By Bruce Pope BBC Sport Online

When Roger Freestone bent down to pick the ball out of his net for the third time at Spytty Park on Tuesday night, it was a sign of how low Swansea City have sunk.

Already five points adrift of safety at the foot of Division Three, the Swans were outplayed and outfought by Dr Martens Premier Division side Newport County.

The FAW Premier Cup tie was meant to be a morale-booster for Brian Flynn and his side, with the possibility of a welcome cash windfall for making the semi-finals.

But after the 3-1 humiliation by the semi-professionals, Swansea had a good look at a very possible future of non-League football.

Despite a welcome League win last Saturday, with two sides being relegated to the Nationwide Conference this season Swansea are running out of time.

Twenty-one years ago a John Toshack-inspired Swansea were in their pomp, tussling for the old Division One top spot.

The club was close to insolvency and results on the pitch again suffered

Toshack, the great Liverpool and Wales striker, took over at the Vetch Field as player-manager in March 1978.

He built on the strong foundations provided by the previous management team of Malcolm Struel and Harry Griffiths, winning promotion to Division One in 1980/81.

Swansea's first season in the top flight began with a 5-1 demolition of Leeds United and ended with a highly respectable sixth place.

Here, surely, was a platform to build a secure future for the club.

But the vision crumbled as Swansea suffered two successive relegations, narrowly preventing a third by drawing with Bristol City on the last day of the 84/85 season.

Off-field problems followed those on the pitch and on 20 December 1985 the club was wound up.

Only the hard work and persistence of a group of former directors - and several visits to the High Court - allowed the club to survive.

Tony Petty's reign was opposed by Swansea fans

Yet despite that close shave, the club had lurched into a similar crisis by January 2002, compounded by the management of controversial owner Tony Petty.

The club was close to insolvency, a player embargo was in place, and results on the pitch again suffered.

Only a consortium led by director and former player Mel Nurse rescued Swansea from oblivion this time.

However, the financial crisis saw capable management teams dismissed and the untried Nick Cusack asked to step up from the playing staff to take over coaching.

The gamble failed and Flynn was eventually handed a squad shorn of confidence, experience and talent.

With the construction of the brand new 20,000-seater Morfa Stadium getting the green light, Swansea should have a plush new home away from the crumbling Vetch.

Yet at the moment neither the footballers nor the struggling Swansea Rugby Club players of Wales' second city are likely to test its capacity when completed.

Since flirting with extinction in 1985, the appointments of the likes of Terry Yorath, Jan Molby and John Hollins as managers have briefly promised much, but failed to deliver.

Yet should Flynn somehow manage to keep Swansea in Division Three, his achievement will rank alongside anything his predecessors - including Toshack - ever managed.

There will be features on the state of sport in Swansea every night this week on BBC Wales 2W News and Sport, 2100 GMT, plus regular items on Radio Wales and Radio Cymru