The morning sun shone down at Clifton, but only upon the top of the thick rainclouds that were discharging a deluge of almost biblical proportions on the freezing Digica massive.

Digica were almost at full strength going into a tough fixture with fellow table toppers ABP, missing only Atherley (mystery illness), Jackson (Rochdale), McMillen (Church), Minford (Toe) and Digidog (worms). Such was the strength of the available squad that the joints of defensive octogenarian Byrne were rested in the cold and damp conditions.

Kick-off came and they were off. From the sidelines the Gaffer brayed, Rushby lowed gently into the stiff northern breeze and Minford sheltered from the elements in a waxed mammoth hide. On the pitch, frozen fingers were replaced early on by icy resolve as the relentless Digica juggernaut rumbled into action.

It was a tight first half, cut and thrust being met by parry and counter-thrust as both sides sought to open the scoring if for no other reason than a goal celebration would provide a welcome opportunity for a cockle-warming group hug.

ABP were proving worthy opponents, stroking the ball around midfield and occasionally threatening down the flanks. Luckily, in the Digica midfield, Cowling was prowling, McKay sashayed, Booth was smooth and Godber didn't rhyme with anything at all but provided a constant threat down the opponents' right flank. The left winger was unlucky not to open the scoring with a prodded effort at the far post after 20 minutes. Sadly for the budding wizard, his wand of a right foot couldn't stretch enough to gain sufficient purchase on a Marshall cross and the ABP 'keeper smothered the ball. Cruciatus!

This wasn't to be the only missed chance of the half: in a fit of anger, Booth chose to bludgeon the keeper with the ball rather than slot it past him, and Lee Cowling only just failed to cap a lung-bursting 3-mile sprint into the box with the finish it deserved.

The Digica fans were getting restless. And frostbite. But cometh the half hour, cometh the ice-man. Good work by Booth down the right saw Tivey receive the ball with plenty still to do. But do it he did, holding off two challenges before calmly slotting home with his left peg. And a plum.

The temperature started to rise on the pitch, if not off it, and Daz was called into action to turn a fireball of a shot away from his top right corner. Had they thought of it at the time, the Digica faithful might have sung: "Daz! AAaaaaaahhh….. He saves every one of them!!!" to the tune of Queen (with lead singer Gordon McKay)'s Flash. But they didn't and so instead there were only the usual mutterings of approval from the pitch and touchline.

Despite the ABP coach shouting "Get in!!" every 12 seconds in a desperate bid to con the referee into awarding a goal, the Digica clean sheet remained unsoiled until the half time interval and the Digimen were half way to a big win.

Within minutes of the restart, however, disaster struck. Unnoticed by the Digica camp, one of the APB entourage must have snuck up during the halftime interval and quite literally moved the goalposts. As a result, when a sliced shot came in from the right corner of the area, Daz's onboard goal positioning software wasn't correctly calibrated and the 'keeper elected to leave it alone. By the time he realised that the shot was goalbound it was too late and the ball found the bottom left corner, despite a valiant attempt at a recovery from the midland's number one. 1-1 and all to play for.

The ABP bench, who clearly suffered from some form of tourettes, responded to the equaliser by repeatedly shouting "that's the way. That's the way!!" to the annoyance of the Gaffer and his henchmen on the touchline. This annoyance was soon to intensify after a superb passing move by Digica (which resulted in Dave Booth's wrath being felt this time by a patch of grass some 20 yards behind the goal) was summed up by the statement: "all they do is knock long balls in."

Things were turning ugly both on and off the pitch and handbags were starting to be exchanged. Cowling offered a particularly sharp and pointy handbag to his opposite number in exchange for one full of elbows as the game threatened to boil over. After a quick prayer form the gaffer though, things calmed down and football was back on the cards. Digica, although under pressure, were repeatedly threatening to break with Tivey almost racing clear on several occasions, only for last ditch tackles to save ABP.

Eventually though the breakthough was made. The ABP keeper appeared to have dealt comfortably with a cross but Tivey cleverly kicked him twice in the head and once in the ribs before turning the loose ball home. "THAT'S the way!!!" Uh huh, Uh huh. I like it.

It was a great piece of improvisation from the Digica front man, who now has 11 in 11 for the season. Like Nick's mum once said: "not my prettiest but they all count."

As the second half rolled on, each of the 3 digica substitutes were first defrosted and then despatched onto the field of play. Firstly, O'Dea replaced the impressive Booth who will now spend the next 3 weeks in a maximum security facility working on his anger issues. Emmerson took over where Marshall left off, providing a constant menace in behind the rampaging Tivey. Finally, Alldread was introduced to provide fresh legs for the final push to the final whistle as Digica desperately defended their narrow lead.

The scene looked set for a Digica win until the ABP winger bore down on goal only 8 yards out, surely this was the second equaliser. No!! Potter apparated just behind him and, timing his tackle to perfection, was able not only to save a certain goal but to move off with the ball at his feet. Oh oh ooooohh, it's magic!!

There was still work to be done as ABP brought on the kitchen sink up front, only for it to be plugged by the now legendary Digica rearguard. With backs pressed to the wall so firmly that there will be one or two flat buttocks in Digica households tonight, the baby blues held out and the only 100% record in Nottinghamshire, if not the world, remains intact.

Amen.

Goalscorers: Tivey (2)
Man of the Match: Godber
Temperature: -7
Humidity: 125% (measurement taken from Gary's cleft)