Swifts made progress in the FA Trophy after Saturday's performance varied from excellent to eccentric.
Swifts began comfortably against a well organised Witney side, Jamie Waters on their right flank causing problems with his pace.
Nicky Haydon settled in well for Swifts, but against the run of play, Justin Merritt was allowed a free header on 21 minutes to put Witney in front.
It was a brave decision on 38 minutes from the management team to replace Neil Grice with Nicky Simpson but it worked, giving the team more movement up front.
The second half saw Swifts step up a gear, Adam Gillespie more comfortable in the centre and Simon Parker starting to run at the defence.
Ben Lewis probed forward and after his shot wasn't held by goalkeeper, Alder, Sean Caton's intelligent touch set up Parker to equalise.
Two cracking efforts from the hard working Caton were saved well by Alder as Swifts dominated for a period, and on 57 minutes they went ahead, Ross Taylor's long ball headed back by Lewis and Simpson netted.
Swifts could have killed the game off in this period but at the other end Kingsley Banks earned his corn with a superlative full stretch save from Carl Henry.
A mix-up between Banks and Lewis then allowed Geoff Neville to nip in and equalise for Witney on 74 minutes.
The chances kept coming for Swifts, but it was four minutes into injury time when Parker almost casually but clinically rounded Alder to score from an acute angle.
The final whistle went immediately after the re-start with a relieved Heybridge crowd giving the team a standing ovation for their efforts.
Heybridge Swifts: Banks, Haydon, Wiles, Waters, Lewis, Gillespie, Taylor, Parker, Caton, Grice (Simpson, 38 mins) and McLean.
On Saturday Swifts return to Ryman League Premier Division action, when they host Chesham United at Scraley Road (kick-off 3 pm).
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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