It was a long time coming, but the style in which it was achieved was almost worth the wait. Logica's first three-point haul of the season came at the eighth attempt, and the emphatic rout also represented the first league win for the new regime.

The inspired tactical switch to 4-5-1 had seen Logica address their most pressing problem in recent weeks, that of leaking goals by the bucketful. Since the 7-0 drubbing by the Village people that had triggered this despera..., sorry, shrewdly conceived measure, Logica had conceded just one goal in three competitive matches.

Some stability in personnel at the back has also helped this particular cause. Up to the Pimlico match, there was almost a completely new back five on the team-sheet for every game, although not by choice of course. The subsequent four games have seen ex-midfielders and establish a brilliantly solid and effective centre half pairing in front of , and it is no coincidence that two wins, a draw and a solitary 1-0 defeat have been the result.

With the new system bedded in, and some defensive miserliness achieved, it was time to try and take things a step further by adding some attacking threat into the mix. A difficult balance to strike, but if there is one thing this Logica side does not lack, it is experience.

, on the occasion of his 300th domestic start for the Logica club, took it upon himself to reap some of the benefits of all that experience. It was time, he decided, to return to some of the more traditional footballing values that had stood Logica in such good stead in the dim and distance past, and provide the kind of exemplary role model that some of the younger players could look up to and respect.

Sacrifices had to be made, and so it was that the old-fashioned left-winger took it upon himself to resurrect some of the sure-fire traditional recipes for footballing success: go out clubbing until 3am, and turn up late at the agreed meet, a box of Neurofen in one hand and a packet of Marlboro Lights in the other. The result was almost inevitable, a hat-trick for the old man and a 6-1 win for Logica.

Such a scoreline was hard to imagine in the early exchanges. Maxilla were packed with the kind of youthful pace that Logica fear most, and the Logica backline had to be at its most alert early doors as pressure from the home side yielded a string of dangerous corners. However, the new defensive solidity prevailed, with right-back particularly catching the eye for refusal to panic under pressure, and was not called upon to make too many saves. Reading World Cup Supremo had been enticed into the slightly less glamorous world of Sunday morning football, and his debut in the midfield holding role added a considerable and very effective no-nonsense presence in front of the back four. You can never have too many World Cup winners in your team, can you?

It was far from being a one-sided game, and Logica's more patient build-up saw the visitors register their fair share of possession. accurate long throws were a constant threat, and, but for some border-line offside calls, Logica would surely have opened the scoring. But it was a swift attack from Maxilla down their right flank that finally broke the deadlock. The deep cross was a good one, but the finish from 10 yards out even better, as the Maxilla forward leaped highest and looped the kind of perfect header into the top-right corner that Peter Crouch can only dream of [0-1].

This presented a big psychological test for the new Logica: how would they react to the long-forgotten situation of going a goal down, having not conceded a competitive goal for a month? The answer came within five minutes, as the visitors stepped up the tempo and put Maxilla under constant pressure. A poor headed clearance was pounced on by who headed forward to . The lone striker lofted the ball high into the mixer, and joined in challenging the West gloveman is he jumped to catch the up-und-under. The pressure told, the ball was spilled, and although a defender desperately stabbed the loose ball out of the six-yard box, was on hand to fire just inside the right-hand post past a defender on the line from edge of the box [1-1].

Better still, an emboldened Logica took the lead just before the break. supplied the power, forcefully winning a 50-50 ball half way inside the Maxilla half to send clear down the left. The Sheffielder added the composure, looking up before pulling a low pass back to , trundling forwards in support. Controlling the pass with one touch, then added the finesse, placing a left-foot drive from 15 yards into the top corner with such precision that the ball cannoned down off the cross-bar before wrapping itself somewhat dramatically inside the side-netting [2-1].

Logica were only too aware that the second half restart represented their most vulnerable period. Half-time leads against both Shoots and Welham had been squandered in a defensive collapse just after the interval, that had seen Logica go on to lose 7-1 and 8-3. The first ten minutes of the second half would surely be decisive one way or the other.

Maxilla came out of the blocks predictably fired up, and a few hasty clearances were called for from the visiting back four. But the new Logica maintained their composure, and played their way out of trouble. A sweeping counter-attack saw collect the ball in his own half and feed out left. His early low ball behind the Maxilla rearguard found and closing in, and forcing a desperate hoik behind for a corner.

himself arrowed the dead-ball into the near-post, and glanced goalwards, only for a Maxilla defender to desperately block on the line. pounced on the loose ball, and kept his cool to control before precisely slotting past a bevy of white shirts on the goal-line [3-1].

So unusually Logica had seized the post-half-time initiative, and Maxilla's increasingly desperate attempts to pull back the deficit contrasted starkly with Logica's precise and composed counter-attacks. The visitors looked like scoring on every raid, with the unstinting and unselfish work of lone striker nearly rewarded when he fired a left foot volley just too close to the keeper from 25 yards out.

Even the loss of with a painful knee injury failed to upset the balance. moved to centre-half and the terrier-like resumed his sweeping duties in front of the back four. was only called upon to deal with some long range efforts, the bobbley pitch posing more of a threat than the power and placement of the strikes.

It was not too long before Logica added a fourth goal which surely settled the outcome and calmed any remaining nerves. proved himself as dangerous taking corners from the left as had from the right, and this time was not to be denied, flicking home at the near-post to claim his first triple since April 2004 [4-1]. It was almost the perfect hat-trick too – right foot, left foot, and shoulder blade!

The old man was withdrawn shortly afterwards, to be wrapped back up in cotton wool following a first half knee-knock, but the red threat continued unabated. , who was once again at his sublime and creative best in the middle of the park, got himself deservedly on the scoresheet when he arrowed another fizzing corner over the helpless West keeper and directly into the top corner at the back stick [5-1].

The confidence was flowing now. came within inches of adding another goal on two separate occasions, a low shot and a viciously curling free kick both fizzing just the wrong side of the right-hand post with the keeper beaten all ends up. Logica did finally claim a sixth goal, however, with just minutes left on the clock. It was a move that epitomised the morning's performance. won the ball thirty yards out, and advanced purposefully. A shot was on, but unselfishly he fed in the inside left channel, who danced around one defender before slotting home clinically between keeper and near post from an acute angle [6-1].

And so a morning that had yielded both points and goals in previously undreamed-of quantities completed a remarkable 4-5-1 turnaround, as well as further boosting the team's confidence. Maxilla seemed unable to deal with Logica's subtle formation, as the midfield swarmed forwards to support the unselfish work of . Logica were originally scheduled to play Maxilla again next week in the league return, and it is a pity in some ways that they now have to play their second round cup-tie against Valtaro Wasteels 'B' instead. But their season is finally up and running now, and Logica won't really mind who they play.