[Double header match: see report of the first match.]

After holding their own in the morning's first double header match against fourth-placed Sands End, falling only to an unfortunate own goal in first half injury time, Logica were confident that they could take something from the immediate return match. The mud may have been getting thicker, but there was little evidence of any quick Sands, and talk beforehand was that a single goal might again be enough to decide all three points.

Methuselian forward had been the only casualty of the first encounter, but the reoccurrence of his thigh injury had merely allowed other players to return to their preferred positions: replacing him up front, whilst advanced up the right flank to a more familiar midfield role. After a number of false starts, finally appeared in a Logica shirt and made his first start at right-back in this second match. The new man would show some tenacious spirit, some good timing in the tackle, and a willingness to build from the back with a well-placed pass.

Despite the pre-match optimism, Logica started poorly as Sands End dominated the early exchanges. It was not clear if the play that occurred after just five minutes was tragedy or comedy, but those at the back clearly forgot their lines as a confused interchange resulted in clearing weakly straight to an End forward from wide in his own penalty area. As the Logica keeper scrambled desperately across to recover his ground, the player in blue easily pushed the ball past the lunging only to be up-ended. It was significant to the later drama that was shown a yellow card for his challenge, although by the strict interpretation of the laws he might have seen red straight away as the Sands man would have been left to tap into an empty net but for the gloveman's illegal intervention.

The spot-kick was duly dispatched [0-1] and Logica were soon in danger of losing the plot before they had really got through the first act. A Sands End corner was met with a towering header that looped the ball wide of only to get stuck in the mud a yard out. The money was on a blue shirt firing home from this dangerous no man's land, but instead it was who reacted fastest from his position guarding the post, and the midfielder showed no little bravery in hacking the loose ball clear in the nick of time. Minutes later Sands End again seemed certain to score when a forward volleyed wide of from just 8 yards out, but quick reactions from the mud-caked Logica gloveman enabled him to dive on the ball just before it crossed the line.

Having survived this early onslaught and only taken one direct hit in the process, Logica gradually regrouped and fought their way back into the match. A stubborn insistence on trying to pass the ball along the ground finally began to reap some dividends, and the Logica equaliser just before the interval was reward for the move of the match. Some quick passing funnelled the ball into 's feet, and, with his back to goal, a neat turn seemed to set up a shooting chance but instead the unselfish striker laid the ball off to the advancing . There was just a small gap to find, but did just that, smashing the ball emphatically into the top right-hand corner of the net past a helpless keeper [1-1].

Logica tails were up in the second half as they visibly grew in confidence after the goal. and were everywhere and and were posing considerable threat down either flank. It was the latter's marauding run down the left that so nearly set up a second. fed the ball into the channel, and, having kept it in play, effortlessly burst past the full-back and along the bye-line before looking up and cutting the ball back. Ironically, given the lack of Logica bodies in the box up until this moment, two players now converged on the same ball. was running onto the ball from deep, but had been there first. Twisting from a standing position, the striker was unable to yield much power in his left-foot shot, and a relieved keeper gratefully fell on the ball.

From the next attack Sands End won a corner that would prove decisive. As the players lined up for the kick, a forward manoeuvred himself in front of and on the goal-line. pushed his defender to try and make himself some space to move in, but the Sands man took umbrage at the domino effect. Some classic handbags ensued whilst the man in black peeped for all he was worth. After a frank exchange of views, both players made their way to the referee to be shown the yellow card. Since was already in the book following the first half penalty incident, a red card quickly followed, thereby becoming the first player in the club's history to be sent off twice.

Whilst the decision could perhaps be justified by the letter of the law, a rash of bookings and pernickety decisions in difficult conditions revealed a referee who knew the rule book but not the game. He had booked in the first match after a failure to award the Logica man a free kick after a clear barge off the ball which was met with an uncharacteristically blunt verbal response from the midfielder. The same player was again booked late in the second game, quickly followed by , both for proffering their views on incidents. It is unusual to see the yellow card brandished six times in one season, let alone six times on one Sunday morning. The pushing and shoving that followed the goal-line square-up was the usual harmless posturing, and most referees would have been able to control the outbreak with a sharp word without resorting to cards.

Unfortunately, Logica were severely punished twice over for this minor misdemeanour. No sooner had donned the departing 's mud-soaked number one jersey, than the corner was fired into the middle of the six yard box. A distracted Logica defence failed to clear the danger, and the loose ball was turned home from close range [1-2], leaving to pick the ball out of the back of the net as his first goalkeeping task.

With time running out and now a man down, Logica were unable to get close to another equaliser and the two hours of football ended pointlessly shortly afterwards. It was far from being a vintage display of football, but the Logica players had given everything and had looked more than comfortable at 1-1 in the second game. But the Football Gods are apt to amuse themselves on such dull days, and was their victim of choice on this dark winter's morning. To fall to an own goal and a sending off is cruel stuff, but the manner of the Logica performance against a team who moved up to third place as a result should at least stand them in good stead in the battles ahead.