CHRISTCHURCH FC DEVELOPMENT WIN AT SWAY FC IN PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY

I was very lucky to be invited to cover the Sway FC v Christchurch Development pre-season friendly game last Thursday evening - I social distanced at all times for people's information - In fact it was like a normal game for me as those that know me know I'm not the most talkative or social of people!  

Sway is a delightful village in the New Forest close to Brockenhurst and Bashley so the area is somewhat of a hotbed of non-league football with Christchurch FC, New Milton Town, Lyndhurst FC and Lymngton Town all close by too. The club's Jubilee Field home is situated next to the village cricket club who share facilities. 

Sway FC play in the Step Seven Hampshire Premier League and are the most Westerly of the clubs in the league with local rival's Lyndhurst around 7 miles North-East. Sway were promoted from Division One in at the end of the 2016/17 season after a second placed finish and have since finished in 11th (16), 6th (16) and last season were in 14th position when football was put on hold and eventually declared void due to the pandemic. 

It was a lovely evening - It has been very hot over the previous days in the area but rain was forecast but luckily it held off for an entertaining 90 minutes of football between two good sides who played football the right way (in my opinion) passing the ball out from the back instead of lumping it forward to a big target man. 

The Foresters, as they are known, were unlucky not to get anything out of the game but the final score was 1-2 with Christchurch's second goal an excellent finish from way outside of the box. A special mention must go to Sway's young goalkeeper (only 16 years of age) who had an excellent game for his team. 

The village has a train station with a roughly two hour journey time into London Waterloo. Good Luck to everyone at Sway FC for the 2020/21 season! 

Sway FC's badge include an image of the famous local landmark THE SWAY TOWER which is a 66 metre tall Grade II listed building built by Andrew Peterson constructed entirely out of concrete from 1879 to 1885 - It remains the tallest non reinforced concrete structure in the world. It was originally designed as a mausoleum with a perpetual light at the top but this was not allowed as it was believed it may confuse shipping on the near by coast line. 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS