had taken a bold decision. Fed up to the back teeth with the morass of bureaucracy, absentee referees and weekly scraps against teams of ale-house hackers provided by the West End League, had led the Logica Club to pastures new. And what a refreshing change it turned out to be in the Wandsworth Sportsman’s Senior Sunday Football League Senior Amateur Reserve Division. A whole season of fixtures arranged at the start of the season! A reasonable quality referee turning up for every game! Half decent pitches! And opposition teams who were there, by and large, to play football.

It was with some trepidation that Logica approached their first game in this new league. The Senior Amateur Reserve Division was effectively the second division out of eight, contained a large number of teams (13), and the standard was rumoured to be high. Logica’s worst fears were realised in their opening game when they were trounced 7-1 by Brentford Town. Although it turned out that Town were one of the better teams in the division (when they could be bothered to get a team out), it was clear that our opponents took things seriously enough to employ that very un-Corinthian tactic known as "Training". Logica FC were at an immediate disadvantage.

However, as the players regained their match fitness after a summer spent largely slumped in an armchair watching USA94, matters improved. Logica were unlucky to fall 2-3 to St Anselms in their second game. After losing early doors with a bad ankle injury, they battled for most of the game with just ten players, but still came close to upsetting the eventual League Runners-up courtesy of two goals from impressive new boy . Things then improved dramatically as Logica won their next two matches by the same scoreline of 4-3. North End succumbed as notched a hat-trick, and then Cardinal fell with two goals from the same player. The age-old - striking partnership was beginning to function once more.

Just as Logica began to think that this new league was a bit of a doddle, they were brought crashing back down to earth with a bang. In the first round of the Ron Le Beau Trophy, they were drawn away to Varsovia from the Senior Amateur Division. Although turned up late and Logica began with just ten players, this does not explain the huge gulf in class between the two teams. Logica eventually lost 0-11, their heaviest ever defeat, and it could have been worse!

This result really knocked the stuffing out of the team, and they failed to win any of their next six games, picking up just two points from draws against Oakway and Magdalena. The find of the season continued to be , whose pacey runs from deep continued to cause all our opponents problems. In this manner, scored ten goals during the season, including a hat-trick in the 3-3 draw against Oakway.

The new year brought a change in spirit, and Logica got back to winning ways with a 4-2 victory away at Morganite as and notched a brace a-piece. The team followed this up with a battling 1-0 win over Raiders. - now passing himself off as a midfield ‘engine room’ - scored the goal with a Brazilian style free-kick. In fact, Logica could boast one of the most talented midfields in their history, with players of the calibre of , , , and supplying pace and skill as well as strength and determination.

An emphatic defeat away at runaway Champions Sporting Club halted the Logica recovery, and an extremely disappointing double-header defeat against an average Thameside team followed. proved his worth by scoring the two goals that beat Oakway, and he then repeated the feat against St Anselms. His first goal in this match confirmed his legendary status as he scored straight from the kick off, a miraculous feat that easily won the Goal of the Season vote. However, two goals were insufficient as Logica went down 2-3.

After grinding out a gritty, if uninspiring, goalless draw at home to Cultural, and falling 2-3 to Arema, Logica faced a big relegation four-pointer against bottom placed Morganite. Having comfortably beat this opposition earlier in the season, Logica again out-classed Morganite as they raced to a 5-1 lead inside the hour, with scoring his second hat-trick of the season. But this would be a match that would remain etched in the memories of all those involved, and the visitors were somehow allowed back into the game by a tiring Logica side, and scored four goals in the last twenty minutes to earn a 5-5 draw. This result really underlined the team’s main problem throughout the season, that of conceding too many goals. Despite the brilliant between the sticks, and defenders of the calibre of , , and , Logica still managed to concede a massive seventy goals in just 21 matches. Even the introduction of (aka Johninho) midway through the season failed to plug the leaks.

In the end though, Logica had secured enough victories and points in their purple patches to keep themselves relatively safe. A 2-6 defeat by Brentford Town in the last game of the season gave the season an unwanted symmetry, but the team still finished in eleventh place, five points ahead of Bowyer Arms (whom we never got to play!) and seven ahead of bottom placed Morganite. All in all, a fairly promising first season in such exalted company.

SEASON AT A GLANCE:
Most Appearances: (19 out of 21 games max)
Golden Boot: (13 goals in 18 games)
Players' Player of the Year: Not Voted For
Football Writers' Player of the Year: (4 MoM's)
Goal of the Season: v St Anselms (h)
Biggest Victory: 4-2 v Morganite (a)
Heaviest Defeat: 0-11 v Varsovia (a) (Cup)
Goals Scored: 40 goals in 21 games (average 1.90 per game)
Goals Conceded: 70 goals in 21 games (average 3.33 per game)
Clean Sheets: Three in 21 games (average one every 7.0 games)