Aim ran out in front of an expectant crowd last Saturday, what with the [unfounded] rumours of managerial strife in the dressing room, they had a point to prove.
Perhaps it was playing safe or maybe just sticking to a winning formula but Aim set them selves out in the usual 1-3-2 formation that has proved so devastating in the past.
Interestingly though, they played the new signing, Sinclair, in the centre of the formation, a big responsibility considering he'd only a few matches under his belt but he did an admirable job of holding up the mid-field and any bystander would have thought he'd played that position for years.
No messing around then, a surprise opener in the first half, in a move that even the crowd didn't see coming, Aim shot and scored instantly.
Having set out their stall, they then eased off the gas slightly to consolidate their position, not exactly playing defensively but at the same time, not yet feeling the need to hit top gear.
Having said that, the boy Townsend out on the left has clearly been putting in extra training sessions, he was a class act all night and the odd run out on the left wing in the first half gave us just glimpses of what we had in store for the rest of the night.
The two lads up front were on form as usual but Ashy often dropped back to link up with the midfield, a system that seemed to work really well and you could see they were working well together to support Trev when he was left up front alone.
The half progressed without any major worries for the Aim supporters.
Out on the right wing, Taylor was solid as usual and absolutely nothing got past him.
Possibly the only slight wobble in the half was in the closing couple of minutes of time added on when the big man at the back came in with a solo effort, it was quite obvious that not enough time had been spent on the training ground with this particular move and it certainly was more improvisation than good hard training and practice, that being said, it probably wasn't a bad effort but I think we've all come to expect so much more from the man between the sticks!
In the same way as the first half, the second half had an unexpected start.
The lads went straight for the set-piece and it looks like they have worked long and hard on this one. It was poetry in motion!
Knowing that everyone was expecting the usual up-tempo start for a second half, Aim sold a total dummy, lulling all and sundry into a false sense of security with a quiet beginning but there was the underlying sense that things were about to explode....
Sure enough. Up they popped, Bang! Back of the net! right in there and now they were up and running, the back-line and midfield driving onwards inexorably, carrying all before them, even if the front men hadn't wanted to I don't think they had any choice but to drive onwards or be flattened by the juggernaut following up behind them.
As the pace and movement increased, the crowd were going wild, providing fantastic support and some hearty singing.
It may be an old cliche but this is one of those times when no-one wanted to hear the final whistle and even after a considerable amount of time added on at the end of the second half, most of the crowd wanted play to continue, unfortunately, even if it had gone to extra time, the lads were totally drained from their efforts and there wasn't much left in the tank.
So, yet again AIM ran out clear winners but with an increasingly tough fixture list developing in the new year, it's a bit of a festive break and then some hard training to come.