Aigburth FC 0–4 Edgbaston FC: a sudden collapse

Match report

The opening forty-five minutes were an exercise in patience, or perhaps two exercises in caution. Aigburth, 14th and drawing more often than they would like, kept Edgbaston at arm's length. The visitors, 10th and in good nick, seemed content to wait. The earlier meeting between these sides had ended 1–1, and for 51 minutes a repeat looked plausible.

Then Mickaël Cazenave, already on a tidy scoring run against Hitchin and Wigston, met Alfonsito Borda-Andino's delivery with a header. 0–1. The deadlock broken, Edgbaston did not allow Aigburth to reset. Three minutes later, Muzaffer Beyoğlu converted a free kick, with Demétrio Costa-Brasil credited as the assist, and the match shifted from contest into procession.

Borda-Andino, having orchestrated the first goal, decided he wanted the ones that counted on his own ledger. In the 69th minute, Linus Edgcumbe found him and he finished. 0–3. If there was a moment when Aigburth might have summoned a response, it had already passed. The fourth arrived in stoppage time, Borda-Andino again, Edgcumbe again, and the scoreline acquired a symmetry that flattered no one at home.

Aigburth will not enjoy the arithmetic. Four conceded, none scored, and a position in 14th that is beginning to look like a settled personality trait. Edgbaston, by contrast, will note that their good form now has a scoreline to match.

Matchday 24 arrives tomorrow, and Aigburth must decide whether this was an aberration or a warning. Edgbaston, with Borda-Andino in this sort of condition, will fancy their chances against anyone.