Ageing striker Mark Abbott ended his goal-drought in spectacular fashion, even scoring one of his four goals whilst playing as goalkeeper for Logica. Martin "Johninho" Johnson also ended his disciplinary-points-drought in spectacular fashion, contriving to get himself sent-off after only half-an-hour for dangerous tackling. Manlio Trovato also added to the terminal atmosphere of the game, by ending any speculation that he might be the answer to Logica’s goalkeeping prayers.

Originally a free weekend, a mutually convenient Friendly match was arranged against Kenchels FC, who derive from the Integrated Works company which joined Logica a few years ago. We had played the same team in a pre-season friendly in the summer of 1996 and had been soundly thrashed by six goals to one. The short notice of the fixture meant that a number of key personnel had arranged alternative activities. Further, ex-Supremo Clarke was missing, and rumours were rife that he would no longer mess about with a two-bit outfit such as Logica, now that he was walking in a Keegan Wonderland. In short we had our work cut out.

A positive start saw Logica create a number of chances all of which were wasted, although Jon Clarke was a bit unlucky to hit the bar. Typically, Kanchels then took the lead. One of the few pointed arrows in their near-empty quiver, was the long-throw on a narrow pitch. After a number of unconvincing escapes, Logica finally succumbed to a familiar foe. A throw-in practically to the near post got the faintest of touches, and found Abbott in goal somewhat slow to react. This seemed to spur Logica to greater efforts and it was not long before an equaliser materialised from a reliable source. A lovely ball from midfield sent Spence clear, and the composed Scot rounded the keeper before slotting home to make it 1-1.

At this point Logica were looking a classy outfit. Johninho in particular was playing his best game for many years in the Sweeper position. Freed of marking responsibilities, Johninho was everywhere, covering, tackling and distributing. He was demanding the ball and using it superbly. Logica looked a different team, as there was no longer any fear in passing the ball backwards to maintain possession. Then Johninho ruined it all. As Logica defended a corner, Johnson was pushed and shoved, and had his shirt pulled. The referee maintained an diplomatic disinterest in these offences, but soon had little alternative but to intercede. The corner was cleared, but returned to Kanchels’ left-winger. Johninho was clearly frustrated by having his shirt pulled a moment earlier, and set off to the wing with steam coming out of his ears. As one and all feared what might happen, Johninho launched himself into a ferocious tackle. Although the winger clattered to the ground, Johninho did actually take the ball first. However, the intent seemed clear to one and all, and it would be an understatement to describe it as inappropriate for such a ‘Friendly’ fixture. There were few complaints when Johnson was asked to leave the field. Sympathy did evaporate to a degree, however, when the Kanchels captain chased after Johninho as he left the field, squealing after him: "What’s your name? What’s your name? I’m going to tell Martin Read of you." Quite the most pathetic reaction this reporter has ever seen on a football field.

Whether it was the removal of Johnson, or the inspiration of such childish goading, Logica flourished. Almost immediately Hoyland’s pace burned the Kanchels left-back and a low-cross was converted spectacularly by Spence with a close-range diving header. Soon after Toman burst into the Kanchels penalty area, nut-megged a defender before appearing to be blocked. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and Logica had no hesitation either in summoning goalkeeper Abbott from the other end of the field. Abbott duly maintained his record of never having missed a penalty for Logica, and surely became the first Logica player to ever score whilst playing in goal. It could have been a classic sixties Western: ‘He Scored With His Gloves On’.

The second half saw Abbott pass the keeping jersey to Trovato, and Hoyland take a rest so that Bramwell could make his second club appearance in the last four hours. The game was fairly even for a while, with chances at both ends. Abbott headed a long throw from Toman over the keeper but saw it rebound off the inside of the post. Another peach of a shot from Abbott brough a great diving save from the Kenchels number one, who did equally well to stop Bramwell scoring from the rebound. Finally though Kenchels appeared to make their one man advantage tell, as successive defensive howlers allowed the home side to level. First Trovato passed straight to a Kenchels forward who showed no mercy. Then Trovato flapped at a corner, and after a couple of defenders had made equally inept attempts at clearances, a Kenchels player volleyed home to put us out of our misery.

This could have been the end for Logica but once more they fought back against adversity. The two best players on the day were Toman and Burdett who combined dogged defending with swift attacking support, not to mention some visionary passing. At last it seems that Logica have found two players good enough to play the wing-back roles that are fundamental to the 3-5-2 formation. Logica nearly scored when Abbott broke clear and squared to Toman, but the pass was just too far in front of the balding wing-man, and he couldn’t quite control his shot. Next Hoyland went on a dazzling sprint and wasted no time in fizzing a twenty-yarder just over the bar. Eventually it was the passing ability of Spence, playing as sweeper in the second half, that unlocked the door. A low diagonal pass was cushioned by Hoyland, and Abbott pounced to fire the rebound home.

Now Logica were on fire again. A fantastic passing move culminated with Pace slipping a finely weighted pass into Abbott, who cut back inside his defender and a curled a delicate left-foot shot in off the post for a 5-3 advantage. The scoring climaxed thanks to yet another raking pass by Burdett, fully 40 yards to the unmarked Abbott closing in on goal. A first time volley was saved by the keeper, but rebounded straight to Abbott, who dummied a shot to floor the keeper, completely missed the tap-in that resulted, but recovered to side-foot a powerful shot into the roof of the net from the acutest of angles, much to the irritation of his vocal colleagues. Fannying that was simply world-class in quality, but clearly not appreciated by some of the more inexperienced members of the squad!