ARGUABLY the most joyous occasion in a torrid season ultimately proved the most crushing.

Under Roberto Martinez and in a plush new stadium, Swansea were all set to seal promotion from League One by downing no-hopers Cherries.

Despite back-to-back victories over Tranmere and Millwall, Kevin Bond’s men, slapped with a 10-point penalty for entering administration in the February, were nine adrift of the safety threshold with five games to go.

The writing was on the wall, or so it seemed, with Cherries offering precious little hope of cancelling out Andy Robinson’s 50th-minute header for the hosts.

Chasing a leveller late in the day, Bond’s introduction of Joe Partington, then 18 years of age, for his sixth appearance would hardly have filled the 226 travelling fans with belief.

There had already been chants of “que sera sera, whatever will be will be, we’re going to Shrewsbury” from the away end but as Warren Cummings pinged in a corner, Partington thumped home his first senior goal.

A precious or academic point? We would never find out...

No sooner had Partington plundered his controversial leveller than another substitute, a certain Brett Pitman, produced sublime skill on the right to find Jo Kuffour to net at the far post.

“The win put the bit between our teeth and we gained some real momentum,” recalls Cummings.

“Swansea played ever so well in the first half but we kept it tight at 0-0. We were fortunate to still be in it and when they scored, we thought ‘we’re in trouble here’.

“Then, Joe Partington popped up from my corner and I was thinking ‘happy days, we’ve nicked a draw here’.

“The next thing you know, Joe Kuffour scored a tap in and I remember feeling so elated afterwards.

“I don’t remember the details but knowing the crowd we had at the time, it would have been quite lively coming back home but I do remember Bondy was very happy.

“We had won a couple before that but when you go and win at the runaway leaders, you think ‘hang on, we have a chance here’.

“When we lost the 10 points, we lost our next two games and after that, there was a feeling of resignation among the group, that nothing could be done.

“But simple things make a difference and once we picked up a couple of wins, you could sense the belief in everyone, Bondy too.

“He was as despondent as anyone when the points got taken away but those results just galvanised everybody and the fans really got behind us.”

The dream continued.

Darren Anderton and Kuffour struck to sink Bristol Rovers and the gap to safety was down to six going into the final three games.

A trip to play-off chasers Walsall was no free hit but Danny Hollands, Kuffour and a Pitman penalty won the day 3-1 at the Bescot.

The gap to fifth-bottom Cheltenham was four points when Crewe, still not completely safe, were downed by Sam Vokes’s solitary strike in front of a packed house at Dean Court.

Cheltenham’s losing streak stretched to four matches at Oldham and Cherries had one last shot in a dramatic shootout.

They headed to promotion-hunters Carlisle, while Cheltenham hosted second-placed Doncaster, managed by Sean O’Driscoll.

Pitman’s goal was not enough on a day of despair at Brunton Park, while Cheltenham survived courtesy of a 2-1 win.

“Even after Swansea, we knew we still had a hell of a lot of work to do and we fell just short.

“I remember at the time feeling so gutted. As a footballer, you never want a relegation against your name.

“It is hard enough to take when you haven’t done your job correctly but when it is something off the pitch that you cannot control, it makes it doubly frustrating.

“We had a full house for the Crewe game and took a huge following up to Carlisle, it was just a shame we couldn’t reward them with the right result. It was a bitter pill to swallow.”

Swansea: de Vries, Rangel, Tate, Lawrence, Austin, Butler, (Tudur-Jones, 77), Pratley, Britton, Robinson, Scotland (Bauza, 86), Duffy (Brandy, 59). Unused subs: Way, Williams.

Cherries: Forde 8, Bradbury 7, Pearce 7, Gowling 8.5, Cummings 7, Gradel 7, Tessem 6.5 (Pitman, 59), Cooper 6.5, Anderton 7.5 (Partington, 88), Kuffour 7.5, Vokes 7 (Garry, 90). Unused subs: Pryce, McQuoid.