Marlborough United 3–1 Wigston FC

Match report

So here's the thing. Marlborough United go top of the table on 62 points, and it only took them four minutes to remember what a goal looks like. They'd been drawing everything in sight, a run of games so flat you could have put a spirit level on it. Then Dembe Akan-Aniefiok rose at the near post to meet Myrddin Bevan's cross on 4 minutes, and suddenly the whole "leaders who can't buy a win" narrative needed a rethink.

The second goal arrived with the sort of efficiency that must have been mildly irritating for Wigston. Josimar Flamarion, who spent the summer laying on assists in stoppage time like a man with nowhere to be, instead took one himself on 17 minutes. Antonio Cardamone did the supplying, and Marlborough were two up before Wigston had properly located their passing boots.

You'd have got decent odds on a rescue act. Wigston are fifteenth, blowing hot and cold, and they'd drawn 1-1 with Marlborough earlier in the season. When Felipe Barahona tucked away a penalty three minutes after the restart, the comeback chat started. It lasted roughly three minutes. Kweku Mosibudi, assisted by Henrik Brandt, restored the two-goal gap on 50 minutes, and that was that. Wigston had their moment; it evaporated.

The red card to Brandt on 89 minutes was the kind of footnote that changes nothing in the scoreline but leaves a mark on the disciplinary record. Straight red, one minute of shorthanded nonsense, no harm done. Brandt's done his bit tonight; tomorrow's a different problem.

Marlborough have a precious commodity right now: forward momentum and a single matchday to spend it. The next fixture comes quickly, as it always does in this league. If they start like this, they won't be drawing many more.