Jesmond AFC 1–0 Aigburth FC

Look, I'll be straight with you: this one had the look of a night you'd forget on purpose. Jesmond AFC, 10th on 46 points and in dreadful form, spent most of Friday treating the ball like a hot chip. Aigburth FC, 15th, in good nick and with a proper shape, were the only side who looked like they knew what they were doing. The game reached half-time at 0-0, which felt exactly as thrilling as it sounds.

Then the 88th minute happened, because that's when Carlo Bacigalupo happens. Linus Culverwell swung in the cross, Bacigalupo put his head on it, and Jesmond had a 1-0 win. It was the only goal, the very definition of a late one, and honestly it was all this match could possibly have produced.

Aigburth will wonder how they got nothing. They had the cleaner plan, the tidier ten minutes, all of it. But they didn't have a Bacigalupo. This is a man who scored in the 82nd minute against Pendle on 12 August and laid on a goal in the 89th at Stepney on the 25th. The earlier meeting between these two finished 2-0, which suggests someone managed it twice; this time, one header in the last few minutes was enough.

So here's the thing: this doesn't fix Jesmond. Their first half was still a search for a pulse. But they've got a win that they absolutely needed, against a team in better shape with fewer excuses. That counts. The catch, and the cruelty, is that Matchday 35 arrives tomorrow. No time to enjoy it, no long week to reflect. Jesmond will have to run back out and prove that the late header wasn't just a habit, and Aigburth will have to do all their good play again, probably, one day, with a goal in them.