Another heavy defeat for the youngsters, I’m afraid – and after a really open, encouraging first half in which they took the lead when Charlie Clancy converted a rebound past the keeper. Ali Al-Hamadi had his shot blocked in a 1 on 1 with the goalie soon after, but The Swans went into half-time ahead.
Lewis Webb had made a couple of smart saves, but all the good opening work was undone with 2 visitors’ goals in 3 minutes shortly into the 2nd half. More goals followed as the team lost a bit of heart, including a hat-trick from centre forward Stansfield. 5-1 in the end. Overall, a really promising 45 minutes, but our opponents always seemed to have better control of the ball. Josh Thomas & Connor Shields offered a bit of zip late on.
I’m always mindful these players develop at different rates. Charlie Clancy is quite slight but did pretty well in another varied first half set-up today. He was sole striker, with Morgan Clarke in an advanced support role, Al-Hamadi on the right, Gibbings on the left, Kenko & Bevan in the middle. Clancy “sniffed” his goal well, getting on the end of a goalkeeper’s parry. Eventually got replaced by Josh Thomas who, as you know, is a very different type of player.
Read the official match report.