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Pompey midfielder considers playing in first South Coast derby league meeting in 13 years bucket-list worthy Inside a blue and white dugout at Portsmouth’s training ground John Swift is reliving the childhood he spent a few miles away, across the harbour in Gosport. He maps out the view he had from his front door on Dukes Road and the Forton park sports court that was his playground. It was while enjoying a kickabout there with friends, approaching his 11th birthday, that his mother, Pauline, called him in to advise he was being released by Pompey. “I remember, quite vividly, sitting on the sofa as my mum read me the letter, ” he says. “And then I was almost just like: ‘Can I go back out and play? ’” At that age it was hard to comprehend what it really meant and a couple of weeks later he was representing Pace Youth, a team in Totton, the other side of Southampton. As Portsmouth prepare to face Southampton in the Championship on Sunday, the first league match between fierce rivals in 13 and a half years, the rivalry is not lost on Swift. The last meeting came in the Carabao Cup third round in 2019, when Saints ran out 4-0 winners. Then, Southampton were in the Premier League, 51 places above third-tier Pompey. Now they are equals in the Championship. “It’s been such a long time since we’ve played each other in the league that the bit in between this game and the game at home, in January, will be quite …” Swift says, his voice trailing off as he tries to find the right words. “Hopefully we can come out on top and our fans can be the ones to have that extra edge when it comes to arguments. Being around the rivalry from a very young age, you understand what it means, how much a win on the weekend … well, it can make someone’s few months until you play them again. ” Swift, who attended Brune Park school in Gosport, got an education on the fixture as he grew older. “Everyone at school supported Portsmouth – that was when I realised how much they hate Southampton, ” he says. He went to Chelsea after his release by Pompey but was let go after six months. At 13 he had the chance to go back to Portsmouth or Chelsea, plus an offer from Southampton, but picked the London club. He made a sole appearance for Chelsea, José Mourinho sending him on as a late substitute for Eden Hazard in a victory at Cardiff in 2014, before leaving for Reading after loans at Rotherham, Swindon and Brentford. The 30-year-old, who was in the stands with his father, John, and uncle, Pete, when Milan visited Fratton Park in 2008, returned to Portsmouth as a free agent in the summer after a pre-season camp with the Professional Footballers’ Association. “One of my closest friends, Peter, is a massive Portsmouth fan and when it got to the point where I could join, he must have called me about four times a day, ” Swift says, laughing. “I had goose bumps just going over to applaud the fans after winning at Oxford on the opening day. This game, naturally, has a little bit more pressure but also excitement, too. ” Loved ones have laboured the point of late. The international break served to fuel the fever. “When the fixtures first came out, they were like: ‘You’re playing Southampton away early on. ’ These last two weeks, the amount of messages, ” he says, puffing his cheeks. “‘Are you ready? Make sure you’re ready. ’ You see the previous highlights and especially with social media now, you don’t have to look far to realise how significant it is. My family and my friends were not going to let me forget how important it is. ” Swift is one of a trio of Pompey players with knowledge of the fixture. The club captain, Marlon Pack, in his second spell, has attended previous meetings and is desperate to feature after knee surgery. Conor Chaplin, a nippy forward who returned on loan from Ipswich on deadline day, first joined Pompey at six years old. Swift considers the derby bucket-list stuff. “It would be a dream for myself, my family, just to be there … it probably won’t be a nice rivalry, but it’s one of the biggest in England. ” It is bucketing down but Swift is not bothered, happy to have his portrait taken in the downpours given he anticipates worse to come at St Mary’s on Sunday. His last visit was a playoff semi-final defeat with West Brom last year, when their team coach was delayed on arrival owing to thousands of Southampton supporters gathering before kick-off. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion “The manager [Carlos Corberán] was fuming because a 20-minute journey from the hotel to the stadium ended up taking 45, 50 minutes because we got there and then we had to go around and do a loop of the ground and obviously their fans were going crazy, banging on the bus and stuff – and that was a playoff second leg. ” Which begs the question: what does he expect this time? “I don’t think I’ve ever played in the fifth league game of the season where the animosity between fans and the rivalry is so big that a game can feel like a final. ” Swift’s mum and one of his three sisters will be in the away end; all 2, 700 visiting supporters must travel on club-operated coaches from three pickup points, including Fratton Park. Hampshire’s police and crime commissioner has said the policing operation could cost up to £200, 000. “No one was taking the ticket off my mum … she told me this week how she always dreamed about me playing in a Portsmouth v Southampton game – she never thought it would happen. ” There will be another familiar face in Jack Stephens, the Southampton captain with whom Swift regularly roomed on trips with England Under-21s; they won the Toulon Tournament in 2016 under Gareth Southgate, whose squad included three players with Saints connections in James Ward-Prowse, Calum Chambers and Matt Targett. Was there any derby chat? “At the time, it was almost like they were never going to play against each other. ” Alex Mc Carthy, Southampton’s backup goalkeeper, and Stephens are the only surviving players from the squads that met six years ago but only Stephens, an unused substitute then, is likely to feature. That night Swift was watching on TV. He knows there will be no home comforts on this occasion. “It will be good to see Jack but, hopefully, he has a bad game and I can be the one smiling come the end, ” Swift says.