Match abandondoned after 89 minutes; Logica awarded the points.

Football hooliganism is once more in the spotlight as Logica's vital relegation clash with Benedict was abandoned with just one minute left on the clock due to crowd disturbances. Early unofficial reports hint at orchestrated violence by an organised group of thuggish Benedict fans intent on making trouble. Insiders from the ring of hard-core 'Firms' that are associated with many of the clubs up and down the country stated that there was a new up-and-coming crew of Benedict so-called 'supporters' who have been causing trouble through-out this season. Apparently this vicious and dangerous band of hooligans have named themselves, somewhat enigmatically, 'The Two Little Girls', or TLG.

Logica themselves have had a long and disgraceful history of crowd violence, and are well known for their own notorious 'crew' of trouble-makers, the ICF (Izza City Firm), who has caused all manner of violent mayhem at Logica games over the last ten years. Whilst a senior ICF ring-leader was thought to have infiltrated the home supporters area of terracing at yesterday's game, it appears the trouble that broke out was due solely to TLG abuse directed at the game's referee. Finally the referee felt physically threatened by the TLG, and abandoned the game out of consideration for his own safety.

Whilst the game had been niggly throughout, most of the problems arose from verbal spats with an increasingly desperate and dictatorial referee. Logica employed all the experience gained over years of silent submission and kept their mouths firmly shut. Benedict on the other hand got more and more frustrated and each decision brought with it an angrier outburst of incredulous complaints. To be fair to the referee, most of his decisions were pretty good, it was more his complete unacceptance of the even the most innocent responses from the players that was aggravating. In the first half, Spence had been deliberately elbowed in the stomach, and Sidaway had been kneed in the head whilst lying on the ground. In the second half, as Benedict lost their collective rags, they resorted to some dangerous tackling as a means of letting off steam. Gow and Toman were both cynically and viciously felled. Bookings resulted and the temperature increased still higher. As one player was being booked, Toman was head-butted ("only lightly" - Geordies, eh?!?) by an opponent, and then Moore was pushed to the ground as he tried to alert the referee to what had happened.

Things subsequently calmed down a bit, and some football was played. But then a string of off-side decisions given against Benedict incensed both players and supporters alike. The referee was openly accused of cheating, and the Benedict manager on the side-lines was booked as the referee began to lose control. It was at this point that the TLG decided to strike. Choosing their weapons carefully, they launched a cynical and vicious attack on the referee as he walked back onto the pitch. Not Stanley knives, coins, half-bricks or spiked golf-balls for them. Oh no, something far more subtle, the TLG hurled ..... an insult. One of the younger TLGs accused the referee of "looking like Mr Bean!". Ouch. The referee decided to face this vicious onslaught head-on, and seemed to have identified the perpetrator in the crowd. Approaching what later transpired to be the more junior member of the TLG, the referee brought his note-pad from this breast-pocket. It looked as if we was going to book the hooligan in the crowd! Well, this was too much for an already irate Benedict team, and the man in black was quickly surrounded by players and management from the home club. Plenty of pushing and gesticulating ensued, and the referee finally decided that things had got out of hand. A little peep on his whistle, and he announced that the match was to be abandoned. With one minute left on the clock!

Perhaps the biggest tragedy of this slightly early finish is that Logica's hard-earned draw will never see the record books. A fine defensive performance should have won a merited point. Spence added some culture to a solid back-three comprising Clarke and Trovato, and with Moore and Fleming on the flanks, Benedict were restricted to a hand-full of chances. Of these, Abbott saved two one-on-one chances with his feet just before the break (a tad ironic as Abbott had originally been dropped for this game, but had been roused from his bed at 9.30am due to a couple of non-appearances). As ever, Logica conceded a sloppy goal just after the break, but thereafter, uncharacteristically and resolutely set about re-establishing parity. Finally, amid the carnage going on around, Spence broke purposefully from the back and combined with Fleming for the latter to set Gow clear. The youngster held his nerve to draw the Benedict keeper, round him and side-foot home his first ever goal for Logica FC. Shame for the lad that the goal will be expunged from the records!