Some absurd administrative over-caution relegated this much-awaited big league game into a meaningless friendly. Logica were able to select from a strong squad, with only a runny-nosed Fleming and a hobbling Hoyland unavailable. Those lucky enough to be selected awoke on Sunday morning to find things all a little hazy. Strangely this was not actually the after-effects of the previous evenings alcoholic intake in most cases, but rather the result of rare meteorological conditions overnight which left London clouded in a thick, damp and cold fog of fabled pea-soup proportions. On arriving at the ground, scepticism was high, but a polite enquiry to the referees room returned an unequivocally optimistic outlook. After forty-five minutes of laboured warming up, when our opponents had finally arrived, word seeped out from our official that a change of mind meant our match was now cancelled. Whilst vision was definitely limited (in more ways than one), the time-honoured measure for these situations is whether both goals can be seen from half way. They could. The conditions could only improve as an insipid sun set about it’s slow work, and as both teams wanted to play the game, it seemed a strange decision. Still, ours is not to reason why. We even dispatched our Referees PR Representative (Johninho, of course) across the misty scrubs, to use his well-honed referee-diplomacy skills in a last-ditch attempt to persuade our reluctant official to play the game. To no avail (once a referee has made his decision.... etc.). So we ended up playing the match as a friendly, with Battersea’s manager kindly stepping into the breach as the replacement man in black.

The game was still a useful exercise, and Logica played extremely well in the first half against powerful opposition. With the pressure off, our heroes relaxed into a more confident passing game exemplified by the opening goal. Building up from the back, Toman slipped a short pass to Abbott on half-way. The striker turned to spot a marauding Johninho galloping down the left touch line and find him with a well-weighted pass. Johninho rode one tackle and reached the bye-line from where he pulled back an intelligent cross. Jon Clarke had timed his run from deep, and from the edge of the box hit a low shot crisply just inside the near post. A fine strike with which to open his Logica goalscoring account. Despite further half-chances, it was Battersea who scored next when a hopeful cross from the left was bundled home at the far post to remind Logica that their aerial defensive frailties remain.

In the second half, Logica seemed to lose much of their self-belief and passes began to go regularly astray. This enabled a quality Park side to apply most of the pressure but Logica’s much complimented defence held firm. Today it was ex-Supremo Clarke’s turn to be the star of the show. Confronted with a nine-foot striker of great strength, trickery and pace, the lad Clarke rolled his sleeves up and got stuck into a head-to-head challenge that he clearly relished. The Battersea striker’s every run was dogged by a determined shadow who regularly nipped in front of his man to steal possession. And despite a disadvantage in height (!), Clarke still made his presence felt in the air. There were even some tasty little passes out of defence, to feet, to put the icing on the cake.

On this solid basis did Logica regain the lead somewhat against the run of play. The goal was all down to Toman. He started one of his weaving runs down the left, turning two defenders inside out at least three times. After stopping for a tab, he beat each a couple more times for good measure before cutting into the box. Despite being body-checked, Toman kept his balance and skipped past the last defender only to be felled by a scything leg. An indisputable penalty, and to show his gratitude for Toman’s splendid efforts, Abbott had little option but to tuck the penno away. 2-1.

This was where the good work ended. Logica began to look ragged as a long second half dragged on. An equaliser finally came and close to the end a long gangly run saw a Park striker cut through Logica’s last line and round keeper Davis before sending the ball goalwards. A desperate lunge from Appleyard only deflected the ball into the unguarded net, and Battersea had earned a 3-2 victory. Logica, however, should not despair at such a result against quality opponents, and their first half performance in particular gave much cause for optimism. Further, it gave another opportunity for the likes of the ever-improving pair of Burdett and Jon Clarke to bed themselves into the Logica way. Mike Davis gave another largely impressive display as our new stick-man, and debutante Ian King showed a few touches of skill. All that remains is for Logica to translate the promise shown in friendly matches into the more pressurised league arena.