The Supremo took full advantage of this last opportunity to fine tune his charges before the season proper get under way, as a healthily large Logica squad notched up a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Sun. The scoreline does not do justice to the dominance of Logica, who could and should have added further goals.

The Supremo's main regret will have been that the defence (last season's Achilles heel) were not really tested, with stand-in keeper Dave Bushnell not called upon to make a single save. This was partly due to a Sun forward-line missing their first choice strikers, and partly due to the authoritative dominance of Jeff Hatton and Jez Brown. Indeed, the confidence born of World Cup Management success would appear to be still coursing through Brown's veins, for he turned in a majestic and imperious display in the centre of the back four that served to invite comparisons with Rio (the England player rather than the sprawling Brazilian capital).

To counter-balance this, new signing James Buck turned in another hugely impressive display in the middle of the park where a played the perfect foil to a marauding Dav Gautam. As a holding midfielder he demonstrated astute positional sense, a dogged determination to chase opponents down, and the much under-rated ability to play a simple and early pass to feet. Indeed if more of his colleagues had shown an appreciation of the latter tactic, far more goals would surely have materialised. As it was, promising positions were frequently wasted with players holding on to the ball too long and frustrated colleagues seeing imaginative runs into space go unrewarded.

At other times, though, the build up was crisp, incisive and effective, and the home side had no answer. After twenty minutes, Jon Clarke read the situation perfectly to steal the ball from a dallying defender and send Nigel Hoyland scampering clear. The Sheffielder showed nerves of steel to produce a rapier-like finish past the advancing keeper [1-0]. Logica continued to delight and frustrate in equal measure, but despite some good build-up they failed to add a second goal before the break.

The second half was a little less convincing as the Supremo undertook a succession of substitutions in order to get a good look at all his players. A second goal finally arrived when a dazzling Gautam run and cross was slammed home from an acute angle by Julian Howarth at the back stick [2-0]. The Sun keeper pulled off a string of impressive reflex saves (most notably at point-blank range from McWilliam) to keep the score respectable, and not for the first time it was left to Jeff Hatton to show his striker how its done, with a strong run and sublime finish into the top corner on the stroke of full time [3-0].