This was the tale of one cat. The latest in a long line of feline number ones, who between them must have picked tens of thousands of balls out of Logica nets over the years. Remember the immortal plastic heroics of Hajitoffi? The dextrous athlete that was Sibley? The breath-taking agility of Stone? Even given the near legendary status of current incumbent Wildsmith, there can be none who have had such an impressive debut as Mark "Whatty" Whatling. That the score remained respectable was solely down to this be-gloved hero, and it was a tragedy that he did not end up on the winning side.

Within minutes of the kick-off Whatling was fully aware of what he was up against. The Logica defence parted with a precision that Moses would have appreciated, and Whatling was called upon to dive bravely at the oncoming forward's feet. Next it was a full length finger-tip save from a twenty yard thunderbolt. Two successive corners required first a brave punch and then a reflex save. And so the half progressed. Logica's attacking insipidness was further crippled by Lambert pulling another hamstring (how many has he got?) and then insisting that he was fit to carry on. It was not until fifteen minutes from the end that he finally crumpled in a heap, and the justifiably miffed Duff finally got the chance to contribute a full quota of working limbs.

Whatling had more than used up Logica's quota of nine lives when the deadlock was finally broken. A long hoof was misjudged by Dick, and the ball bounced into the path of a Cultural forward who finally managed to beat Whatling, albeit only just as a left paw narrowly failed to deflect the ball the right side of the post. The second half drove down the same one-way street, and only Whatling managed to move up a gear. A cat- alogue of furr-nominal saves littered the last forty-five minutes, ensuring The Cat the lion's share of the headlines in the next day's papers.

Cultural only managed to beat Whatling twice more and looked to be cantering to a comfortable 3-0 win when Lambert finally bowed to the inevitable. Duff got his overdue chance, and nearly turned the game in what time was left. His tigerish midfield tackling gave Logica some decent possession, and Abbott took advantage, as he broke clear only to be hauled down for a penalty that he converted himself. Minutes later a fine through ball from Duff was laid off by Gildea and Abbott buried the volley to give the home side some belated but unfulfilled hope.