It had seemed a bold move even at the time. The club was still reeling in the wake of ShabbyGate when provoked a collective gasp from the ranks of assembled hacks by announcing at an impromptu press conference that he had appointed his talented but wayward hole merchant as Club Captain.

tried his hand at responsibility for the first time back in December 2002, once Logica were eventually allowed to start playing again after their ShabbyGate suspension. His first fumbling efforts at leadership seemed unpromising as the team crashed to their first defeat of the season by the emphatic margin of 0-4.

By necessity, patience is one of the many virtues of , and he was prepared to give the Shabby one time to grow into his role. But as the weeks rolled by, even must have questioned the wisdom of his decision as Logica repeatedly failed to win a match with as skipper.

As months turned into years, the statistic became somewhat of a millstone around the club's neck as the media hacks turned talk of the Captain's Curse into a cliché. Bizarrely this record of incomparable consistency earned an international appointment as Lag Supremo at the 2003 World Cup. But the outcome was fairly inevitable, and the old men were on the plane home by early Saturday afternoon. The curse developed a life of its own, and even last weekend when Logica's opposition failed to materialise, a kick-about training match between sides picked playground-style by captains and yielded a predictable victory for the latter.

But all good things come to those who wait, and just as his career in captaincy galloped grimly into its third year, the finally managed to deliver three points into the nail-bitten hands of his . Logica produced a spirited display that boasted skill and determination in equal measure, and the 3-1 scoreline will go down into the history books as a momentous milestone. Understandably, the skipper himself was lost for words at the post-match press conference.

The victory was all the more impressive given the absence of some big name stars, such as and , , and . With the latter pair unavailable and in search of a transfer, there was little choice but to hand the gloves. But it was not all bad news, as talented midfield ace finally returning to competitive action after a series of serious knee injuries had required the surgeon's knife and had kept him sidelined for eighteen months.

The outcome of this match, which Logica desperately needed to win against mid-table opponents to get their season back on some kind of track, was partly decided in the first few minutes. The home side were still finding their feet as Invictus' gangly number nine gambolled along the bye-line unchallenged, and pulled a simple pass back to an unmarked colleague just six yards in front of goal. It seemed Logica were in for the worst possible start until plunged forwards smartly to make a vital block with his knees. The unconventional part-time keeper would go on to pull off some more spectacular, camera-friendly saves in the second half, but this was perhaps his most important intervention of the day.

In no time at all it was Logica who had the lead. A long ball completely flummoxed the visitors' big stopper, and was onto the loose ball in a flash. Striding on into the box with just the keeper to beat, was just cocking his trigger when the errant defender intervened with a quite deliberate foul to send the Logica number nine sprawling. The referee chose not to brandish yellow, let alone red, but with too slow to get from one end of the field to the other, was determined to see justice done and duly sent the keeper the wrong way with the spot-kick [1-0].

The remainder of the first half saw a vintage demonstration of the classic Logica Way. Soaking up sporadic pressure at the back, the home side struck with cobra-like lethality on the break. The captain himself was the architect of the second goal, turning smartly to clip a visionary pass forwards to release a rejuvenated . The Sheffielder flicked the ball neatly past the last defender before lobbing the bouncing ball over a helpless Invictus keeper for a truly sublime goal [2-0].

As the half drew to a close, Logica further exposed the vulnerable Invictus rearguard. A hurried pass forwards should have caused little danger until the big Invictus centre half once again made a complete pig's arse of a simple attempt to control the ball, which he somehow contrived to squirt backwards. If that was not embarrassing enough, was again the man to react quickest and miraculously outpaced the sorry defender before superbly firing the most clinical of finishes from 15 yards just inside the far post [3-0].

There had been little danger at the other end, with only an ill-judged advance from enabling an Invictus striker to leap high and head a long ball just wide of an unguarded goal. But whilst the half-time whistle curtailed Logica's most convincing 45 minutes of the season, experienced heads who could remember bigger leads being surrendered, were not counting the points yet.

Such interval caution appeared depressingly perceptive when Logica slipped back into some bad old habits, and conceded a goal shortly after the restart. An invigorated Invictus had clearly been read the riot act, and began the second half with far more purpose as they applied some concerted pressure on the home goal. A string of corners finally bore fruit when could only half punch clear, and although a first shot was blocked, the rebound was rammed home through a forest of red and black shirts [1-3].

For ten minutes Logica's resolve wavered as Invictus sensed their chance. A concerted period of pressure saw the home defence stretched but tenaciously hanging on. Logica rode their luck briefly, most notably when a squared cross was inches beyond a sliding Invictus toe five yards out. The visitors came closer still with a stinging pile-driver from 25 yards that was fizzing towards the roof of the net when an outstretched finger-tip just managed to deflect the ball up onto the bar and over.

Desperate to see off his captaincy curse, rallied his troops and led by example. His charges dug deep and slowly turned the tide. was once again a colossus, seemingly everywhere as he read the game with such ease that it seemed like the Ladybird Book of Football in his hands, mopping up here and timing a crunching tackle to perfection there. He was more than ably assisted by his defensive colleagues. brought pace, persistence and aerial dominance to an unaccustomed centre half role, whilst and applied intelligent cover on the flanks.

With the ship steadied, Logica set about killing the game off. made space for a 20 yarder that was too close to the keeper, before came oh so close to restoring the three goal lead. Breaking clear once more, he appeared to have matched his first half precision with a lob that cleared a helpless Invictus keeper only to see his effort canon back off the bar.

Logica probably should have put the result beyond doubt minutes later when their two strikers combined beautifully. slipped a neat pass to , whose blistering drive could only be parried. The rebound fell awkwardly to , who couldn't quite get his foot round the ball quickly enough, and the chance flew wide.

Invictus picked themselves up for one last assault. With Logica beginning to tire they forced a sequence of corners and throw-ins hurled into the danger area. The home defence stood firm, but when a half-cleared cross fell to a visiting midfielder loitering on the edge of the box, the perfectly struck half-volley looked like halving the deficit. But from nowhere the ageing defied the years and flung himself to his left, miraculously just managing to get enough glove on the ball to steer it onto the inside of the post. Luckily for Logica, his defenders were alert to this unlikely outcome, and scrambled the ball away as it rebounded across the goal.

This seemed finally to convince the home players that a rare victory was within their grasp, and the last dregs of energy were summoned to repel some late pressure. Even a cruel ankle injury to the unfortunate failed to deflect the collective determination. It was left to the captain to capture the mood when, with just minutes left, he tracked back with vigour to launch himself into a crunching tackle and clear the danger with the boots flying all around.

The final whistle brought more than just three points; the curse of the Shabby skipper had been cast into oblivion. Back in September Invictus had somewhat scurrilously robbed Logica of points by virtue of a hole in the net. Now Logica's hole-merchant had finally netted victory at the helm as an outstanding team performance had reaped just revenge.