The score-line should not be read as Logica having lost by 20,002 goals to 1, however plausible that may sound to the casual observer : our forward-thinking opponents are actually called Santos 2000. On the contrary, 1997 can be statistically viewed as a steady and quite dramatic improvement, as each result this year is three goals better than the previous one. Sadly, after three games, such a steep upward climb is still not sufficient to avoid defeat.

Our opponents here were not that impressive as evidenced by the fact that today's goalkeeper elect, Abbott, had very few saves to make. Santos' dangerous forward was soon ear-marked, and a combination of Clarke and Sidaway steadily marked him out of the game. It was however this player's early cross that led to the first Santos goal. Abbott and Hatton converged on a lone striker at the near post desperate to stop any goal-bound flick. All three collapsed in a heap on the floor as the ball squirmed loose. The Santos striker was quickest to his feet and tapped into an empty goal.

A breakaway goal early in the second-half found Logica appealing in vain for off-side, but at least this controversial decision seemed to anger the away side and they started to compete. Wilf Mannion had obviously had enough of this modern technical namby-pamby stuff, and advised his protege to raise the tempo by clearing a couple of our opponents into Row Z. Johninho duly obliged with some very precise late-tackling which earned him a booking and nearly started a twenty-man brawl. When things had calmed down, Wilf re-directed his attentions to the football, and a flash of the old-timer's inspiration had Johninho dummying a through-ball which left Spence clear. A low cross flummoxed Hatton, who was aiming for his fourth goal in four games, but not half-time substitute Moore who finished with some aplomb. A desperate last five minutes found Logica playing as they maybe should have for the previous eighty-five. A number of chances came and went, and Xenophontos was unluckiest of all when his goalbound effort was headed onto the underside of the cross-bar by a defender. Too little too late and not many complaints.