Stepney FC 1–1 Brixton AFC: a stalemate of neighbours

Match report

The crowd at the Stepney ground arrived for a top-of-the-table tussle and left with a niggling sense of déjà vu, which is roughly what the table promised all along. Third against fourth, 63 points apiece, and by the end neither side had done enough to deserve the bragging rights, only to keep them.

Brixton struck first through Alessandro Spada on 34 minutes, a tidy finish laid on by Stijn Folkertsma. Spada has made a habit of scoring against Stepney, though his more recent habit of collecting red cards was, mercifully for all concerned, not repeated. The goal arrived from open play after Stepney’s midfield pressed high, got bypassed, and spent the rest of the half chasing shadows. Brixton carried the 1-0 lead into the break with the air of a side that had been here before and fancied their chances again.

Stepney’s equaliser, when it came, had the feel of a stubborn refusal rather than a tactical masterstroke. Lorenzo Comencini, who had laid on a goal against Wessex two days earlier, scored in the 90th minute from Rudolf Buchholz’s assist. Timely, slightly fortunate, and entirely welcome. Comencini’s positioning was the quiet star of the move, the kind of late arrival into the box that managers drone on about in training and forwards rarely deliver under pressure.

A draw leaves both sides level on 64 points, no longer third and fourth but merely neighbours. The earlier meeting finished 2-0 to Brixton, though this felt closer to the true measure of two teams who blow hot and cold in alternating weeks. Stepney’s losing run is stopped, at least for now, though they will have little time to dwell on what might have been.

They play again tomorrow, as this league always does. Whether that is mercy or punishment remains to be seen.