A strangely subdued Logica side threw away a golden opportunity to ease clear of the relegation zone. Against a fairly ordinary Southfields side, who were reduced to ten men mid-way through the first half, Logica somehow contrived to concede more comedy goals than they could score. In the end, Spence’s well-taken hat-trick proved to be insufficient.

As seems traditional on these occasions (i.e. a Sunday morning), Logica began slowly before finding any kind of rhythm. It was only after some fifteen minutes penned into their own half, that they began to pose any kind of threat. Abbott squandered a half chance on six yards due to a poor first touch, before Spence gave Logica the lead. Trovato provided a good early cross which looped over Abbott and the last defender. Spence found himself unmarked, and accurately headed over an advancing goalkeeper to give the home-side a 1-0 lead and some much needed confidence.

Further pressure ensued, and Toman was instrumental with some strong runs down the left. One such run was created via an elaborate dummy by Abbott on half-way. Whilst completely unnecessary, this is what the supporters pay to see.

The key incident of the first half involved libero Manlio Trovato. A Southfields player pushed the ball past Trovato as last man, and both turned to chase. In pursuit, the attacker flung an arm out to push Trovato out of the way, and ended up punching Trovato in the mouth. The Italian fell to the ground with a yelp of pain and the referee rightly blew for a free-kick to Logica. A number of Southfields players seemed to take exception to our libero’s reaction, despite the plain evidence of the blood around Trovato’s lips. One of the more ‘lively’ players in Southfields ranks rushed over, bent down and started shouting accusations into the prostrate Trovato’s face. The Italian has picked up most of English Sunday morning football’s colourful vocabulary, but explained afterwards that he was unable to pick out few words from this torrent, apart from the oft repeated ‘f***ing’ and ‘c***’. Further frustrated by this inability to make himself understood, our animated opponent decided to slap Trovato around the face a bit. By this time, the referee had reached the crime scene, and after such a blatant display of violence right under his nose, was left with little alternative but to send the offender off.

Back to the football, and wouldn’t you just know it, the ten men equalised almost immediately. Richmond won a powerful header on half-way but was penalised for a mysterious infringement. Perhaps this was a collective punishment for the previous thirty minutes spent babbling garbage? The free kick was launched into the middle of the Logica penalty area. In Red Sea style, the Logica players parted to either side of the eighteen yard box, leaving the smallest Southfields player to run through the middle. As Appleyard began to advance from his line, the Southfields midfielder continued his advance, but was looking at the goal rather than the ball. Incredibly, the ball hit him square on the side of the head, and he unwittingly deflected it past an incredulous keeper (1-1).

At half-time Logica brought on Gow for the injured Jon Clarke, but 15 minutes of comedy defending effectively threw the game away. First a hopefully cross found Richmond defending deep. A desperate effort ball past a once more startled Appleyard into his own goal (1-2). Minutes later, the Southfields right-winger hoisted another hopeful cross into the danger zone. Appleyard advanced to collect unchallenged, but the ball slipped through his fingers, and was smashed home by a Southfields striker from an acute angle (1-3). With no time to take stock, Logica soon found themselves out-numbered in a breakaway attack by the buoyant away side. An accurate through-ball left a Southfields player with a clean run on goal. Rounding the exposed Appleyard, the striker was taken out by a trailing arm. Fortunate not to be red-carded, Appleyard was given no chance with the penalty (1-4).

Understandably Logica’s heads were down as they tried to work out how they had conceded four goals against ten men. Gradually some spark returned, and realising that Southfields were not actually that good anyway, they began to think that a point might not be an impossibility. Whilst not being that convincing, Logica managed to carve out some chances. Richmond hit the bar when played through, and then was unlucky to head over at the second attempt after the Southfields keeper fumbled a corner. Eventually it was Spence who made the break-through. A low cross from Burdett somehow squirmed it’s way to Spence who turned and shot. A slight deflection gave the keeper even less chance (2-4). With more belief Logica pressed forward and won a corner. Southfields had difficulty clearing, and the scorer of their first goal scuffed a hoof straight to Spence, eight yards out. The lethal Scot does not refuse invitations like that, and buried a third goal for himself (3-4).

There were still ten minutes left, but Logica didn’t really threaten again. The final whistle brought dejection for the home-side, and was greeted with some witty chants of ‘... down with the Montague, you’re going down with the Montague...’ from the victorious Southfields wags. There is only one way to respond to that kind of goading and Logica have their chance with a game against bottom placed Montague Arms next week. Logica managed to stay ahead of Southfields, but only by the slenderest of goal average margins (0.0045 of a goal), and Southfields do have five games in hand! Logica’s last game of the season now takes on even bigger significance.