Logica have a rare Sunday off this coming weekend, and after last Sunday's narrow defeat against Olympia, players and fans alike will be anxiously twiddling their thumbs hoping that results involving our relegation rivals go in our favour.
This week the news is good, and appropriately enough on 29th February, there were a few games of leap-frog going on. The most startling result was Broadway trouncing Rapid Decline by 7-0 to jump over them into fifth place in the Divsion Two table. The only implication for Logica here is the slightly worrying one that bottom club Everyman visit Rapid next Sunday, so we will be hoping for a rapid incline in the home side's form.
Everyman themselves lost by a solitary goal at home to Bragança on Sunday. This win probably takes the former Mae D'Agua out of the relegation equation as they now have 21 points. However the unconvincing nature of the scoreline against opponents we know to be poor can only give us hope for our probable double-header against them on 28th March. The three points were enough, however, for Bragança to leap-frog over Spectraprint, who lost by the same single-goal margin to league leaders Wanderers. A tad ironic since Spectraprint's gallant defeat was on the face of it a far more impressive performance than Bragança scraping a win against the bottom side.
All of which leaves the match between title-chasing West Ten, who were entertaining our relegation rivals Deportivo Galicia on the pitch next to ours on Sunday. The game was going to form with second-placed Ten winning 5-1 in the second half when matters kicked off in somewhat spectacular fashion. A witness who wishes to remain anonymous (perhaps because he was supposed to be concentrating on Logica's titanic struggle against Olympia?!?) reported that "a Galician kicked a West Tenian whilst he was on the deck," and a 15-man brawl ensued with punches being thrown with some vigour. Apparently the game had no official referee, with the perhaps inevitable upshot that the teams could not be reconciled and the match was abandoned.
Its far too soon for any judgement to be passed by the mandarins down at Sportmans League HQ, but the scoreline at the time of the abandonment has not been allowed to stand, at least in the latest published league table. The initial beneficiaries are Wanderers, who have opened up a six point over West Ten lead at the top.
It is similarly too soon to speculate on the likely impact on Logica of any disciplinary punishment meted out to either club. Whilst the Supremo has targetted our two remaining fixtures against Deportivo in April as must-win matches, it is also worth noting that Inter Wandsworth, our closest other rivals, are also yet to play Galicia. Mind you, in the extreme (and unlikely) scenario of West Ten being disqualified, our goal difference would certainly look slightly less embarrassing!
See the Results Grid for the results of all Division Two teams this season.
Division Two Results -
Sunday 29th February
Broadway 7-0 Rapid Decline
Everyman Utd 0-1 Bragança
Logica 2-3 Olympia
Wanderers Utd 1-0 Spectraprint
West Ten v Deportivo Galicia(Match abandoned with score at 5-1)
Division Two Fixtures -
Sunday 7th March
Broadway v Inter Wandsworth(Richardson Evans)
Olympia v Wanderers United(Riverside Lands)
Rapid Decline v Everyman United(Kings College)
Spectraprint v Supercala(Richardson Evans)
West Ten v Bragança(Riverside Lands)