Heybridge Swifts

Heybridge Swifts FC is a non-league football club from the small town of Heybridge, near Maldon in Essex. The club was founded in 1880 as Heybridge FC and initially competed in the Mid-Essex League before progressing to the Essex & Suffolk Border League.

In 1890 the club moved to their new home of Bentall's Sports Ground. After success, including a league title win of Division Two (West) in 1929-30 the team moved up to Division One, being crowned champions in 1930-31 and winning promotion to the Senior Division.

A return to the Mid-Essex League followed World War II, before Heybridge joined the Premier Division of the South Essex League for a solitary season in 1949-50, before heading back to the Mid-Essex League; winning the Division One title in 1955-56.

The Essex & Suffolk Border League was the clubs next destination, as the club were evicted from their home in 1964 as it was designated to become a shopping centre. Heybridge shared with Sadds Athletic for a couple of seasons, where they ended as runners-up of the Premier Division in 1965-66.

A move to a new ground on Scraley Road followed, on what was previously a carrot field and 1969-70. Swifts became founder members of the Essex Senior League for the 1971-72 campaign.

After an early struggle Swifts found their feet at senior level and went on to be crowned as Essex Senior League champions for three consecutive seasons; 1981-82, 1982-83 and 1983-84. The final title led to promotion to Division Two North of the Isthmian League.

The Division Two North title was won in 1989-90 as Swifts won promotion to Division One. Garry Hill arrived at Scraley Road as manager taking the team to the FA Cup first round; where they went down 1-0 to Gillingham in a home fixture that was switched to Layer Road in Colchester in front of 4,614 spectators.

Hill led the side to promotion to the Premier Division after finishing as runners-up in 1995-96, with Swifts reaching the first round of the Cup once again the following season. On that occasion the side were defeated 3-0 away to AFC Bournemouth.

Roy McDonagh took over from Hill who departed for St Albans City, but he struggled to secure Swifts Premier Division status and was replaced by local lad Robbie Nihill, who managed to turn fortunes around.

Former player Liam Cutbush was the next manager at the club before he was replaced for a short spell by Steve Dowman, who was quickly succeeded by another former Swifts player, Dave Greene.

The team once again reached the first round of the FA Cup in 2002-03. The game was covered for highlights by Match of the Day and ended in a 7-0 home defeat to Bristol City. The end of the 2003-04 season saw Heybridge lose 4-3 to St Albans City in a match to reach the newly formed Conference South.

Brian Statham was at the helm for the 2005-06 season, as Swifts finished as Premier Division runners-up. Their hopes of promotion was extinguished in the semi-final of the play offs by way of defeat on penalties to Hampton & Richmond Borough.

Swifts remained in the Premier Division until the completion of the 2008-09 campaign when they were demoted down to Division One North of the Isthmian League. Statham departed and was replaced by reserve manager Wayne Bond.

Bond remained in place until January 2011 when he was succeeded by Mark Hawkes. Hawkes departed to take the Chelmsford City managers job in December 2013, with Jody Brown replacing him.

Brown took Swifts to the play-offs in 2013-14, where they were defeated at home to Harlow Town in the semi-finals. Cliff Akurang took over from Brown who headed off to Grays Athletic, before returning to the job in September 2015.

The 2017-18 campaign saw Swifts’ fourth appearance at the first round stage of the FA Cup, where they were defeated 3-1 away to Exeter City. Sam Bantick scored the clubs first ever goal at that level of the competition. The team ended the season in the play-off places which ended in defeat in the semi-final tie with Haringey Borough.

Brown moved on to take the Grays Athletic job, with Karl Duguid finding himself as manager in the 2018-19 assisted by West Ham legend Julian Dicks. Swifts defeated Aveley and then Maldon & Tiptree in the play-offs, but were denied promotion as the league's were re-shuffled.

Dicks had a later spell as permanent manager after Duguid resigned, with Steve Tilson becoming Heybridge team boss in September 2021. The 2022-23 season saw the side reach the play-offs once again. Lowestoft Town were beaten before AFC Sudbury proved too strong in the final.

Heybridge Swifts will play in the Isthmian League North Division in the 2023-24 season.

My visit

Heybridge Swifts 0 Potters Bar Town 0 (Thursday 12^th April 2018) Isthmian League Division One North (att: 271)

It was my first day back after my annual cricketing holiday to Thailand and I wanted some football action. The awful winter weather had led to a fixture backlog, so there was plenty for me to choose from.

A train ride to matches at either Kings Lynn or Banbury looked tempting, before my regular travelling pal Tony Foster gave me a shout. After having a think about it he decided to drive to Heybridge. I wasn’t going to turn down such an opportunity.

Getting to Swifts looked an awkward journey at the best of times by public transport, so a lift in a car was too good to refuse. We met at 5.15 at Stanmore station to embark on the long trip east.

It was good to catch up with my old pal for a chat. It was a special day in my calendar as it marked the third anniversary of the passing of my much missed Dad. He would have been delighted to see me continuing a hobby he started for me.

We made decent time and arrived at around 7.15. Heybridge certainly wasn’t a very big place. It was nice to be somewhere that looked pleasant enough and felt like been in England rather than a big cosmopolitan city.

Admission cost £8, with a decent match programme a further couple of quid. Entry to the ground was from behind a goal, with the initial impressions of the venue being very favorable. We grabbed a warm drink for £1 and had a walk around.

The grandly named Aspen Waite Arena, as Scraley Road had been branded in a sponsorship deal, boasted a very decent covered seated stand, with an original cover opposite with deep bench seating. The far end was covered standing, with plenty of open flat areas offering alternative views around the ground.

Potters Bar arrived in second place in the league, but having played more games than some rivals. Swifts were virtually confirmed for a play-off place, but no doubt eager to make their mark on a potential rival a few weeks later.

Manager Brown opted to rest some players as they were in the middle of a gruelling schedule looking to catch up on their games. The Scolars looked a big strong unit. They were very well organised and fielded former Hendon keeper Berkley Laurencin between the posts.

The match was an increasingly bruising encounter. Potters Bar looked decent on the break, while Swifts looked to fashion chances by playing clever balls into the channels. The visiting defence stood firm throughout.

The referee certainly took no nonsense. He was a giant of a man who ended up showing eight yellow card throughout the match. Lewis Godbold saw an effort blocked by Laurencin as the match ended blank in the first half.

The weather was getting cold as the night continued. It was remarkable to think that the following morning would see the start of the County Cricket Championship. We were praying for warmer weather as we were both going to head to Lord’s.

The talk and general feeling at half time was that the game would be lucky to end eleven a side. Fortunately the break seemed to calm a few fraught tempers as the teams decided to play football on the restart.

Swifts substitute Juan Luque had a long range shot saved by Laurencin, while Bar’s Ben Ward-Cochrane and George Nicholas kept the home side’s defence on alert. Portuguese wide man Sandro Costa Dias Fernandes also looked dangerous, if a little lightweight.

Both defences had good games, with the midfielders closing each other down and making the creation of chances difficult. It was a high tempo encounter and we’d certainly seen far worse games ending 0-0.

Tony had parked slightly up the road for a quick getaway and this proved prudent at full time. However, he hadn’t envisaged what was in store.

The A12 was closed in the direction of London for roadworks. This caused untold confusion with the diversion signs not being very clear. We went to the edge of Chelmsford twice, such was the poor signage.

Eventually my pilot found the intended route, but it took us miles out of our way. My jetlag was still playing havoc and I ended up nodding off. Tony did the business and I awoke as we were heading back down the A1 towards Edgware.

It had been a decent night out. I couldn’t have thanked my mate enough. I was home and in bed for midnight in readiness for the following day’ adventures.