The arrival of British Summertime brought with it the loss of one hour's sleep, but the Logica players looked as if they had missed out on far more as a soporific collective display resulted in a fairly meek 2-0 defeat to mid-table Fulham United.

Just like any respectable East End gangster, Logica players love their mothers and the coincidence of Mother's Day and an hour's less sleep left with a far shorter availability list this week. The APB went out on the Lag Network (think Tier One Bat-Phone with slower response times) and Speyer star answered the call, despite lacking the requisite footwear. But with on an Architectural Tour of Liverpool all weekend, his shooting boots were available for hire. In the end, a quality squad was assembled, as evidenced by a bench packed with and . The only doubt was whether would be able to handle the pace, power and coordination of the Supreme Predators.

Puppet Supremo opted to start with in midfield, leaving to partner in the centre of defence. Despite chasing four passes straight from the Fulham kick-off to finally block a hurried clearance out for a throw-in, Logica quickly settled into a lethargic vein. The home side found time in midfield to pump long-balls over the top of a decidedly square-looking Logica rearguard, and only a combination of poor finishing and the lineman's flag delayed the opening Fulham goal. Finally the routine paid dividends, and the home striker raced away unchallenged to slide the ball under [0-1].

The Logica passing was not clicking, and possession in promising positions was quickly conceded via an over-hasty or simply inaccurate ball. The best chance of this period came when hoofed a Fulham clearance back from whence it came. anticipated that the skier would clear the right-back, and latched onto the bouncing ball, hitting it sweetly with his left foot from an acute angle only to see his volley fly inches over the bar.

As the half progressed, Logica improved a little and put together some decent moves. The best by far was some half dozen or so slick passes that finally saw release in the inside-left channel. took the pass in his stride and quickly curled a fierce shot towards the far post from 15 yards, but the unlikely looking Fulham keeper pulled off a spectacular full-length save.

At the interval, and swapped places in an attempt to deal with United's pacey breaks. As he had done a fortnight earlier on his debut, added plenty of competitive bite in midfield as he tried to wake Logica from their slumbers, and was also to be found prompting attacks with some neat passes. added some guile and a sure touch at left-back, regularly receiving the ball from goal-kicks and trying to build patiently and accurately from the back. But Logica moves too often broke down further forwards, and it was telling that it was an individual effort from that produced the biggest threat, the striker robbing one defender and battling his way past two more before finally being foiled by a last ditch tackle just inside the box.

Logica coped reasonably well with all that Fulham could throw at them, in particular having his work cut out against a pacey and skilful left-winger. The back four all excelled, and assured blocking and tackling meant that, for all Fulham’s possession, actually had few saves of note to make. Indeed, it was a gentle back-pass from that caused him most problems, the ball bobbling over his foot Peter Enckleman-style but luckily dribbling just the right side of the far post much to the relief of .

Other than ’s bold run, Logica came close on just two other occasions to levelling the score. Some penalty box pinball following a corner saw pounce on the loose ball and stab a well controlled effort just inches the wrong side of the post with the United keeper a helpless onlooker. And with the minutes ticking away, Logica resorted to a more primitive approach. A long free kick was lumped forwards and got up to loop a header into the danger area. defied gravity and rose salmonically above two defenders to glance a header towards the far corner, only to see the outstretched arm of the Fulham keeper deny him.

But with just two minutes left, disaster struck. again received a short goal-kick from and tried to prompt one final onslaught. The left-back was quickly closed down, but did what any self-respecting Lag would do in the circumstances - attempt an elaborate series of lollipops in order to glide elegantly past his man. Unfortunately fatigue was starting to kick in, and for a brief but vital split-second for once lost control of the Supreme boots. The Fulham man seized his chance and the ball, and sped off to slot past the Logica keeper [0-2].

The official start of British summertime thus found the Logica players feeling somewhat glum as they trudged the three miles back through the wind and rain to the luxury Riverside Lands dressing rooms. will be hoping on his return that he can prove Eddie Cochran wrong and find a cure for Logica’s summertime blues.