Brixton: the burden of the fifth game

The early stages of a First Division campaign often feel like a gentle stroll through a park in Copenhagen, where the atmosphere is pleasant but the stakes are largely theoretical. Beeston and Armley currently sit joint top on ten points from four, while Sussex follow a point behind. It is an enviable position to be in, especially when compared to the specific misfortune of Brixton.

Brixton occupy 19th place with two points from five. They are the only side to have already navigated five fixtures without discovering how to win one. While Hitchin sit lower on one point, they have only played four. There is a certain, quiet cruelty in being the first team to reach a fifth game only to find the win column still blank.

The problem is not a lack of imaginative play in the final third. Kit Vexley has two goals from five starts, while Ayodeji Bukar and Valentín Múgica-Olano have contributed a goal and an assist each. In a strange twist of context, Brixton have actually scored more goals in this opening stretch than the second-place Armley.

The difference is that Armley have conceded only once. Brixton have let in ten. Damião Albuquerque-Ferraz and Gilmar Caraúbas have split the goalkeeping duties with three appearances each, but they have managed only one clean sheet between them. It is a defence that possesses the structural integrity of a wet cardboard box.

The core question now is whether those goals can outrun the leak at the back. Being a game ahead of the pack usually suggests a head start, but for Brixton, it simply means they have had more time to get things wrong. The focus moving forward is whether they can stop the bleed before the table begins to harden.