With the season approaching its tense climax, Logica had been forced to twiddle their collective thumbs for a month ahead of this vital yet-another-must-win relegation six-pointer against Maxilla West. A match award against the seemingly fading Spectra had enabled West to bounce two points ahead of the resting Logica, and anything other than a win would surely guarantee relegation for the new Supremi in their first season at the helm.

Despite a number of big name absentees, including one half of the management duo, was still able to announce a strong squad of fourteen players. Veteran libero was on hand to help the desperate cause, and striker was drafted in for his first appearance since debuting impressively in a pre-season friendly.

Indeed, such was the importance of this fixture, that the legendary not only made a special effort to get out of bed, but also traipsed the four miles on foot from his luxury Battersea apartment to the ploughed field that masqueraded as the Wandsworth Common pitch. Unfortunately, such unusual exertions left the ex-Supremo too tired to start, but 85 minutes of Marlboro-fuelled battery charging at least allowed a refreshed to burst from the bench and steady a wobbling ship in a nerve-wracking climax.

retained the attacking 4-4-2 formation, and was rewarded inside five minutes as his two forwards combined to settle home nerves. pounced on a loose ball just inside his own half, and threaded an incisive pass through a square West rearguard into the path of a perfectly timed run from . The new man advanced with purpose, and showed a cool head to fire low past the exposed keeper into the far corner [1-0].

It was the perfect start, and it was not long before the same players combined again to so nearly double the lead. broke clear in the inside right channel before rolling a square pass across the box to meet another fine run from his strike partner. But the pass was just a fraction too close to the keeper, for although ' pace enabled him to get to the ball first, his shot was blocked at close-range by the advancing Maxilla gloveman.

A powerful run and cross from down the right had the Maxilla defence clearing desperately, but on the edge of the box failed to profit. Instead the ball was moved quickly upfield by the visitors, and a burst of pace down the right found a dangerous cross deflected into the Logica net [1-1].

As the torrential rain began to fall, Logica were suddenly floundering, and another quick counter-attack left an unmarked West forward clear on goal. Unhesitatingly, slid out through the mud, but the ball was pushed past him and he instead only managed to intercept the Maxilla man in full flow. It was as clear-cut a penalty as you are likely to see, and Logica could only be grateful that the referee had seemingly taken account of the conditions in not brandishing a card. But the spot-kick thrashed down the middle was punishment enough, and a dramatic turnaround now found Logica trailing [1-2] and Mad Dog still mad.

Logica's season hung in the balance, and it was time for the home players to show their character. They did so in some style, and some concerted attacking play carved out a series of chances, with the hard-working central midfield pair of and at the heart of the revival.

But it was the strike duo who once more did the damage. again was the provider, his vision just about compensating for his ever decreasing pace. After skipping away from one challenge, he was able to curve a ball behind two defenders into the path of another fine run from . The angle was acute, but a fine shot could only be blocked by the keeper, and followed up spectacularly to rifle the ball into the roof of the net from 12 yards and bag his first Logica goal [2-2].

Maxilla were rattled and Logica displayed the requisite killer instinct. Concerted pressure won a throw down the right, and showed good awareness to launch a quick throw to the lurking . As two defenders converged, the ageing forward showed some imperceptible sleight of foot to emerge with the ball, and took his time before curling a left foot shot into the far corner [3-2].

The second half found Logica continuing to dominate, with the conditions posing more of a challenge than the Maxilla defence. continued to cause the biggest threat with some direct dribbling and pacey runs off the ball. He it was who beat two men down the right before squaring across the box: flipped the ball over a defender's challenge but the ensuing volley was straight at the keeper.

Other half chances came and went and there was concern that Logica would regret not converting their dominance into a more commanding lead. Ironically, Logica seemed to lose their way only when the visitors were reduced to ten men midway through the half, their left winger being shown red after swearing at the referee. The home side relaxed too much, and for ten minutes the numerically deficient West, spurred on by a perceived injustice, took the game to a lackadaisical Logica.

acted quickly though, and brought on to fire up his colleagues. switched to left midfield to accommodate the Teesside tank, but was soon making space down the right flank and picking out the substitute with a far post cross. met the floated ball with a text-book header, powerful, and arrowed downwards, but somehow the West keeper pulled a Banks-1970 save out of nowhere, diving to his right to claw the ball around the post.

Eventually Logica got the breathing space they needed from one of countless corners their pressure had forced. got his head on 's dangerous dead-ball, but was once again denied by a point-blank block from the keeper. The rebound squirted across goal, but was denied goal number 199 by the full-back, who dived selfishly in front of him to slide the ball into his own net [4-2].

There were still over ten minutes remaining when suffered some serious ankle-knack attempting an ambitious 25-yard shot, but instead catching his left foot in the finely rutted Wandsworth mud. The calming introduction of as replacement did not stop a large home crowd regularly peeking at their watches as the clock ticked down. Nerves were not helped when first and then worked themselves clear only to be denied by a combination of the quagmiric surface and some last-ditch defending.

The tension was raised another notch when West pulled a goal back in controversial fashion. A break down the right saw the ball go at least a yard over the touchline, but with no linesman in sight, the referee waved play on. The Logica defence were caught appealing, and the low pull-back was fired home [4-3].

Fortunately, there were only a few more minutes to play out, and Logica did so without undue alarm to record their fourth and most needed win of the season. The three points took us off the bottom of the table and back above Maxilla, but it still may not be enough.

This win may turn out to be our last game of the season, with our only other scheduled fixture being the one in a fortnight's time against Spectra, who have conceded their last five matches due to being unable to raise a team. Even three points from a match award there would not enable us to jump another place. So despite this gallant effort, one more on-field victory is still needed to avoid the drop, meaning at least one of our other two remaining games against SW Alliance or West London Select would need to be arranged. With promotion-chasing Alliance impressing greatly in beating us 3-1 last time out, our only chance would seem to be in rearranging the West London fixture: a desperate case of if Selected...