There were definitely no signs of a post-Christmas hangover in this Boxing Day performance, that thrilled the four figure crowd.

Since arriving at Swindon Supermarine in September ‘23, Stuart Fleetwood has led a remarkable turnaround and brought his team to Penydaren Park as one of the in-form sides in the division.

Both sides created opportunities in the opening phase of this encounter that provided a clear demonstrating of their current form. An almost unbelievable goal line block from a point blank Gethyn Hill effort kept the scores goalless. Will Fuller needed to be alert to save from Ibrahim while Mat Liddiard saw his header cleared.

But it was the Martyrs who struck first in a three minute blitz just before half-time set the tone for this festive fixture. Gethyn Hill found Ricardo Rees in the half space to the left side of the penalty area allowing him to strike the ball past Conor Brann’s despairing dive. The he lead was doubled before the Spitfire’s could reorganise when Rees turned provider with a fine through ball to Olly Mehew who hit the target as Brann narrowly failed to make the save.

The Martyrs were now able to control the game for the first twenty minutes of the second half playing crisp possession football, but thoughts of maintaining their advantage were damaged when Henry Spalding scored from a similar angle to the first goal with Fuller struggling to make the save.

The hosts signalled their intentions almost immediately and any potential nervous moments were quickly extinguished as Noah Smerdon found Ricardo Rees who beat a defender with quick footwork to create the opening, before finding the bottom corner to restore the two goal cushion.

The introduction of Tom Handley, who was a surprise omission from the starting line up, Liam Angel and Lewys Twamley maintained the impetus.

A mix up and semi collision between two Marine players on the half way line provided Olly Mehew with an uninterrupted race to the penalty area before squaring the ball to Ricardo Rees who swept the ball into the top corner from 15 yards to finish his hat trick.

The emphatic scoreline was probably a little unfair on the visitors who contributed to an entertaining encounter.