Acton United 2–3 Marlborough United: the sheep move valley

Match report

In the Carpathian foothills they still tell of the village that spent so long weighing the price of a sheep that the sheep, sensibly, moved to the next valley. Acton United are not in the Carpathians, but for much of Thursday 20 August at their own ground they resembled that village: plenty of deliberation, plenty of hands on hips, and no conclusion. The 2–3 defeat to Marlborough United, the league leaders, was not a collapse. It was a negotiation they kept losing by the narrowest of margins.

Marlborough began as a side who knew exactly what they were doing. Erdem Çelebi, who had scored against Sussex two days earlier and against Wessex eight days before that, collected Wilson Abbotswick's pass in the 21st minute and finished as if the whole exercise had been settled in advance. Acton's reply took three minutes, which is the only kind of reply they know: Aimé Ancelin rose to meet Mederic Boutemy's cross in the 24th and the parity was restored. Then, in the 33rd minute, Çelebi again, this time fed by Josimar Flamarion, and Marlborough went in at the interval with the lead that common sense had always promised them.

There was something of cu scîrba about Marlborough's second-half labour, the air of a man swallowing medicine he knows is good for him. They allowed Reuben Yates-Salt, who has spent the week laying on goals for other people, to score one himself in the 54th minute from Aurel Allende-Sosa's delivery, and for a quarter of an hour the match looked like Acton might finally annex the result their habit of splitting the points had been circling all season. Akin Mosibudi put an end to that in the 70th minute with a goal of uncomplicated directness, and Marlborough, first on 50 points before this, remained first on 53.

The previous encounter between these sides finished 2–1, and the symmetry is almost rude: Acton keep arriving at the same doorway and finding it locked. There is no room to brood, which is just as well. They play again tomorrow, and a side with 24 points cannot afford to spend another evening weighing the sheep.