As the season starts to approach the business end, Logica maintained their novel hopes of promotion with an entertaining win over struggling South West Eighteen. However, the victory was not as convincing as the scoreline or the respective league positions of the two sides might have suggested, and all departments in the team will need to tighten up ahead of some big and crucial games during the next month.

After an impressive performance the previous week, Logica began as if they hadn't played for a month. They were lethargic in possession, failed to pressure their opponents when out of possession, with the result that the play hardly left the Logica half in the first fifteen minutes. It seems Logica had convinced themselves they were playing easier opponents and therefore just had to turn out to win. They should know by now that there are no easy games at this level; indeed that the home side did not take the lead was only due to their strikers' poor finishing on a number of occasions.

Then, completely out of the blue, Logica romped into a three goal lead as they suddenly got their act together. A neat passing move had already seen a Hoyland effort blocked by the Eighteen keeper's feet, and Gautam decided it was time to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Slipping the ball to Abbott who had dropped deep, the elegant midfielder strode forward to receive a neat return pass. A burst of pace took him to the edge of the box, where he cut niftily back inside the last defender and unleashed a precise low drive from 18 yards that glided in at the near post [1-0].

In double-quick time Logica had added two more goals. Abbott found space in the inside left channel and was fed by Buck. Following Gautam's blueprint, the experienced forward advanced to the edge of the box before cutting back inside his marker, and trying to curl a characteristic shot inside the far post. The Eighteen keeper only managed to parry a weak effort, but Hoyland showed a classic striker's instinct to be in the right place at the right time and turn the loose ball into an empty net [2-0].

Booth showed better handling in collecting a weak shot at the other hand, and was then alert to spy Reevaldo in space down the left. A quick throw, and the Hackney hole merchant was off, gambolling across half way and deep into enemy territory. It was not until he approached the penalty area that he faced much resistance, whereupon he unleashed a Gerrardesque thunderbolt from twenty five yards. The shot would surely have given the keeper no chance anyway, and a wrong-footing deflection off a defender's back merely saw the ball fizz into the other corner of the net instead [3-0].

Despite Hoyland again being denied by Eighteen's experienced keeper from close range, the three goal blitz seemed only to have confirmed Logica's assumption of an easy three points, and they quickly reverted to their earlier shambles. A somewhat unrehearsed offside trap (that saw Brown spending much off the half running towards the centre circle with his arm aloft in the classic Adams pose) should really have been punished. The most glaring miss came when two South attackers were sent clear and onside. Luckily the mere presence of Booth, who stayed on his feet in text book fashion, seemed to induce an attack of nerves in the man on the ball, and rather than shoot his panicked attempt to square to a colleague saw the ball roll out limply for a goal kick.

Frustration in the home ranks found its expression in a number of malicious attempts to rectify perceived fouls, and an inept and weak referee only added fuel to this fire. At one point there was a real danger of the game exploding into something that resembled a Birmingham derby, but luckily the half time whistle came just at the right time to diffuse the situation.

Some invigorating half time words, that endeavoured to remind the team that hard work was a basic requirement if three points were to be earned, nipped optimistically into thirteen yellow and green ears, and swiftly out the other thirteen, and the visitors restarted in familiar slovenly fashion. South West Eighteen deservedly pulled a goal back when a quickly taken corner exploited Logica's lack of alertness, and a deflection off Buck at the near stick took the ball past startled defenders stationed on the line [3-1].

Logica responded with another short burst of quality. Some fleet footed magic from Reevaldo fashioned an opening as he threaded the ball through for Hoyland before being ruthlessly clattered on his poorly toe-nail. The Sheffielder sped to the bye-line and pulled back a superb cross that took out keeper and defender in one fell swoop. Abbott was waiting, and had time to control the ball and casually side-foot it past a lunging defender on the goal-line. Logica had their three goal cushion once more [4-1].

The remainder of the game followed a similar see-saw pattern. Logica would doze off on their cushion for a period and concede a goal. This in turn would rouse them from their slumber, and they would burst up the other end to restore their lead. The Supremo, who had been clouted by a wayward elbow (that at least enabled long-term injury Craig Taylor to make a welcome return to the fray) played his part in waking his charges up via regular substitutions. Banoub replaced the excellent Hoyland, and Lambert came on for Reevaldo who had been clattered once too often.

Logica had conceded a sloppy second goal from a partially cleared free kick [4-2] by the time Super Noobles entered the arena. As usual there were no half measures with the bullish striker. Within seconds of his entry he had made a perceptive blind-side run and was picked out with a low cross by Abbott. His first touch of the game was to screw his first time shot wide, but this was all that was needed to calibrate the Teeside goal machine. Soon Abbott was played in by Gautam, and had time to line up his left foot cross to the far post. Noobie was waiting like a caged tiger, and bulleted home with lethal aplomb, before wheeling away to milk the applause of the crowd [5-2].

The next round of goal-swapping followed shortly afterwards. South West Eighteen were applying some concerted pressure as Logica pressed the snooze button once again. A number of failed attempts to clear were punished by the referee when Buck half-obstructed a home forward just outside the box. The award of a penalty surprised the players of both teams, but a clinical spot-kick gave Eighteen some hope again [5-3]. Abbott had other ideas. As Taylor collected the ball to take a throw-in midway in the opponents half, the aging striker made a wily and undetected run around the back of the home defence, who had no experience of the substitute's long throw. The Leeds man spotted the run and launched the ball into the box straight to Abbott, who calmly rounded the keeper and slotted home from an acute angle [6-3].

Logica now decided enough was enough. Lambert made a great run from deep only to shoot over, Banoub shot wide when well placed, and Abbott still had time to miss out on a hat-trick when he stubbed his toe shooting from fifteen yards. Gautam, however made no such mistake, and took a similar chance with far more aplomb via another well-placed shot low into the corner [7-3].

Not the greatest Logica performance ever, but three points and seven goals would have satisfied their pre-match ambitions. Groom will be less satisfied with the periods of lethargy which culminated in three sloppy goals being conceded, although may reflect that these days Logica teams at least have the character to respond to such set-backs. The club now enters a key period of five games in fourteen days that will go a long way to deciding the outcome of their season, and will need to eradicate the sloppiness if a sizable haul of points is to be realised.