After having to wait patiently for the opportunity to go out on his first loan, Sil Swinkels made the perfect introduction to Bristol Rovers fans on Tuesday night as the deadline day arrival propped up with a dramatic equalising goal in added time against Stockport County to send his new supporters in raptures.
There have been a number of memorable late goals in front of the Thatcher’s End over the years and, although this one didn’t provide Lee Brown against Dagenham and Redbridge or Elliot Anderson against Scunthorpe United levels of drama, scoring a meaningful goal down that end at the Mem is as good as it gets for most Rovers players.
Arriving on loan from Aston Villa on deadline day, the 21-year-old centre-back’s stay in BS7 for the remainder of the season will be the Dutchman’s first temporary move having arrived in Birmingham back in 2020 from Vitesse Arnhem. In his time at Villa Park, Swinkels has managed just two senior appearances with his full debut coming earlier this season in a League Cup tie at Wycombe Wanderers.
Despite limited minutes on the pitch in a senior capacity, the centre-back has very much been ingrained in Unai Emery’s squad this term having regularly trained with the first team while also being on the bench for five Premier League matches as well as six Champions League games, including clashes against Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Celtic.
Now, the 21-year-old has the opportunity he’s been itching for, to play senior football, and there will have been no better way to start his first loan spell.
“I’ve been waiting quite a while, to be honest,” Swinkels confessed to Bristol Live on his first loan experience. “I wanted to go in the summer but with the centre-back situation at Villa I wasn’t allowed.
“I wanted to go even the summer before but then I had an ACL injury so that kept me out for the best part of 13 months so obviously that delayed it a little bit. So for me it was just getting back from the injury, trying to get to my level again.
“The last six months I’ve experienced great things with the first team, being around their matchday squads and training with them. But now ever since the transfer window in the summer was over, I was just looking forward and thinking everyday, ‘if the opportunity comes, great, if not, I have to be at the best of my ability and be ready to go out on loan in January’ in whatever league it would have been and show my qualities there. So I’m very happy to finally be able to do that.
“I think as a player it helps getting those experiences,” the defender added on his squad involvements for Villa’s first team. “Knowing what it’s like to play in big stadiums, being around a Premier League side, a Champions League side at the moment. Seeing how they train on and off the pitch. What they do extra for their bodies, for everything around it.
“I think it’s great to experience but as a player you just want to compete, you want to play games, you want to be important for a team, you want to help the club. That for me was always something I wanted to go and do and to be able to do that now is just a great feeling.”
As the centre-back rose from the bench, stripped in blue-and-white quarters for the first time, few would have expected the new arrival to go on and make the impact that he did.
With 20 minutes to go, Rovers were 1-0 down against a very well drilled Stockport side and struggling to create any meaningful opportunities to get themselves back in the game.
The defender seemed to come on as a left-sided centre-back as Inigo Calderon tweaked the formation and did fine without doing anything spectacular. Realistically, he had been brought on to assist the tactical change and ensure things stayed solid at the back as the Gas looked to grasp control of the contest for the final stages.
However, his physical presence immediately stood out once Matt Butcher lined up to take a free-kick in the first minute of added time and, although Calderon confessed he didn’t think about a goal threat when opting to bring Swinkels on, the defender showed why he could be an asset in other ways besides keeping out the opponent. Of his own admission though, the loanee also wasn’t thinking about the possibility of being the hero for his new side.
“I always hoping for it [to get on the pitch],” Swinkels confessed. “I’ve always got it in the back of my mind that I’ve got to be ready but obviously defenders don’t normally come on, especially centre-backs. So yeah, I was just hoping for it.
“When I got called over and had to get ready, I didn’t even think of scoring a goal. I just wanted to do my best and show the fans and just leave a good first impression. So to even score as well, it’s just even better.
“It just gives a lot of adrenaline,” Swinkels added. “It will be hard to sleep tonight but it was just such a nice feeling when you score that goal. I hardly know how to celebrate because I don’t score that often and if I score it’s in the under-21s. So to see that crowd behind the goal bouncing, it’s just nice to celebrate something with them and give something back with how much time and effort they put into the club and travel and follow us everywhere we go.”
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On what ended up being one of the most dramatic deadline days in League One, Swinkels’ arrival was the most straightforward aspect with reports emerging that the defender was on his way to Rovers on loan prior to that weekend.
However, for cover purposes the 21-year-old was required to be involved in Aston Villa’s matchday squad to face Wolves in the Premier League on the Saturday before having his loan move sanctioned.
Adding a centre-back may not have been the priority for every Gashead and it may take a while for Swinkels to earn his first start with the partnership of Connor Taylor and James Wilson pretty formidable at this moment in time. But the Dutchman will certainly add another option in the defensive ranks.
On his move to Rovers, Swinkels recalled: “I think the interest first came about halfway through the window. I had a call with the club and that was really good and I just basically wanted to go and wanted to join and start as soon as possible because the sooner I’d come here the more games I’d have.
“But with the situation at Villa, a couple injuries at centre-half, it just delayed it a little bit so I stayed there for a bit longer but kind of knew it was coming. I just didn’t know when.
“Then when it got announced on deadline day, for me, that was just, you know, pen to paper and we’re ready to go now. Let’s roll and let’s see how the next couple of months are going to unfold.”