The result keeps Marlborough in that deceptive second spot, while Kirkby will note, with the grim satisfaction of a man who has found a coin on the pavement, that a point is still a point. Tomorrow, of course, everyone does it all over again, which is football's way of saying there is no time to fix anything.