James Thomas: The paramedic who saved his football club when Swansea City beat Hull

James Thomas celebrates with another of the four Welsh players in the Swansea side against Hull, Jonathan Coates

James Thomas is the paramedic who once saved his football club.

On 3 May, 2003, the final day of their dreadful season, Swansea City were staring at the prospect of dropping into non-league football for the first time in their history.

Step forward local lad Thomas, who scored a hat-trick against Hull City to ensure Swansea survived.

For Thomas, now 44, there will be no celebration of the 20th anniversary of what is viewed by many as Swansea's biggest win of all.

He is on a late shift.

Thomas, whose playing career was ruined by injury, has spent the last 14 years working for the Welsh Ambulance Service.

He has been recognised "a few times" when responding to emergency calls.

And occasionally, Thomas' past heroics on the football field have brought healing powers.

Attendances at Vetch Field soared in the final months of the 2002-03 season as Swansea battled to stay in the Football League

"I remember one particular incident," Thomas says through a smile. "We went to a gentleman and he was writhing around in pain.

"He opened one eye... and then he looked again.

"Then suddenly the pain seemed to have gone and he was up off the couch. He was like 'no way, I can't believe who this is'.

"I cured him by not even touching him.

"I think when it sank in the pain returned - he was rolling around again. But he was okay in the end."

Thomas began his career on non-emergency ambulances, but has worked his way up - going to university for two years along the way - to become a paramedic at Neath ambulance station.

He was forced to find a new career after chronic knee problems forced him to give up on football aged only 26.

Thomas had started out at Blackburn Rovers, making a handful of first-team appearances at Ewood Park and going on various loans before coming home to Swansea in 2002.

The Swans had just finished 20th in Division Three - now League Two - but the hope was for better days under player-manager Nick Cusack in 2002-03.

"Expectations were quite high," Thomas says, "but we soon became aware that it wasn't going to be an easy season."

By September, with Swansea bottom of the Football League for the first time in their history, Cusack had been replaced by Brian Flynn.

Brian Flynn masterminded Swansea's successful survival fight having taken over from Nick Cusack

The former Wrexham manager gradually lifted Swansea's mood, bringing in players such as Leon Britton, Alan Tate and the now Portugal boss Roberto Martinez, who at the time was not wanted at Walsall.

"There were a few key signings, but none more so than Roberto," Thomas says.

Despite an upturn in fortunes under Flynn, Swansea looked close to doomed when they lost to relegation rivals Exeter City with only two games of the season remaining.

Crucially, Flynn's team then won at Rochdale, meaning a victory against Hull would be enough to keep them up.

"The pressure was immense," Thomas recalls.

The rain hammered down on a bleak May day in Swansea, but that did not stop a sell-out crowd of 9,585 packing out a throbbing Vetch Field, the club's dilapidated home before they moved to what is now the Swansea.com Stadium in 2005.

The building of the new ground may have come into question had things gone wrong against Hull.

The afternoon began well for Swansea, with Thomas converting an early penalty, but by the 25th minute Hull were 2-1 ahead thanks to two defensive errors.

Mercifully for the home side, they were level just before half-time thanks to Thomas' second penalty.

Swansea retook the lead early in the second half when another key Flynn signing, Lenny Johnrose, steered home from a Martinez free-kick.

Lenny Johnrose's goal against Hull was the former Blackbburn, Burnley and Bury player's last in professional football

Johnrose, who died of motor neurone disease in 2022, was not a Swansea player for long, but will be long remembered.

"Lenny was a driving force in midfield," Thomas says. "Obviously I was really sorry to see what happened to Lenny, but he'll never be forgotten."

Swansea eased the pressure by scoring the game's best goal just before the hour, when Thomas burst through a gap in the Tigers' back four.

Rather than driving forward and looking to take on Alan Fettis - which would have been the conventional route - Thomas lofted the ball over the Hull goalkeeper and high into the net.

On a day of chaos, this was a moment of class.

"I still don't know what I was thinking really," Thomas says.

"I had scored a couple, we were winning and confidence was high. When confidence is high, you don't think too much about things.

"I went for the chip and hoped I would get it right. It was all a blur after that."

Thomas' treble meant it was Exeter who were relegated despite winning their last three games of the season.

While the Grecians spent five years in non-league exile, Swansea began climbing the ladder.

Though there were still 33 minutes to play, Swansea felt their job was done after James Thomas' third goal

Flynn brought in further pivotal signings, including the player whose impact was so great that he is now Swansea's club ambassador, Lee Trundle.

Flynn had departed when the club were promoted in 2005, before Martinez became the manager and masterminded the shift to a possession-based style which has since become Swansea's trademark.

In 2011, only eight years after Hull, Brendan Rodgers' Swansea side were promoted to the Premier League.

Had he been luckier with injuries, Thomas may have been around for a large chunk of the journey through the divisions, as Britton and Tate were.

Instead he played just 24 more games - and scored three further goals - as a professional footballer.

Thomas spent "two years in the gym" and had three operations before conceding defeat in his fight to play without pain in his knee.

He says the feeling of what might have been kept nagging away for a while, particularly as Swansea progressed.

"It was hard to take to be honest, for a few years," he says.

"It did really get to me mentally as well as physically. For a few years after I retired, I didn't want to talk about football or go and watch football.

"But I suppose in any walk of life you get that what if. For me it went the way it went.

"I am just happy that I did make a bit of an impact in the short time I was there."

Roberto Martinez (left), Leon Britton (centre) and Alan Tate (right) all established themselves as club legends at Swansea

Thomas eventually started to miss playing, and so made a couple of charity appearances for a team of former Swansea players.

Yet even that had to stop because he would be left hobbling at work for a few days after each game.

Next Thomas bought a season ticket, but that has gone too since he began working on emergency ambulances.

"Some of the things you see can be a bit shocking," he says, "but at the same time you get that adrenalin rush which is sort of similar to football.

"It's nice to be helping people.

"I am not making an impact on the pitch any more, but hopefully I am making an impact for people who need me."