Hitchin Athletic 2–4 Wednesbury Athletic: a flurry of headers

Hitchin Athletic lost to Wednesbury Athletic by two goals, which sounds like an ordinary scoreline until you learn how it happened. For most of the first half, the table behaved itself. The 18th-placed side in dreadful form met the 10th-placed side out of sorts, and for a while nothing happened. Then the headers started.

Sebastian Frobisher opened it at 32', climbing well to meet İmre Beşer's delivery. Nine minutes later, the same Frobisher turned provider, and Muhammet Yılmaz nodded in a second. We should stress at this point that neither side had a recognised striker in the air, which made the routine heading contest rather difficult to explain.

Then Hitchin remembered they were allowed to score. Noel Quayle turned in a Célio Mascarenhas lay-off at 44', and for roughly thirty seconds the home end was properly noisy. Josimar Brejeiro silenced it with a header from Hermann Albertshofer's cross, which restored the two-goal gap. That should have been the half. The 45th minute had other plans. Hitchin won a free kick in a dangerous area, Quayle played it short, and Teodoro Larrañaga curled the ball into the top corner with the conviction of a man who had just been told the odds. Half-time: 2-3. The scoreboard operator, to be fair, was the only person on the payroll who had a decent afternoon.

The second half could not sustain that pace, which came as a relief to everyone except the neutrals. Hitchin pressed with the enthusiasm of a newly awakened side. Wednesbury let the pressure pass through them like water, and at 68' Ethan Coverdale crossed for Brejeiro to head in his second. The away end sang. The home end renewed their season tickets anyway.

The earlier meeting had finished 2-1 to Hitchin, which now feels like a historical curiosity. Frobisher has scored or assisted in three of his last four, and his team now sit ninth on 33 points. Hitchin stay 18th on 21, staring at a fixture list that offers no mercy.

Both sides play again tomorrow. There is no time to dwell on any of this. For Hitchin, that is probably the kindest thing that could have happened.