's last stand was a disappointing affair. After a four year stint at the helm which went well beyond the call of duty, decided to call it a day. Sadly his last match in charge gave some indication as why this most loyal of club men had decided that he had done his fair share of the work. Only ten men turned up, had to go in goal, and after a gallant rearguard action that kept the match goalless for an hour, a late avalanche sealed a 4-0 defeat. How the Fulham man persuaded young to take over the reins is not recorded in the history books, but copious amounts of alcohol may have been involved.

That Logica were not relegated was an administrative miracle. They only won two league matches all season, and one of those was chalked off when Gardeners Arms folded shortly after losing to us. So, come March, with just one win and one draw showing in the league table, the Grim Relegation Reaper was busy etching the name 'Logica' on the blade of his scythe when salvation came from an unlikely source.

We faced Benedict for the first time, away from home, and they turned out to be a feisty lot. An aggressive side both physically and verbally, Benedict became increasingly irate at a succession of offside decisions from a referee who demonstrated dictatorial tendencies and a deaf ear in equal measure. Whilst most of the opposition players ire was caused by the referee, they inevitably started venting their frustrations on the Logica players via a series of increasingly bad fouls and off-the-ball 'incidents'.

The mood of the home side was not improved when Logica equalised through a finely taken goal from . As full time approached, it looked as if Logica would add another valuable point to their sparse collection, but with just one minute remaining the Benedict fuse lit long ago finally exploded. The trigger was quite ludicrous. A small girl on the touchline, the daughter of the Benedict manager, shouted out that the referee "looked like Mr Bean". For reasons best known to himself, the man in black took exception to this immature name-calling and headed to the touchline to remonstrate with the young child. Quite what he was thinking of in this type of explosive situation (or indeed any type of football situation!) is unfathomable, especially as the insult was factually correct.

Predictably the referee was immediately surrounded by most of the Benedict team and supporters, pushing, jostling and lambasting him for reproaching the child. The upshot was that the referee abandoned the match, despite just a minute remaining, and scuttled away sheepishly to the changing room. The longer term fallout was that Benedict were severely punished for their 'attack' on the referee, however bizarre the arbiter's behaviour. The match was awarded to Logica, and Benedict were banned for the rest of the season, their remaining games being awarded to their opponents.

Courtesy of some skilful and foresighted fixture postponement, had ensured that our home fixture with Benedict was still to be played. Result: another match award and two more points in the bag. Thus in the course of a brief disciplinary hearing down at Sportsmans HQ in Fulham, Logica had acquired four points - one more than they had clocked up on the pitch in the preceding six months of the season! This total of seven points was more than Dark Star could manage, despite beating us 5-1 in the final game of the season! And with Gardeners Arms dropping out of the league just after Christmas, Dark Star duly took the other relegation place and Logica, somehow, were safe!

Whilst it was far from being Logica's best season (and in fact arguably their worst), it did contain one of the most famous and dramatic victories in the club's history - the legendary Roy of the Rovers match against Gardeners Arms. Despite a comprehensive opening day defeat at the hands of Battersea Labour, some early season optimism was subsequently secured courtesy of a 5-4 victory over an impressive Cultural team. Nothing is easy where Logica are concerned, and after a brace from , plus goals from , and an penalty, had given us a 5-1 advantage, we still nearly conspired to allow the visitors all the way back. With memories of the Morganite mare fresh in the mind, Logica somehow hung to win by a solitary goal. Unfortunately this match saw the last appearances of Dutch international and Swiss play-maker , two quality players.

This morale-boosting victory provided yet another false dawn, as Logica grew increasingly ragged in losing their next five league matches on the bounce. The last of these, a 7-2 defeat to St Anselms, is perhaps one of the worst Logica performances this scribe has ever seen, not even redeemed by a brilliant individual consolation goal from .

So as Christmas approached, Logica were anchored fairly heavily in the relegation zone, with only Gardeners Arms and Dark Star for company. We would play both these teams in December, and both games were already being billed as the clichéd "relegation four-pointers". The players were well aware of this situation, but for the first eighty minutes against Gardeners Arms, they produced a performance which continued the downward trend in quality of the preceding fixtures, and which had us trailing 3-0 with time running out.

Cue perhaps the most inspirational tactical substitution in the club's history. called on that vast pool of managerial experience, brought on to replace the unfortunate (who had probably been the best Logica player thus far), and switched the formation. Had he spotted a small chink in the oppo's armour? Or perhaps identified the small tweak required to mend the Logica strategy? Mere mortals will never be able to comprehend the instinctive nous of such tactical geniuses, but the impact was instant (as it had to be with just ten minutes left!). Two goals from sandwiched an strike to bring the scores level, and with just seconds to go, a header brought an amazing and completely improbable victory. The stuff of legend, and straight from a 'Roy of the Rovers' script alright.

Buoyant morale was carried forward into our last game of 1996 against Dark Star. However despite a goal from , Logica failed to capitalise on a good performance and were disappointingly held to a 1-1 draw. By the time we returned to action after the winter break, all confidence had mysteriously disappeared. A disastrous 8-1 drubbing at the hands of our earlier victims Cultural was the pre-cursor to another run of five straight league defeats. Of these, a 2-1 defeat to a fairly poor Santos 2000 side was perhaps more dispiriting than some heavier defeats against good opposition. Thus, it was with grateful and desperate hands that we grabbed our administrative lifeline from the League Disciplinary Committee after the Benedict shenanigans.

Amidst such a dismal season in the league, the Ron le Beau Challenge Trophy at least offered an exciting (if brief) diversion. The preliminary round draw paired us with Montague Arms, whom we knew from the previous season's league encounters to be a competent and aggressive outfit. A goal capped an impressive first half performance that should have yielded a greater goal tally, but the Arms fought back in the second half to equalise.

Extra time brought no further goals, despite good chances being created at both ends, and Logica found themselves in their first penalty shoot-out for nearly ten years. Tension was high, but Logica kept their nerve to notch three penno's courtesy of , and . Even a miss mattered not, as some brilliant saves from Logica keeper combined with a number of Montague misses, ensured that Logica were in the hat for the next round with a spot-kick to spare. Sadly, this dramatic glory was short-lived as Logica crashed 4-0 to Battersea Labour in the next round. Still a Cup win was a rare event in itself.

There were few bright spots in this disappointing season, but was undoubtedly one of them. On the back of only missing one match the previous season, the talented Geordie somehow dug even deeper and made himself available for every one of the eighteen games during this morale-sapping campaign. A sterling effort!

also scored one of the goals of the season against St Anselms, although as we clocked up just twenty three goals in both League and Cup, there was not as many contenders for this nomination as there should have been. This paucity was further emphasised by the fact that managed to sneak off with the Golden Boot (again) having notched just seven times. Apart from (5), (3), and impressive newcomer (2), nobody else scored more than a solitary goal. Such offensive ineptitude was disastrously complemented by defensive generosity, as we contrived to concede 68 goals during the campaign.

realised that a major overhaul of the squad was required, and that perhaps a young and enthusiastic novice Supremo would be the best tool for this particular job. was the man selected to lead the revolution from a huge list of applicants, largely on the criteria that he was most receptive to 's ale-plying interview technique.

The following season would see some significant changes in approach and personnel. Some of the old guard were already on the way out. The hugely talented had played more or less his last game for the club after securing a lucrative move to Tokyo and the J-league. Likewise, 110% merchant had secured a transfer to Cheltenham town, and never again would the Logica players have to imagine it was "nils each". Unfortunately, had also called it a day, and he would be the last 'specialist' keeper that Logica FC could boast of for many years to come.

Already the new faces were making their mark. had impressed with a couple of goals after a late-season debut, and a defender by the name of had showed great promise in a solitary appearance. Many new faces would be recruited by the time 's first campaign got under way, but would it bring a significant improvement to the fortunes of Logica Football Club? Only time would tell.

SEASON AT A GLANCE:
Most Appearances: (18 out of 18 games max)
Golden Boot: (7 goals in 16+1 games)
Players' Player of the Year: Not Voted For
Football Writers' Player of the Year: / (3 MoM's each)
Biggest Victory: 5-4 v Cultural (h)
Heaviest Defeat: 1-8 v Cultural (a)
Goals Scored: 23 goals in 18 games (average 1.28 per game)
Goals Conceded: 68 goals in 18 games (average 3.78 per game)
Clean Sheets: Zero in 18 games (average: never)