Well would you believe it? It would appear that the qualification for being top of this particular league is that you have a fixture against Logica Football Club the following Sunday. Having trounced the then league leaders Raiders 1-0 before the rain came down, we found that this stunning result had only enabled our next opponents Sporting to take over at the pinnacle of Wandsworth footballing circles.

Unbeaten with ten wins in twelve games, and a rather forbidding fifty-nine goals scored in the process, it is becoming somewhat tiresome playing the best team in the league every bloody week. Or maybe Captain Clarke had joined a Psychology For Football Managers Discussion Group, and had hit upon the novel and sadistic morale-building ploy of manufacturing a league table each week showing our opponents sitting proudly on top.

However, I digress. Hatton provided this week's brain-teaser for Captain Clarke by turning up injured and unable to play. Where could we find a stand-in cultured-libero at such short notice? Why, look no further than Kevin Spence, of course. This week's jack-of-all-trades had now played as a forward, in the midfield, in defence and as goalkeeper this season. Although this kept the much berated 3-5-2 formation in tact, the change of personnel still required a little bedding down. Thus it was in the second minute that Logica were still organising themselves as Sporting took a sharp short corner. The Sporting forward dummied Clarke and put a perfect cross in from the bye-line which found two unmarked attackers at the far post. One was all that was required to head past an exposed Wildsmith.

This was a fairly severe way of being woken up on a Sunday morning, but it did serve to concentrate the mind of the defence. Unlike Raiders three weeks previous, Sporting were clearly well-deserving of their top spot and gave Logica a really testing time. Sustained early pressure resulted in a succession of corners, but it was a mark of how far Logica's defensive skills have progressed this year that Sporting were given no clear-cut chances in this period and long shots at goal were their only means of exercising Wildsmith.

Based on such a solid defensive foundation, Logica started to find a few opportunities to test the Sporting rearguard. Abbott set the ball rolling, controlling a pass on the half-way line, he then turned inside and past his marker before releasing Lambert with a precision pass behind the last defender. Despite his perfectly timed run, Lambert was unlucky that just as he was about to take the ball in his stride and head for goal, it bobbled horribly and ran away off his shin. Further half chances saw Sidaway and Lambert hit shots straight at the keeper, before Logica skilfully carved out an excellent opening. Johnson fed Abbott who repeated his earlier feat of playing a through ball for Lambert to run on to. Lambert turned his marker inside out before putting in a low cross. Sidaway, showing all the skills that make him a master of his trade, accelerated away from his marker and arrived at the near post at the same time as the ball. Everything else was perfect : he swivelled on a sixpence and hit a low shot with his left foot exactly where he intended. However, as the master craftsman explained afterwards, the goal was not quite where he thought it was, and the chance went narrowly wide.

After this Logica spent much of their time defending. Whilst doing this very well, it was never an easy task. All the Sporting players were extremely good on the ball, very fast and most tellingly, quick thinking. The result was that throughout the game Logica tended to be second to most of the loose balls, and were immediately put under pressure when they did gain possession. This latter fact resulted in hurried and inaccurate passing and meant that Logica did not keep possession for very long. Hence the amount of defending required. This was done admirably with Millar and Clarke possibly even better than usual, and Spence quickly learning yet another role. The midfield offered some necessary support, best exemplified by the enthusiastic Johnson. It would appear that there's nothing the willing Teessider likes more than a Sunday morning lunging at opponents on a muddy field in south-west London. It was unfortunate that the excellent referee misinterpreted this enthusiasm on one occasion, and Johnson was booked for a more-or-less fair tackle.

The second half brought more of the same, although the wing backs started to steal more of the limelight. Toman and Jobling are perhaps the best exponents of this key position in the club. Both can defend as well as anyone else (and they had plenty of practice in this game), but where perhaps they stand out is their ability to contribute in an attacking sense as well. This was best exemplified in possibly Logica's finest move of the match. Abbott again received the ball on the half-way line and laid a pass into the path of Toman offering support to the attack. The streamlined Geordie beat a defender as he advanced down the left wing, before squaring a pass back to Abbott on the edge of the box. As only a prima- donna can, Abbott performed an elaborate dummy, letting the ball run through his legs for Woolhouse behind. With the defender completely taken out, Woolhouse had a number of options but chose an early shot which unfortunately curled just wide, and the chance had gone.

Logica seemed to lose some self-belief with the missing of this chance, and began to look a little tired. Sporting suddenly had a little more time on the ball, and chances began to arrive more regularly. A superb last- ditch tackle by Captain Clarke foiled a Sporting forward as he was clear on goal, and nearly cost Clarke a broken arm. One of many corners was cleared only to the edge of the box, and a blistering shot was curling just inside the post when the finger-tips of Wildsmith intervened for a breath- taking save. However it was no surprise when Sporting did finally notch a second. A plethora of Sporting players on the right created space for a cross, which once again found two players unmarked at the far post. This time both were required, as Wildsmith made yet another awesome point- blank save from the initial shot, but was distraught to find the rebound tucked away by the second Sporting forward.

In a desperate bid to add attacking weight, Clarke once more heroically sacrificed himself, broken arm and all, as substitute Moore entered the fray to bolster the midfield. Logica still struggled to create chances, most notably due to their passing being below it's usual high quality. A couple of misunderstandings between the normally psychic Woolhouse and Lambert showed that the pressure was beginning to tell. In all this, a third Sporting goal arrived in somewhat unfortunate fashion. A low, dangerous cross tempted the newly arrived Moore into a sliding interception in his own six yard area. The ball ricocheted goalwards and once more Wildsmith pulled of a stunning reflex save to palm the ball away, but it was immediately headed back into a goalmouth melee. One shot was blocked but rebounded to a Sporting player who made to shoot. Millar, ignoring any thoughts of personally safety, lunged desperately in an attempt at another block, but despite minimal contact, the forward crumbled to the ground and a penalty was instantly awarded. A fine strike gave Wildsmith no chance to extend his string of penalty saves this season.

In the last minute Logica did briefly threaten. It was Abbott who was once again the creator when, receiving a nicely weighted pass out wide, he hit a first time ball which sliced the Sporting rearguard and crossed the path of the galloping Moore. The substitute did extremely well to take the ball in his stride, but in doing so lost some momentum and a defender was able to get back and block his route to goal. This rather summed up Logica's minimal threat during the morning's proceedings. In fact, Logica had not won a single corner, nor forced the visitor's goalkeeper into a meaningful save, which were fairly telling statistics. Whilst there was some satisfaction to be taken from another excellent defensive display, the much considered conundrum of getting the right balance between attack and defence must once more be on the mind of tactical Supremo Clarke.