It was a dull and fresh start that greeted the Swan inn boys as they looked to continue their upturn in results following last weeks much need victory against Mannex MR. The preparations for the game were horrendous with Manager O’Brien being in such a state the night before after good victory for Saturday side and Xmas drinks managed to shit him self again on way home and was hurting to say the least as he arrived late at Wickham Bishops road to meet all the boys. With a few players AWOL from Saturday nights antics O’Brien had a bare 11 with himself on the bench and Olley and Scofield also joined him on the bench (although none were even used as O’Brien forgot to gives names to the referee one of several errors made by the manager or a cloudy cloudy day for O’Brien.
As expected with little preparation and no guidance the Swan started the first half in a sluggish fashion although spells of brilliance were present errors again were the highlights of first half as Swan struggled to create many clear opportunities with only Jarvis lifting a shot over keeper but wide of near post. Marconi looked dangerous going forward and with a combo of this and poor Swan defending managed to obtain a 0-3 lead at half time. Manager O’Brien had some strong words at half time questioning the boys effort and desire and tried to get them away from fighting Marconi but fight the game.
Second half got under way and manager O’Brien got an immediate reaction as a long throw in from Savva into Rhys Meredith's feet and turned his man only to be hauled down in the box penalty given and Swan’s top scorer Sam Barden stepped up and sent keeper the wrong way. The Swan continued to press and with renewed belief and energy and were right back into the game soon after with Rhys Meredith continuing on from last week with another well taken glanced header into the far bottom corner. Russ Kemp then continued his rich vain of form and the Swan fight back as good work out wide by Mitch Flatts saw the ball centred for Russ to duly slot home 3-3!! George Jarvis then got in on the act to complete the comeback and victory firstly with an awesome strike on the half volley from 25 yards which rifled past keeper before he had even got down!! And Jarvis capped off a tremendous second half performance with again good work down wing by Mitch to centre for Jarvis to nick in front of his man 5-3 Swan!! The game was seen out well by the Swan with no scares and a couple more chances going the way of the blue and black but no extra scoring was done. On a day when Manager O’Brien was sent from the sidelines after a ridiculous altercation with referee and had let him self down the Swan inn boys certainly didn’t and should all be proud for their second half efforts as that was by far the best performance for a long while and 2 victories on the bounce for first time in 2-3 years! Next week the Swan start their cup adventure with a trip to Billericay and Queens park in first round 3 wins and were in a final!!!
