Hello and welcome once again to my Matchday Programme Notes!

It's been two weeks since our last competitive outing and much has happened in the world of football. Most notably Norwich climbing to second place in the First Division of the Nationwide League - and this includes an impressive home victory over leaders Burnley.

EVERY MAN A WINNER
I was particularly happy with our victory over Everyman at King George's Park. We got the early goal that I wanted and remained in control for the most part. Everyman had spells of pressure but our defence was never overly stretched; a few scares just to get the blood pumping, but nothing serious. Considering our lack of match practise and the absence of a few key players the result was a good one. It was good to see Sutton coming off the bench to claim his first senior goal, lets hope he can continue and bag a few more as the season progresses. Reevaldo was very impressive and thoroughly deserved his MoM award - who said Brazilians didn't like English weather? Brown was also impressive in the middle of the park, as was Toman at left back, and Fazel was dynamite in the first half.

FITNESS RUN OUT
With a gap in the fixtures last weekend I was only too happy to be offered the chance to play a friendly. A phone call on Thursday night presented me with that opportunity. A squad was cobbled together on Friday morning and the game was confirmed. It was always going to be difficult to win this game because I didn't have a recognised defence available. Any team would miss the likes of Trovato, Richmond, Byrne, Mainwaring, Hatton and Fleming.

Attempts at playing 3-5-2 failed miserably, as everyone was so confused as to what they should be doing and where they should be. Hence 4-4-2 was hastily reverted to and things improved so much so that we got back to 2-2 from 2-0 down: a sign of the new Logica resolve??? This proved not to be the case as Dark Star quickly went ahead once more, and this led to the inevitable LFC collapse, and a 6-2 defeat was the final outcome. The friendly result was unimportant. What was important was that people had a run out and increased their fitness, which can only benefit themselves and the club.

THE LOGICA WAY
This week our hosts are Lillington, another team new to the Sportsmans League, and, as with Everyman, intelligence is short. My intent was to watch them on Sunday morning at Hurlingham, but unfortunately the friendly against Dark Star Reserves scuppered my intelligence gathering plan. What we do know is that Lillington have won both of the matches that they've played, by scores of 4-1 and 5-4, so goals obviously aren't proving to be a problem for them. I shall therefore be looking for a resolute defensive performance from both the midfield and the defence [Not the attack? That's a relief! Ed]. They conceded four against Parsons Green so they're not exactly watertight at the back, which is good news for us. The general plan therefore this week is to try and soak up the inevitable pressure and grab a goal or two on the counter [Older readers will recognise this as the original 'Logica Way'. Ed]. In particular, we should try and utilise the pace of Hoyland, Reeves, Abbo and Fazel.

MORE EURO PUNDITRY
There has been no shortage of European action in the last couple of weeks. Man U managed to ease pass Lille thanks to yet another late smash and grab raid by Fergie's men and in particular D.Beckham, although Deportivo La Coruna staged their own late, late show in Spain and nicked the points off Utd with a 2-1 victory. I felt really sorry for Martin O'Neill's Celtic as well. A fine second half performance from the Bhoys looked to have given them a well deserved draw before that ludicrous dive by Nicola Amoruso led to a Juve penalty and the winning goal. They made up for that defeat however when Larsson gunned down Porto. Arsenal eased past Group C whipping boys Schalke with a 3-2 victory and Liverpool ground out a well deserved draw in Dortmund. Meanwhile, Ipshit Town got a draw though they're still on their way out. Great delight was taken in informing my old man of this very fact.

[^*Editor's Note: To get an interesting insight into the jocular nature of local East Anglian football rivalries, read this.]

COMRADE GROOM SPEAKS HIS MIND
On a slightly different tack, here's my weekly rant. I think it's about time that managers looked at their players and start disciplining those that dive and cheat on a regular basis. This isn't just a problem with foreign players. English players are doing it as well, particularly the younger element. As a nation we used to pride ourselves on the fact that we didn't need to cheat to win games and directed our scorn at diving Johnnie Foreigner - not anymore it would seem.

Managers should be addressing this problem. If they don't address it at their own club, they have no grounds for shouting and screaming at the referees when they get it wrong. The refs' job is hard enough already and it's being made even harder as players conjure up more elaborate ways of cheating. I certainly won't put up with it, and if I see Logica players doing it, they will serve a mandatory one game ban of my choice. Tough justice I know, but the revolution starts here.

AND FINALLY...
At the last count the LFC squad size reached thirty. I need people to realise that I can't pick everyone at the same time. As a result some players will get left out. This is not a personal thing and I cannot stress that enough. Nobody in the team has a guaranteed right to be selected (apart from me), although I do try and keep the regulars happy. The reason for this is that I need the core of a side and I can rely on these people to turn up even when it's cold and raining in January.

I also try and pick a balanced side as it's no good having a team with eight strikers in it for instance. Everyone will get the opportunity to play, we have a lot of games this year - twenty two league games plus the cup run(s). Hopefully it'll work out so that I only have 14 available each week which makes my life and everyone else's easier but this never happens I either get ten or nineteen, which is an arse.

If you do find yourself being left out then I apologise but remember: everyone that wants to, will get a game at some point.