SWANAGE & Wareham captain Robert Elford is eyeing a South West One East third-place finish after a stunning 47-12 triumph at Oakmeadians.

The Bestwall boys produced an explosive performance to run in eight tries at Meyrick Park and gain ample revenge for a 30-13 home defeat against Oaks earlier in the season.

It was all one-way traffic as Daffyd Wright (two), Chris Tomes, Phil Graves, Charlie Parish, Darren Penney, John Sheldrake and Ollie Andrews dived over for tries.

Graves slotted over two conversions and one penalty, with Harvey Bell and Brendon Daniel replying with late touchdowns for Oaks and Bell adding a conversion.

Victory propelled sixth-placed Swans to within one point of Oaks and just three behind High Wycombe, who are third.

Elford said: “We haven’t really been looking at the league table for a couple of months.

“If you look back to when we were languishing second from bottom people started to mention the R word – relegation.

“That was never in my thoughts. I was always confident we would put a string of results together and it’s important we keep that going.”

Asked what rejuvenated Swans’ aim was now, Elford said: “I fancy third place, especially now Cheltenham and Marlow are starting to create a gap at the top.

“We were very disappointed to lose in the last minute at Marlow on the opening day of the season and we also went to Cheltenham, two of the hardest fixtures. In the New Year, entertaining them both, we’re confident we can get something, so you never know what’s possible.

“But it’s so tight. We could slip up one week and see ourselves drop two or three places, so we’re not getting carried away just yet.”

Oaks acting-coach Daniel, whose free-falling side trailed 35-0 and have lost six of their past eight league games, said: “Swans were well-drilled and controlled the game up front. They got the ball to their backs at the right time, so the difference was definitely the forwards.

“Although we were down by quite a few points, we came back in the last quarter, some might say against the run of play, to score a couple of tries, so we still fought with what we had.

“We have had a lot of injuries, but I don’t think that was a significant fact in the way Swans dominated the game and thoroughly deserved to win.”

Oaks: Hudson, Stephenson, Garrett (Cameron, 60), W Croker, Ford, Davies, McMahon, Coughlan, Kier, Bell, Drummond, Stephens, McTaggart (Hare, 55), Morgan, Daniel.

Swans: Wilcox, Parish, P Graves, Cottrell, Blackmore, D Elford, McKeown, A Woodard (Andrews, 56), R Elford, Sheldrake, Burgess, Penney (Weld, 53), Tomes, Jacobs (Warren, 56), Wright.