With a new season just around the corner it's time to maybe reflect on the high's and lows of the season just past. Season 2001-2002 started with high hopes promotion and a Cup run. The target of promotion was thought possible because of the strength of the squad together with the mid-table consolidation achieved the previous season. Little did we know at the time, though, that a player of the quality of Richmond would hang up his Logica boots, nor that the injury to the then club captain Gautam, sustained while on international duty in Amsterdam, would prove to be long term. Still, despite these early set backs, we actually started the season in fine spirits.

After a false start when our scheduled opener against Holland Club was postponed because the Stade d'Ilea ground-staff has mislaid their nets, our first league game was played against league newcomers Everyman. Little was known about this team so it was up to us to welcome them to league football, and welcome them we did on a gloriously sunny Sunday morning down at the Kimber Road Stadium in Earlsfield. A rusty yet professional performance saw us take an early lead when Fazel scored the first Logica goal of the season with poacher's snaffle after a goal-mouth scramble. Sutton wrapped up the points for LFC late in the second half with a clinical finish. The 2-0 victory away from home on the opening day left everyone in high spirits but the der management kept their feet rooted firmly on terra-firma, knowing that a long season still awaited us.

There's always room for improvement, but a hastily arranged friendly against Third Division Dark Star Reserves did not really help. With only ten players available, the manager of Dark Star offered to play for us and was quite honestly Logica's best player in a very below par performance which saw us out classed by 6 goals to 2, with Banoub and Taylor notching. Noobie was a lucky boy after snatching the ball off Loriot to take a penno: he scored much to his own relief, because if he hadn't, he would've again found himself being disciplined by the Supremo.

Such friendly frailty was further exposed as we went on to lose our next two games. Lillington had started the season in excellent form, having won all their games, and one of those with just nine men. Early season optimism was still alive, but any notions of victory were quickly dispelled as the Lills flew into a 3-0 lead inside just 10 minutes. At this point everyone realised that it was going be a damage limitation exercise. The final score of 10-4 did not really represent limited damage, nor did it flatter the Lills either. At Lurker entertained both himself and his team-mates with a goal at each end, and a goal celebration to rival my own 'Village Idiot' routine. Kensington Stanley were league leaders when we faced them, but a 4-2 defeat was disappointing as a strong team didn't really fulfil its potential, despite the talents of Loriot being imported from France for the morning. Never mind promotion - staying up was starting to look like it would be achievement enough.

Fortunately some relief was around the corner in the shape of Townmead. They had started badly and like us desperately needed some reason to be optimistic. I decided that some Lag experience was required to steady a rocking boat, and Malcolm Dick proved the able seaman we were looking for. Fortunately, for the most part we played well, though the final 20 minutes were a lot closer than they should have been, but we hung on to register our second victory of the season by 3-1. Fan favourite Hoyzone set the ball rolling with a bullet header before Abbo settled the outcome with a brace, the first courtesy of some international class fannying that may have caused irreparable damage to his hamstrings.

This boost was followed by a lucrative first round Ron Le Beau Challenge Cup tie away to Senior Amateur Reserve outfit Worlds End. The pressures of the league melted away as we turned in a brilliant team performance with every player on top of his game, and Goliath was once again by slain by tiny Logica with Wood and Hoyland grabbing a thoroughly deserved victory.

We made it three wins on the bounce, with the shock of that Cup win returning the confidence we had badly missed in a stuttering st-start to the campaign. Highly placed Parsons Green welcomed us back to the league programme, and we responded in style by carving out a thoroughly deserved victory against a side who thought they were in for an easy Sunday mornings' work. Trovato, Taylor and Devitt in his only appearance of the season scored in a stirring second half comeback that over-turned a solitary strike from the Green before the break.

Six points and the prospect of more Cup glory warmed the cockles as Winter approached, but in true Logica style the next two games provided another severe reality check. First high flying London Radnor tore us apart 8-2, with the right-field pace of Field providing the only positive note via some second half penetration. Worse was to follow in the return fixture against Everyman, who did not boast a single victory in their brief existence. Without our regular back four, the visitors took full advantage to seize a flying 3-0 half time lead. The second half was a bit better but the damage was done, and a final result of 1-5 ensured a popular place for Logica in the future historic annals of the Everyman club. It didn't seem like it at the time, but there were some bright spots with Julian Howarth scoring his first goal in Logica colours, and Richard McWilliam turning in a debut performance that boded well for the future.

The season was to continue in this vain for the most part: a series of defeats followed by a run of victories. It was clear that our problem was finding some consistency, some weeks playing out of our skins whilst other Sundays we would concede defeat weakly. A routine 2-0 victory over Gardeners Arms (during which a bored "If Selected..." scribe endeavoured to combat the poor quality fare on offer by digging up 36 gardening allusions for his match report)was followed by a defeat by Santos. This in turn was followed by another victory, this time 5-1 over South West Eighteen, the highlight of which was His Noobship dissing the oppo goalie after scoring a stunning two-yarder. I believe it went along the lines of "Pick that one out you fat bastard!". Rather unsurprisingly, this was a bad tempered game.............

Racing Club Santos followed next and again put us to the sword, running out 6-1 winners this time to add to their 3-1 victory a couple of weeks earlier. Memories of these two defeats were quickly erased, however, when the we drew the same team in the second round of the Cup. Not surprisingly they were confident, but it wasn't to be Santos' day, but rather a case of third time lucky for us. It was probably our best performance of the season, as we ended up winning an exceptionally tight contest 2-1, Reeves and new star McWilliam providing the finishing.

This game signalled the Christmas break, so half way through the season, we were firmly entrenched in mid-table, as close to the top as were the bottom, but at least we were still in the Cup.

The first game back after Christmas saw us take on the Gardeners again, but there wasn't to be a repeat of November's victory as we finally lost 4-3 after being 4-0 down at half time. On a bright note, though, Brown scored his first of the season, and was then promptly booked for a tackle so late it would have impressed Roy Keane. A home defeat to Prince of Wales followed, and then our glorious Cup run came to a valiant end in the quarter-finals. A second consecutive 3-2 defeat was scant reward for another bold effort against higher league opposition in the shape of South Wimbledon.

Again confidence visibly dropped, but sure enough, when we needed it most, Townmead were there to oblige. We ran out comfortable 6-0 winners with Abbo scoring four, and in the process taking his Logica career tally over the 150 mark, truly an impressive milestone reached by a great club servant.

Parsons Green were up next, keen to keen to gain revenge for their defeat against us earlier in the season. They did just that, chalking up a 6-1 victory that wiped out all our good work from the previous week in the process. Radnor followed, still in with a chance of promotion whilst we needed points to secure our status in the division. It all went exceptionally well in the first half as we raced into a 4-1 interval lead with debutante Dave Holton impressing greatly at right-back. In typical Logica style, however, we allowed our concentration to waiver and Radnor back into the game and snatched a 6-5 defeat from the jaws of victory. An infuriating match for the manager, though thoroughly entertaining for the neutral.

Characteristically, these two disappointing defeats were followed by three straight victories which effectively guaranteed us Second Division football again next season. In performances of varying quality, South West Eighteen, Ken Stanley and Holland Club were all dispatched as we knocked in eleven goals. The second leg of our Dutch double-header saw us disappointingly draw 0-0, the first time we had failed to find the net all the season. With nothing left to play for, the season petered out dramatically as we finished with two 5-0 defeats at the hands of crowned champions Lillington who didn't lose a single league game all season) and Prince of Wales, who finished one above us in fifth place.

So a reasonable team effort, but on an individual basis who did well? Trovato managed the most appearances, a staggering 21 out of a possible 25, with last years Player of the Season, Mainwaring tying second place in the appearances race with Taylor with 20 games apiece. Abbott was the club's top scorer with 11 goals and also got 7 assists, a 'new-goals' feat only bettered by top assister Reevaldo who bagged 11 assists to go with his goal. Abbo's achievements were all the more remarkable because he missed much of the season with a problematic hamstring.

A final placing of sixth in a twelve-team division wasn't a bad performance in the end. We only managed to take three points from those team above us (our 3-1 win over runners-up Parsons Green), and conversely only suffered three defeats by teams below us. All in all, one couldn't really argue that we didn't deserve a mid-table finish.

We scored a total of 54 league goals at an average of roughly 2.5 a game. However we conceded 74 in our 22 league games (an average of roughly 3.4) which is something that needs to be addressed before we start out next time. We won 9 and drew 1, leaving 12 defeats.

So my thoughts turn to the next campaign, due to start on September 8th. We should all be looking to the 2002-03 season with confidence after the performances in Prague during the summer. If we can recreate that form on a regular basis then there should be nothing to fear from the teams that we will face. There's a lot of familiar opponents remaining in our division from last season, and some new ones too. Consequently, this time out, we will have some awareness of our opposition's strengths and weaknesses. If the Supremo and the new Assistant Supremo can deliver the tactical guile necessary for a successful campaign, then just maybe promotion will become a reality come next April. I could quite get a liking for this trophy-lifting malarkey!

Until next season, yours inspirationally,

SEASON AT A GLANCE:
Most Appearances: Manlio Trovato (21 out of 25 games max)
Golden Boot: Mark Abbott (11 goals in 14+3 games)
Players' Player of the Year: Jeff Hatton
Goal of the Season: Mark Abbott vs Townmead
Football Writers' Player of the Year: Ian Reeves (incl. Four MoM Awards)
Biggest Victory: 6-0 v Townmead (a)
Heaviest Defeat: 4-10 v Lillington (a)
Number of Players used: 33
Goals Scored: 60 goals in 25 games (average 2.40 per game)
Goals Conceded: 78 goals in 25 games (average 3.12 per game)
Clean Sheets: Four in 25 games (average one every 6.25 games)