PROBABLY the match that underlined Stourport Swifts' impressive rise up the non-league pyramid was last season's FA Trophy encounter with Chester City.

Just four or so years earlier, Chester had been doing battle with other established Football League clubs like Cardiff City, Rotherham United and Notts County in Division Three.

Swifts, meanwhile, rarely left their own backyard as they chased promotion from the West Midlands League Premier Division.

But in January this year it took two games before the professional outfit eventually outdid the Stourport side who had beaten Bishop Auckland 5-4 earlier in the competition.

It was just another chapter in the Stourport Swifts fairytale after they left the Worcester League in 1979.

The town's first club had been established in 1882 and played matches in Bewdley Road, near the New Inn.

Moving to Olive Grove in 1906, they made a gradual progression and took a hat-trick of County Cup wins between 1925 and 1927.

Settled at Walshes Meadow, they were eventually elected to the regional league 23 years ago and made the Premier Division by 1988.

Establishing themselves as one of the top West Midlands League clubs, the rise to the Midland Alliance eluded them for a while.

But when they hit the Alliance in 1998, the regular Worcester Senior Urn winners wasted little time and became a Dr Martens League club last year after taking the title.

And their first season in the Western Division was to be turbulent yet successful.

Swifts finished a creditable eighth under new boss Tim Langford who had replaced Redditch United-bound Rod Brown less than four months into the season.

Brown had made a major impact in Stourport but left for Reds, their league and county rivals, with assistant Gary Whild and a number of players.

Langford was given a mini rebuilding job in his first management role, doing well with limited resources and an often wafer-thin squad.

He now has the major task of keeping up Swifts' progression and at least securing a top-half finish.