BOSS Ollie Cherrett saluted his Merley Cobham Sports comeback kings after they had emerged victorious following a seven-goal thriller at Day’s Park.

Cherrett’s title contenders had been rocked after Swans had taken an early 2-0 lead and were on the ropes at 3-1 down with just 13 minutes left on the clock.

However, a stirring fight-back, spearheaded by Luke Stone’s double and capped by Dave Wrixton’s dramatic late winner saw them maintain pole position.

The omens had not looked good for Merley after Swans goalkeeper Judd Huse had saved Stuart Cannie’s penalty midway through the second half.

Cherrett said: “I thought we played well in the first half but tried passing the ball too much on a difficult surface and got caught out. They took both of their chances and left us chasing the game.

“Stuart Cannie gave us a massive lift before half-time with another typical strike by him but we were sloppy at the start of the second half and got punished.

“At 3-1 down, most teams would have folded but one thing we have here is a great team spirit and belief in one another, although when Stu missed the penalty and then blazed over from the rebound, I thought it wasn’t going to be our day.

“Luke worked his socks off all game and was a pain for them and he got his reward with two goals in 10 minutes to bring us level. And when Dave popped up with the winner in the last minute, it was a major relief.

“It is always a hard place to come and Swanage will cause teams lots of problems so we were more than happy to have left with three points in the bag.”

Ex-Merley man Graeme Rose opened the scoring when he side-footed home a Jacob Harrop cross in the 12th minute before Chris Stratford’s blistering strike from 25 yards doubled the hosts’ lead.

Stuart Cannie halved the deficit on the stroke of half-time with another long-range stunner, only for Josh Reavenall-Nuete to restore Swans’ two-goal advantage from the penalty spot following a foul on Rose.

Reavenall-Nuete squandered a presentable chance to make it 4-1 before Huse’s top-drawer save kept out Cannie’s 67th-minute spot-kick.

However, Stone displayed all his predatory instincts and used his pace to get in behind the Swans defence to make it 3-2 before the striker repeated the feat to level five minutes from time.

And during a frantic finish to what had been a compelling contest, Wrixton popped up to rifle home the decider from just inside the box in the closing stages.

Swans: Huse, Watson, Stratford, Harding, Parrot, Robinson, Harrop (Hibbs), Richards, Arthur (Williams), Reavenall-Nuete, Rose.

Merley Cobham: Perry, Gage, Dand (Goward) Barber, Atkins, Rowe, Wrixton, Steer, Atkinson (Selby), Cannie, Stone.