Brixton AFC 1–2 Marlborough United: the two minute theft

Match report

Marlborough United beat Brixton AFC 2–1 on Monday 31 August, a result that does not rearrange the top of the table so much as reinforce it. The leaders had come to Brixton ten points clear of their hosts, fourth, and they left still ten points clear, which is the sort of calculation that flatters nobody but explains everyone. For thirty-one minutes Brixton had been the better side in the parts of the pitch that matter, and the goal that rewarded them was exactly the sort you defend a corner for: Ayodeji Bukar put the ball into the box and Knut Friedländer, whose recent habit is to lay on goals for others rather than score them himself, met it at the far post with a header of real intent. He had spent 21 August supplying three goals in one match against Mancunia; here he did the finishing himself, and the lead was deserved.

The contest then followed the usual choreography of such evenings. Brixton held resolutely until the 60th minute, at which point Baruti Akoto-Asante, collecting Henri Baudouin's touch from a free kick, bent the equaliser past the wall. Two minutes later the same pairing swapped roles, Akoto-Asante crossing for Baudouin to head the winner. Two goals in two minutes is not a collapse so much as a statement: Brixton had spent an hour defending a lead and then lost it twice in the time it takes to change ends, which is a particular kind of cruelty.

There is history in these fixtures. Their previous encounter finished 1–0, which now reads as Marlborough being polite; this one reads as them being themselves. (Note one: Akoto-Asante scored in the 62nd minute against Beeston ten days ago. Tonight he scored at 60 and made the winner at 62. If he has a minute, that is his minute, and Brixton will not find the symmetry amusing.) Anyway, the league keeps no patience for reflection. Both sides play again tomorrow, matchday 38 arriving before the bruise has properly formed, and Brixton's task is to decide which of those two minutes they remember and which they file away. Marlborough's task is milder: keep winning, keep it unlovely, and let the table do the talking.