Jody the giant-killer!

The Heybridge Swifts manager on his side's unprecedented cup success, the challenge posed by Hampton & Richmond Borough- and the scourge of fixture congestion

So far this season Heybridge Swifts have played in seventeen cup ties, losing only two- at League Two Exeter City in the FA Cup and at Billericay Town (on penalties) in the Velocity Trophy. Last night they recorded their eleventh victory, adding Kingstonian to a list of higher level victims that already included Metropolitan Police and Tonbridge Angels of our Premier Division, Dorchester Town and Frome Town of the Evo-Stik Southern Premier. National League South Hampton and Richmond Borough, who they now face in the First Round Proper of the FA Trophy, should be very worried indeed- but are these victories now becoming a ten-a-penny? Swifts manager Jody Brown laughs at the prospect.

“We can’t become at all blasé about it. We treat each opponent with great respect, and we’ve been extremely proud of every victory, but each one is borne of hard work. We watch our opponents, and we plan. This week, for example, we were in on Tuesday night watching videos of the original tie (between Swifts and Kingstonian) at Fetcham Grove on Sunday, pinpointing their weaknesses, working out what we could have done better and setting out our game plan for Wednesday. It all came together, but the planning is critical.”

It’s difficult to find a fly in the ointment when talking about such unprecedented success, but there is one nonetheless. Whilst Swifts have only lost two league matches all season, they’ve only played nine. They sit in sixteenth place in the Bostik North Division, twenty points off the top- but with eight

“I’ve decided to approach the fixture backlog by not thinking about it! In all honesty, it’s really daunting. I know it’s a cliché but we just have to focus on the next game.
The truth is that we’ll be playing catch up for the rest of the season, no matter what happens in the FA Trophy. We’ll play matches, the other sides in the league will also play matches, and it’s likely to be April before we have any idea of our true position in the table, even if we manage to put together a good run. But I’m not complaining about fixture congestion. Whilst I’d have liked it had we been able to push back our Velocity Trophy matches to allow us to play more league games, I’m quite aware that we’re victims of our own success, and you can’t moan about being successful. We’ve put ourselves in this situation and we’re delighted to be there.”

Earlier in the season Jody spoke to this website about his hopes, and was quite clear that his first priority after last season’s near-relegation experience was to accumulate enough points to steer clear of trouble. Did he still have that mindset?

“No, I don’t feel like that now. After the start we’ve had it would be ridiculous for me to make that kind of comment. Realistically we should do much better than that, our performances have changed expectations for all at the club. That said, although we want to be looking up rather than glancing over our shoulders, the cup success is going to make our league aspirations difficult. It’ll be a huge challenge to get near the top six- but we have to strive for that.”

So how will he and his squad prepare for Hampton and Richmond Borough?
“I’ll watch them in person, we’ll watch as many videos as we can get our hands on, we’ll do our planning properly and set ourselves up to be difficult to beat. We’ve played a number of away matches against higher league opposition and our goal has to be to bring them back to our place as we’ve proven that we can be a match for any side at Scraley Road.

The problem we’ll have, however, is that- as Dartford proved at Brentwood Town on Saturday- when you play a side from that level, a side going well two divisions above us, they have quality strikers who can conjure a clinical finish from nothing even when they are being outplayed. We found that out against Exeter City in the FA Cup; we matched them for most of the game and then a little bit of skill from a forward and we were behind and ultimately out. So no matter how well we’ve done we won’t be over confident; we’re aware of the scale of the challenge in front of us."

That tie at the Beveree will be played on Saturday 16th December, which will mean that Swifts away league match at Potters Bar Town will need to be rearranged. Yet another fixture to add to the list- and just think how long that list will be if Brown’s side can pull off yet another shock result. Yet you aren’t going to find Jody- or any of the growing band of Swifts supporters- complaining.
games in hand over current pacesetters AFC Hornchurch. Is that a worry for Jody and his team?