Conor Brann has been displaying his ability as a “calming influence” during his strong loan spell at Swindon Supermarine this season.

The 20-year-old joined Marine on an initial three-month loan deal with the club winless and sitting rock bottom of the Southern League Premier South to gain experience after not making a senior appearance for Town since his arrival on transfer deadline day in 2022.

Brann has been part of an upturn under new head coach Stuart Fleetwood, moving up to 20th in the division and on a run of four games without defeat, although he has only kept one clean sheet in his time at the Webbswood Stadium.

For a goalkeeper playing his first games in senior football, Fleetwood said that he had been very impressed by the calmness and growth he had seen in Brann.

He said: “[Signing Brann] was something in the pipeline before I came in, so I can’t take all the credit for it, but as soon as I got the job I spoke with Jamie Russell and I am in constant contact with Gav Gunning and [Steve] Mildenhall as well.

“I knew [Michael] Flynn from my playing days, so I touched base straight away with him and it was a no-brainer for us.

“When Conor came in, I was looking for a goalkeeper to come in and they [Swindon Town] talked him up and at his age, he needs a run of games and I could facilitate that.

“He has been absolutely fantastic, he is a real presence, and he has been a real calming influence.

“With the way we play, we build up from the back so he gets a lot of touches with his feet, most goalkeepers at a professional level are quite adept at that, so it has suited his style of play.

“I think it is really important when you have a ‘keeper behind you, defenders want to be nice and relaxed and I think he gives us that.

“He has been absolutely different class for us and he enjoys it, which is more important than anything.”

Brann won five of the first six man-of-the-match awards for Marine during his time with the club, a dominance over the award that has caused the club to have to change the way that they give out the prize.

Fleetwood said: “The man of the match polls, I have changed them a little bit now because there was a massive Swindon and Irish contingent getting on the Facebook poll group.

“Now I have cut it down to four players that I pick that they get to vote on, whereas before it was all 11 starters and he seemed to win it every week.

“I have taken that pressure off his shoulders now.”

Fleetwood has been very pleased at the way that Brann has taken to and adapted to the experience of playing in non-league football, and has seen him grow across his time at Marine.

He said: “When you come down to this level you have to understand that these players have full-time jobs, they are only training twice a week and they are playing for bonus money.

“As a goalkeeper, a lot of that pressure is on you and Conor did make a couple of mistakes in two games back-to-back where he should have done better.

“He came out and admitted that and his reaction afterwards has been excellent.

“He just makes a lot of the hard things look quite easy, little ones that bounce in front of him he will just scoop up and we are never nervous when he’s on the ball.”