Mancunia FC 1–2 Crookes United: an outlier's evening

Match report

Mancunia FC lost 1–2 to Crookes United on Monday 31 August, a result that defies the logic of the standings. The rankings suggested fifth against eighteenth, which usually produces a home victory with a few passing notes, yet it produced a free kick, a penalty and a corner, in that order, none of them going where the first 34 minutes had pointed.

Crookes United had been drawing everything in sight, a habit that does not tend to survive contact with a top-five side. But Bernardo Bellanca arrived at the far post to meet Aírton Borges-Sant'Ana's floated free kick on 35 minutes and converted with enough conviction to make the recent run of draws look like a statistical quirk. Mancunia's pressing had been earnest and sometimes effective, but it left the sort of space that one decent delivery can punish. Bellanca punished it. The home side went into the break a goal down, their good form reduced to a rumour.

Sebastian Dewhurst doubled the lead from the penalty spot on 55 minutes, a spot kick that owed more to a desperate arm than a deliberate one. Dewhurst had scored against Hitchin on 29 August, against Marlborough on 22 August and against Wigston on 18 August: the penalty merely extended a sample that is becoming hard to ignore. Crookes then did what teams in eighteenth place do when they hold a two-goal lead: they made the game smaller. It is not cowardice, just arithmetic.

Mancunia's reply came on 68 minutes, João Vasque converting a corner delivery from Floro Tedín to make it 1-2. The final quarter-hour was therefore a workout in nerve rather than technique, with Mancunia pushing for an equaliser that the balance of play had not earned but the noise in the stadium briefly suggested. Crookes held.

Neither side had a man sent off, so the fairness of the result cannot be blamed on the referee. The reverse fixture finished 1-0, and this one ended 2-1, which suggests the two teams have found a routine of scoring just enough. They play again tomorrow, because the fixture list does not permit reflection, and that may be the only reason Crookes are still smiling.

One could argue the result was a fluke, though the data suggests otherwise.