A moderate season on the field was over-shadowed by the appalling incident in which Keith Sidaway had his jaw broken by the Cardinal sinner. In October’s league game, Sidaway had scored a goal and Logica lead 2-0 when Cardinal’s right-back and captain took exception to Sidaway’s success. In an off-the-ball incident, the Cardinal player came up behind Sid and head-butted him in the jaw. Although the jaw was broken, and eventually required two operations and a steel plate to heal, the Logica legend initially insisted he was fit to play on. Quickly it became clear that Sid was in considerable distress, and he was quickly substituted and an ambulance was called.

Such was the seriousness of the injury, the ground staff at Morden Sports felt duty bound to involve the police. When the match finished, the boys in blue were waiting for the assailant, and Sidaway duly identified him. Luckily, although the incident was away from the focus of play, there were a number of witnesses including midfielder Simon Woolhouse and a Logica supporter on the sideline.

Based on this, the Crown Prosecution Service decided to proceed with a prosecution for Actual Bodily Harm (ABH) and a date for the court case was eventually set. But the prosecuting lawyers made a number of procedural errors that resulted in the first trial returning a hung jury. To Sidaway’s credit, he was prepared to go through the entire procedure again. The lawyers got their act together and a second trial, when it eventually arrived, found the jury returning a verdict of ‘Guilty’. The Cardinal sinner received a two month prison sentence, although he was released after one.

The Cardinal player was aged 37 (or thereabouts) and had a wife and children. Perhaps the most shocking thing about this whole incident was that his family was on the touchline watching the match in question. What makes someone perform a pre-meditated act of such violence is probably beyond most people’s comprehension, let alone on a football field. But great credit must go to Sidaway for a making a stand and helping to enforce the reality that such acts are just as likely to be punished if performed on a football field as anywhere else.

After such an incident, the importance of football seems to pale in comparison. For the record, Logica just about held on to gain a 3-2 victory, only their second of the season. Of course, Cardinal as a club went on to be ejected from the Sportsman’s League, and Logica thus lost the two points gained at such a cost. It’s a funny old game.

The season had not being going very well from a footballing perspective in any case. A horrendous start had seen limp Logica surrenders to St Anselms, Brentford Town in the Cup (1-3), and Golborne (1-4). Supremo Clarke needed a scapegoat, and he found an ideal candidate in the weary captaincy of Mark Abbott. Clarke’s brave strategy was to bring in FA Coach Sidaway for his inspirational on-field leadership and astute grasp of tactics at this level of football. The change of captain had an impact in that team morale was greatly improved for Logica’s next game at home to Brentford Town. Sadly it did not make any noticeable difference to our results, as Logica ended up losing 1-5. A travesty obviously, in which the scoreline did not come close to reflecting the performance of our rejuvenated heroes.

This conclusion was given some credence when Logica won their next match by walloping Oakway by seven goals to one. An impressive performance against the team who would end up being Logica’s closest rivals in the battle to avoid relegation included a brace of goals apiece for Jeff Hatton and Stevey Lambert, as well as Keiran Toman’s only goal of the season. Lambert had scored all bar one of Logica’s goals before this game (admittedly only two) and set Logica on their way in their next match against Battersea Park. Another point gleaned from a 3-3 draw was more than commendable against quality opponents, and the team felt they had turned the corner.

What they found around the next corner was not very pleasant, being as it was the match against Cardinal. All the improvements made by new captain Sidaway were effectively removed at a stroke along with Sidaway himself (he would not venture on to a football pitch again until the following season). Logica did not play a game for three weeks, and when they did return to the fray it was clear that they were not the same team that had put together an unbeaten run of three games. An insipid 0-4 defeat was notable only for the debut of a young hopeful called Scott Fleming. Logica lost their next game 2-3 to Cultural, despite two goals from Abbott, and the season was looking bleak once more.

As Christmas approached, there was some light relief in the form of a Cup match against London Wanderers. Having waltzed through the first round courtesy of a convincing walkover against no-show Chelsea Diamonds, Logica had reached the unfamiliar and giddy heights of the second round. Not sure what to expect at this late stage of a knockout competition, they were in fact greeted with something akin to a farce. Both teams variously numbered between 9 and 11 players as participants joined in and left the field seemingly at will. Wanderers had been placed in the same division as Logica, one can only assume, by mistake, for their record by December still failed to register a goal or a point. But Logica weren’t about to look a gift donkey in the mouth as Jim Gildea dazzled to set up a 6-1 rout that included a brace for both Abbott and (officially at least) for the ever-maturing Johninho. Typically, London Wanderers’ late consolation goal was their first of the season, and the club celebrated this feat by calling it a day shortly after the festive period. Logica’s Cup ambitions did not last much longer as they lost 3-2 to Battersea Park in the third round, but this remains by far Logica’s best ever Cup run in the Sportsman’s League.

The start of the new year saw the team embark on their second period of rejuvenation. After losing a closely fought match 4-3 to Dark Star (Gildea again starring with two goals), Logica won two and drew one of their next three league matches. This haul of five points was undoubtedly what saved them from relegation at the end of the season. The run started with a famous 6-2 victory against our old nemesis Brentford Town. The team performance of this and many other seasons saw Logica beat Town for the first time ever courtesy of a Spence hat-trick, a Lambert brace and yet another goal from Johninho. With confidence brimming, Logica held the eventual League runners-up Monaco of Lambeth to a 2-2 draw with goals from Abbott and Spence, before gaining revenge by beating Dark Star 3-1 in the return league encounter. Stevie Lambert again did the damage by scoring two.

It was just as well that Logica notched these points when they did, for yet another disappointing end to a season saw the club lose five out of their six remaining fixtures. The only point came in a bad-tempered 2-2 draw against Montague Arms. Memories of Sidaway’s fate were aroused when a Montague player was sent off for an attempted cartoon head-butt on Johninho, the drama heightened by the fact that the Teessider’s entire family were in the crowd. However, two goals from Abbott, both crafted by his strike partner Spence, gained Logica their final point of the season.

The lowest point of the season from a purely footballing perspective came against Oakway, whom Logica had thrashed 7-1 back in October. This time Logica produced one of their worst displays, not helped by the inimitable Barry Millar turning up late after falling asleep in the bath. At the start of the season, Oakway had purchased a bottle of champagne to be opened when they won their first match of the season. It still remained in the kit-bag come March, rapidly attaining a fine vintage status, that is until Logica came along and helped pop the cork. The most notable thing about this game was a goal by Stevie Lambert from the penalty spot, his eleventh of the season which ultimately ensured he pipped Abbott to the Golden Boot by a single strike.

The rest was fairly dire as well, Logica being comprehensively beaten by Montague, Golborne, Monaco and St Anselms and only scoring a single goal in the process (Steve Mitchell blasting in a free kick for his first and only goal for the club). Thankfully even this poor run of results was not enough to enable Oakway or Brentford to catch us up, and a final haul of just nine points saw us finish one place above the relegation zone. Not very satisfying, but perhaps there would be more to look forward to in this summer’s Logica World Cup in Antwerp?

The stars of the season were undoubtedly top-scorer Steve Lambert, and Johninho, now settling in to the club in his second season after giving up the pretence of being a striker. Jeff Hatton was again the main man at the back, ably assisted by the brilliant Chris Wildsmith between the sticks. Abbott and Spence were still holding their own up front, even though the Scotsman missed half the season holidaying in the States. Most impressive of all though was Keiran Toman who only missed one match all season. Not content with this level of commitment, the stream-lined Geordie went on to appear in every game the following season, and in fact did not miss another match until 1998. Sad man.

SEASON AT A GLANCE:
Most Appearances: Keiran Toman (20 out of 21 games max)
Golden Boot: Steve Lambert (11 goals in 18 games)
Players' Player of the Year: Not Awarded
Goal of the Season: Not Awarded
Football Writers' Player of the Year: Jeff Hatton & Johninho (Both with 3 MoM's each)
Biggest Victory: 7-1 v Oakway (a)
Heaviest Defeat: 2-7 v Oakway (h)
Goals Scored: 45 goals in 21 games
Goals Conceded: 63 goals in 21 games
Clean Sheets: Zero in 21 games